Mcintosh C2200 VS Mcintosh C200 S STATE ?

I have to agree with Hassel in all respects. I have actually owned both and still own the C200. I use a Transfiguration Temper W with the MC phono stage and it works well. The C200 is all balanced whereas the C2200 is not. Replacing the bulbs inside either the Pre-amp chassis or Controller Chassis is a snap. It all boils down to the rest of your system, especially what amp you will be using. I run my C200 into either 2 monoblock MC275 IV's or an ARC D-79 - both tubed units. I listen to mostly classical and jazz.
Good luck

I did not compare the two before purchasing the C2200; I was so impressed with it compared with other brands (SS) I tried - Edge, Levinson, Herron, Chord - and my previous Rogue 99 Magnum that I couldn't resist it. One thing to consider, however, is the ability to rube roll with the C2200 which a solid state unit does not permit. Since owning the C2200 from early Dec 2004 I have replaced the original Chinese tubes with several brands - ElectroHarmonix Gold Pins, Mullards, Telefunken and Amperex - and each change brought a significant change in sound as well as improvement over the stock tubes. I settled on Amperex in the line section with Telefunken in the phono section. Also, adding Walker SST contact enhancer to the tube pins yields even greater sound clarity and punch. Unfortunately, you cannot tube roll a demo for comparison with the SS unit. It is a tough decision. I'm sold on the C2200 and highly recommend it especially if you like fine tuning/tweaking.

I compared them at my dealer. The c200 overall is a better sounding preamp. I thought it's overall presentation of the music was more balanced from top to bottom. Everything
sounded right. The c2200 is excellent and to my ear had a
very accurate and beautiful midrange especially with guitars. Bass was not as good as the c200's. I opted for the c200. Better phono stage with the c200 also.

I actually owned both of these. I hoped they would be a good match to my MC2000 Amp. But these are not musical pre amps. Compared to the Supratek Grange which is close in price to the C-200, it is apples and oranges, the Grange makes the Mcintosh
seem like a Bose Lifestyle System. The C200 is to dark, with no snap, it fared even worse. Buy something else you can do alot better.