Hey I see a lot is made of the room size. To clarify, the room is off a tiled entry way so the space is really larger. The room is small but opens up right away to a total size of 14'wide x 16' deep. Still not a great scenario I know.Also, The matter of the preamp out (2800) into the Mac Amp (unbal-20,000) is a concern.(more on that in a few days)I have a 4.0mv MM cart. I listen to Classic Rock and 50's 60's jazz. Music that is Simple sounds Awesome!Bass is deep and tight in the lower octaves(below 30hz).Very articulate and smooth ,velvet vocals,Sax,with very real sounding cymbals bells ect..BUT when I put on something with Balls like Billy Cobham -Spectrum Atlantic SD7268, it dosen't have that EDGE or driving Attack of the percussion that i have heard from this record. Do I really have to talk about Digital? Ok....I had this very system hooked up with a Mc201 and a Nordost Valkyrja Bal IC Directly to the MC352. WOW! is all I can say. The sound is Celing to the floor in dynamic range and Quick like lightning, Sure the 201 isnt the best sounding CD player.Compromise,compromise,but having control of the volume without a preamp added some real grunt into the system I had not heard while using a preamp,On Talking Heads Speaking in Tongues-Burning down the house sounds like my speakers are playing Instruments! Instead of boxes playing beautiful music.A lot of Impact and dynamics, very synergistic.Thanks to my brother I'm going to bring in a expensive McIntosh Tube Preamp with Tube Phono stage and do some listening over the weekend, I'll post again soon.