Big Mcintosh MC1000 pwr amp s?

Hi Jerry...college in the 70's ah? mmhhh....about 50?(me here...dangerously close to 47...man I'm getting old...and still playing with toys... ;-)

higher than Basis? VPI TNT HRX perhaps? Or would you think of a SME 20 or 30? (can't make a real scale, Simon Yorke is also up there?)

Phono preamp> I have an Aesthetix Rhea (110v version) bought last year brand new in the US. It works perfect for the low gained carts I like to use.

And it is a thrill with the remote, makes it soooo easy to play with loads and commute TTs!

My second option if I only had one TT was the EAR 324. My third the Ayre 5.
Then an AQVox (german). See, I only look for balanced configurations. The AQVox has also balanced inputs. I'm tempted to buy one (700 eur) to try it out. It is similar in configuration to the NEC balanced, but cheaper and has full 19" chassis.
Depends on the cart you'll choose, but if you are aiming as high or even higher as the Basis 1400, I'd guess you'd choose also a highend cart.
Depending on the kind of sound you like and want to get, a Benz LP would be a great choice imho. This if you like better a lush sound. If you like fast and furious, the Colibri might be perhaps the best. Many other options out there, but I haven't heard any (Zyx, Lyra, Koetsu, etc).

Rgds
Marcelo

Easy Marcelo, only 47....though it feels like what 50 must feel like some days! I do like a lush presentation, I've got an excellent dealer that I'm going to spend some time with in a couple of days to walk me through some stuff.

I'm pumped to get back into analog. thanks for all the advice, I'll let you know what I decide....how those amps doing?

Class '58 then? me '59...I know how it feels...

The amps are doing wonderfully. Thanks.

All the best with your search, I myself went back to vinyl only a few years ago, was also caught by the "perfect sound forever" thing for too long.
Now I do both, it's like having a bike and a car.
Practical as a car the CDs are, but nothing beats the fun of a bike on a twisted road or the joy of spinning a vinyl. Sure, please let me know wich progresses you make.
brgds, Marcelo

I have read some of the posts above.
The slow sound that someone described, it's partly depending of the speaker choice. A speaker is very sensitve about the poweramplifiers damping factor. If the filters/drivers in the speakers are designed to work with high damping factor amps and one connects them to an amplifier like Mcintosh. That is, a design with very low damping factor, the speaker will not behave as intended. This is actually a fact, that also determine the sonic character of the speaker (overall sound) also. This is something users should look more into before judging amplifiers or speakers. Otherwise the compairson come out a little unjust!

Can any one help me. I am presently running a trio of mini utopias (JM Lab) for my HT in the front. I am looking into Mcintosh
for power amps. Someone here locally is offering me 3 Mc 1000's at a reasonable price believe it or not. Is this too much power for the speakers? Thanks . Elias.