Tubes Recommendation for McIntosh Preamp

Hey @immatthewj, I still have the Cary SLP-05. I guess I’m keeping it as a spare for now.

The purchase of this McIntosh is kind of a coincidence. I ran into the C1100 for sale ad while I was browsing around in Audiogon one day. From the pictures, it looked very clean and the price was reasonable. So I contacted the seller, who happens to be an audio store. They got the C1100 as a trade in from a customer, and I was told it was only a little over a year old. Of course I can’t verify that. I just have to take his words.

So I decided to take a chance and purchased it. Given the pretty good resale value of McIntosh, I figure I can probably sell it for around the same price if I’m not happy with it.

When I got the delivery, I was very happy to see how clean it looked. It was in mint condition, almost like new. When I plugged it in and started listening to it, I wasn’t happy with the sound. It sounded thin and bright. So I contacted the dealer to see if he would take it back, and I even offered to pay him a restocking fee. He told me to give it some time. He said the unit hasn’t been played for a while, and it will require some break in time again. I’ve never heard of that before, have you? but I decided to take his words for it. As it turned out, he was right. After I gave it a couple of weeks of playing, it started to open up. The brightness was gone, and sounded more smooth, rich, and warm. I was quite happy with the sound.

Since then, I haven’t switched back to my Cary to compare the sound. It’s been about 6 months now. From my memory, the sound of the Cary is on par with the McIntosh. So I won’t say the Mac is better or vice vera. If I ever get around to plug in my Cary again, I’ll let you know how it compares to the McIntosh.

Cheers!

@xcool

I was told it was only a little over a year old. Of course I can’t verify that. I just have to take his words.

if this is important to you (and I am not saying that it is) you could probably call or email the people at Mac and if you gave them the serial number they could probably give you date of manufacture and possibly other odds and ends.

He said the unit hasn’t been played for a while, and it will require some break in time again.

If it had been recently retubed, perhaps?  I've also read posts abour capacitors needing some running time for them to "reform."  I cannot personally attest to that, it is just what I have read about on this site.

Good suggestion @immatthewj on contacting McIntosh.  I thought about that too.  In fact, the dealer that sold me the Mac told me that the previous owner had sent in his warranty registration card, so therefore, the warranty is transferrable.   Again, I took his words for it.   I was going to contact McIntosh to verify that.  Maybe one day when I have some spare time.

Sorry for side tracking,  😀.   Will still welcome any tubes recommendation for the McIntosh!

Cheers!

@xcool 

I previously owned a Mc C1100 and replaced stock tubes with Telefunken 12AX7 and 12AT7. Telefunken is much better than stock tubes. Once you hear them, you don't want to revert back to stock tubes. 

Thanks @cfa88 for your suggestion.  I'll look into that!