What happened with the BASS? MC352/C42/B&WN803

Ron, with your words, I will definately give the N803 a try with 4ohms.

Onemug, balanced cables would be nice. I just spend over 3k over the weekend and hard to convince my wife for another new cable. The Mcintosh equiqments definately look good in the dark, That one of the many reasons I chose Mcintosh.

Rodney,

Many reviews have published the impedance curve of the N803 and they show 4 ohms or less until the high frequencies are reached. By using different taps you can change the balance by plus or minus 3 db. This is popular when your speakers are out in the room and the bass is light due to the lack of wall boundary reinforcement.
We always ran the N803s on the four ohm tap when we used them at the factory, yes on a MC352.

Ron-C

You say you changed the IC from the pre to amp. If you went to balanced, you need to flip the switch on the back of the 352. I had the 42/352 combo. It's very good. I wouldn't be suprised if the Onkyo was a little riper in the bass. It's a little trick to sound warmer or richer. The beauty of the 42 is you have the 8 band EQ. Just warm the sound up a bit with those knobs if you prefer. I would suggest flat for awhile to give your ears and brain a chance to adjust. The Mac's look good in the dark don't they.

The C42 is solid state right? Don't be afraid of leaving it on all the time (or most of the time). Many high end solid state preamps don't even come with on/off switches. They are best left on all the time.

It takes a couple hours for many solid state devices to get fully up to speed; and it is possible you may be done listening before it sounds its best. Even my DAC has no power switch.

Newbee, I think you are right. A few people told me that I am now hearing more accurate bass. I am just too use to strong bass.

Dumb question time! Are you saying that your new Mac pre is defficient in the bass in an absolute sense or only in comparison to the Onkyo? If the latter, is it possible that the Onkyo was just a bit over ripe and you are now hearing a more accurate bass?

Sugarbrie, the C42 is brand new. I am not sure if I want to leave it on all the time. I will be a little more patient letting it break-in.
Rontube, I am currently using the 8 ohm on the MC352. The 803 are 8 ohms. However, Mcintosh did saids to use the 4 ohm if I upgrade my N803 to N802. splitting the speaker cables to 2 and 4 ohm seems aggressive to me.
Thanks for your responses.

It the C42 brand new (or almost new)?? You should leave it on with a signal going through it for at least a week to let it break-in some.

You should be on the 4 ohm taps on the MC352 since the 803s are 4 ohms. You might also want take the bi wire straps off the back of the speakers and connect the mid highs to the 2 ohm taps and the woofers to the 4 ohm taps. Just use some simple cable like 12 gage for the experiment and use it on the base connection.

Ron

All the connections should be fine. I only change the IC from cd to pre and to amp.

Double check your Speaker Connections, make sure they are in phase. (+) from the amp to (+) on the Speaker lug, same go's for (-) from the to (-) on the speaker lug, Just a thought.