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Mcintosh C-2200 or Aesthetix Calypso?

I know I want a tube preamp and have narrowed the field down to these two. Both are available at the same price. After reading what members have to say about the Calypso, it seems like the clear winner ...but....I like the tone controls on the Mcintosh. At 12 o clock position the tone controls are inactive and out of the signal path, but can be used as needed otherwise. (According to Mcintosh) I know tone controls are frowned upon, but I have owned preamps without them in the past and found it to be frustrating when I felt the need to compensate for a bad recording. Associated gear is Classe Seven Hundred mono's, B&W 800N, and a yet to be determined CDP. Thanks for your advice.
baffled
aball
2,016 posts
 
You can not only fix recordings but your room as well with tone controls. You could even opt for the C46 (which I find more transparent and dynamic than the 2200) that has an 8 band EQ and is much more useful than just "bass" and "treble" control. I have the C42 with this feature and it has made an incredible improvement in tonal neutrality that even a "better" preamp w/o EQ would never be able to match in my room.

Arthur
baffled OP
106 posts
 
Thanks Arthur. The ability to fix room problems with tone controls is something I had not thought of. I will be doing room treatments at some point, but this could help until get the treatments done. Do any other members have any thoughts on these two preamps?
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
time is the ultimate judge of a component's worth, but i would agree with arthur....plus you won't own a component called a 'calypso'...
bigjoe's avatar
bigjoe
693 posts
 
im not picking on you but i cant get past how the use of tone controls wouldnt be thought of,the whole out of the signal path deal is absurd to me.

buy the c2200 & forget about preamp's for a long time to come:)
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