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PC recommendation for McIntosh 501's

Putting the "final" touches on my current system which resides in a listening room that has dedicated circuits and extensive acoustic treatment.

Apart from adding a power conditioner to the front-end, the obvious next step would be to consider upgrading the pc's feeding my 501's.

I'm not looking to alter overall tonal balance, just want to let the 501's shine. In other words I'm looking for something as transparent (neutral) as possible. Any suggestions?

Here's my set-up:

CDP - Mark Levinson 390s (VH Audio Airsine / Gold Oyaide)
Preamp - Mark Levinson 326s (Shunyata Python CX)
Amps - McIntosh 501's (stock pc)
Speakers - Focal Micro Utopia Be (Audience AU24 speaker cable)
Sub - Revel Ultima Sub30 (VH Audio Airsine / Rhodium Furutech)
IC's - Nordost Valkyrja throughout
aldog
istanbulu
291 posts
 
Pops makes a good point about "organic feel" so, imho, take a close listen to the vintage Synergistic Research Master Coupler... those can be sold for what you bought them for and it's well-worth the try. Depends upon what you want. If you want clean clarity within your budget then I'd recommend the Morrow MAP3s... hard to beat...

again, jmo & jme,

:) listening,

Ed
tjnif's avatar
tjnif
77 posts
 
You owe it to yourself to try out a Kubala Emotion cables. I borrowed a set from audioclassics.com and was AMAZED and immediately ordered some. I have 2 Mcintosh MC2000's and 1 MC352..... Really opened up the sound (and my wallet) but i really think it was worth the price of admission. Don't tell my wife!!
phillyb's avatar
phillyb
400 posts
 
LessLoss work wonders on my McIntosh MC 402, and C2300, detail, imaging, dynamics, bottom end all improve over the stock cord, and complete absence of noise.
vintagechile
32 posts
 
Hi,

Try Iego 80229 , if you dont find it go for the new Torrent.
Play a bit with the plugs to get your prefered tone.
More bass , body and sweetness = a Cu Furutech as male + Iego gold plated IEC.
Accuracy and speed= Male Iego gold plated + Wattgate ag IEC.
In between (a) : use a Iego rodium over silver male .
In between (b) : Use with stock gold plated plugs.
aldog OP
17 posts
 
Well, I finally settled on a pair of Python CX's as I've been enjoying a recent speaker upgrade aka Focal Diablos.

Somewhat skeptical as to how much better things could get, I'm honestly amazed at the improvement the Pythons have made and all within 2 hours of installation. I'm looking forward to further improvements over the next few weeks.

It hard not to sound cliche, but yet again, another veil has been lifted. Top to bottom everything is more coherent and life-like with greater clarity. I am hearing textural details and overtones with certain instruments and vocals for the first time; on recordings I know well. Dynamics and instrument scale have also improved. The list goes on.

Why did I wait this long to swap out my stock pcs...who knows? But man this is a fun hobby! Next up...power conditioner.
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