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New to hobby: McIntosh D150 w/ McIntosh Amp vs. Rotel Separates

Hi,

New to the forum and hifi hobby. I am looking to build a system but having trouble finding which direction to go in. I use a Sonos Port as my source streaming Tidal and wanted a 2 channel system that I wouldn't have to manually turn on when I wanted to play music. 

 

I found that the Rotel RC-1572 MKii preamp had a signal sense feature which would do this and have purchased that. I also have a McIntosh D150 DAC which has a power trigger in which the port can trigger on. 

 

My amp was a Rotel RB-1050 and I was trying very hard to like the McIntosh paired with it because in my mind I'm thinking this is a more expensive brand and piece so it should be better, but it sounded too bright to where it was almost painful at high volumes. With the Rotel preamp I didn't have this issue. It sounded great and was much more laid back.

I was wondering if the D150 wouldn't have this issue if I paired it with a McIntosh MC152 or any McIntosh Amp. I have had older Rotel separates that were given to me by my dad and have always wanted to eventually graduate to McIntosh.

My other option is getting the Rotel RB 1582MKii and pairing that with the RC 1572 Mkii and being done with it. 

My question is, since the McIntosh D150 isn't a true preamp but a DAC rather with Preamp capability, should I stick with the Rotel or should I pursue the McIntosh route? I've seen that the D150 & MC152 pair is common so I was thinking that the Mcintosh D150 and Rotel pair might be causing the brightness issue. Running B&W CM9 S2 speakers. Thanks!

 

shanafee
henry53's avatar
henry53
280 posts
 

To get a better pre power combination than the Rotel you will need to spend a lot of money. I had a similar combination which I replaced with Vincent Hybrid Pre / power, less bright with better soundstage.

larryro2
137 posts
 

I have had many super expensive amp and pre and by accident I got a Rotel combo

WOW!

I was shocked at the sound quality, sound stage,

and sheer enjoyment!

just a very well kept secret!

 

zero listening fatigue 

 

 

retiredfarmer's avatar
retiredfarmer
346 posts
 

I am with the idea of different speakers. A general fault of many cheaper speakers is brightness. Also consider the wire you are using. I had some older McIntosh stuff years ago that was really wonderful I should have kept it. Still have a couple of there old timers. My first system was Rotel separates that was a really bright system and I finally figured out I had really bad speakers. I had a pair of paradigm studio 100s god they were bad.  Those speakers ended up costing me a lot of money as I started down the road to trying to get a system that sounded good. If I had a decent entry level system I might really likely of just keeping it that way.  

sandthemall
544 posts
 

The MC152 uses autoformers.

bjp9738's avatar
bjp9738
67 posts
 

I'm not sure if I'm following the OP completely.  You're using the McIntosh D-150 as a DAC and running into the Rotel RC-1572?  Or not using the RC-1572 and running the D-150 as DAC and preamp into the Rotel 1050?  Doesn't the Rotel RC-1572 have a built-in DAC?  Have you tried using that instead of the McIntosh DAC?  Is the sound still too bright for you?

I had a McIntosh MC152 for a couple weeks to demo.  It sounded nice, gave a little of that McIntosh sound, but I didn't feel it was worth the price.  Was better than the direct coupled amp in the MA352 integrated, but did not stand up to the MC462.  A lot of people think the modern McIntosh sound is this warm, tube-like sound.  Not really.  Their tube amps don't even really sound like tubes.

I own both McIntosh and Rotel gear.  I would look at the 1582 MkII over the MC152.  You could even go with the big boy, RB-1590 and still come out almost $2k ahead over the McIntosh.

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