McIntosh and Autoformers. . .?

Nealhood, very good advice... thank you. Hopefully, Paul will allow me to audition it and I definitely will report back should I be able to arrange this.

How important is it to use good cable from amp to autoformer? I've pushed the finances almost as far as I can (wife has that serious look on her face if even a small box is delivered to the house) and the thought of matching speaker cable quality for the short run to the autoformer is giving me the shakes.

Good news, from my perspective anyway. I don't get bowled over by cables. Just keep then short as possible and use any decent 10 or 12 awg shotgun cable (available at your local Home Depot or Radioshack). Longer runs may require more attention but, with monoblocs you should be able to keep them relatively short.

I have not heard the dramatic differences between cables as I do between components. There have been very slight changes but, it seems that whenever I was happy with a given system, I was also happy with it when different cables were employed. They just don't make or break a system in my opinion.

I know the merits of cable selection can be a subject of heated debate and I am going against the grain here so you need to keep an open mind. However, to get started forget about the expensive stuff. In your system even lamp cord will perform excellent.

Nealhood, ordered a pair of ZERO's from Paul yesterday and should get a chance to see what they do in my system by the end of the week. Very good experience dealing with Paul... very knowledgable and accomodating. I'll try to write a review on the effects of an autoformer with an 8ohm speaker next week. Thanks for the advice!

I´m using a Bryston 3B (100 Watts) amp and a Bryston .5 B preamp with Canton(4omhs) speakers (2 satellites or center channels (CM4), they say you can use theam as a front speakers and one Active subwoofer (AS4)). Now a friend is selling me a Threshold S300 (II Series) with a FET 10hl or a McIntosh MC2205 with a McIntosh C29, I can´t hear them together but someone can tell me their experience with this combinations for the Canton speakers, witch one is better upgrade to change the Brystons.

Thanks,

Juan

My feeling is that preamps are the weak link in McIntosh's line. I had an MC-500 with a C-39. It sound all right, but the C-39 developed some loud 60 cycle hum (very un-Mac of it) and was sent back to the factory to resolve. Dealer loaned me a Bryston BP-25 to use in the interim. Man!! What a difference. Totally lifted the veil off the music. So much faster, smoother and detailed. From bottom to top it opened up the music like I hadn't heard before. I kept the Bryston and sold the C-39 when it came back. The MC-500 is awesome.