Mcintosh C-2200 or Aesthetix Calypso?

I never compared the 2200 to my C42 directly. I did hear the 2200 several times but in unfamiliar systems.

If I were in your shoes, I would get a C42 and buy a very nice CDP with the money left over. Arthur

baffled-the differences in the mac tube and ss pres are more slight than most and the phono sections in both are really good. that eq on the 42 is like four wheel drive. even if you only need it every now and then..its great to have

Hello I will throw my thoughts into the pie, your thread is a good one as both preamps are in the same price range.

as far as Mac goes I own both the C2200 and the C46, also have the 252 amp and the 2751v....I have heard in my house the new C1000 (ss version) the C41. I have not heard the Calypso, but what I find is when you jump into the Mac pond it is all quite good, their gear is more similar than different, there are differences in the C46 and the C2200, to me I like them both it just depends on my mood....I use mostly the tube/tube combo and the ss/ss combo although I have mixed and matched...for instance a really nice combo on my Khorns is the c2200 and the 252. I also have small B&Ws and the tube gear really does well on them. This is probably no help, but to me I enjoy the different combos very much, it would be nice if anybody has heard the C2200 with the Calypso though.

I agree that a used C42 would be a very good value

Hmm
I have to disagree with some of the posts. I had both C-46 and C2200 in my system and had enough time to compare. I would never agree they sound simillar. To my ears and VERY reaviling Thiel 2.3 speakers I find C 2200 to have much better sound. Suprisingly I had more bass fullness with C2200. It also did much better with highs sounding more open and vibrant. As no surprise it has rich organic sound you can NEVER find in C46. You can easily take 2200 to yet another level of performance by changing tubes to some premium NOS. I have a great luck with various 5751 subs. Stock tubes are noisy, premiun NOS tubes make it very quiet pre.
On the other hand Mac SS pre is sounding dull and greyish to me - no exitement at all.

Bunkeromantik,
I, on the other hand, cannot agree with you. Mac SS pre sounding "dull and greyish" seems like a joke to me. I compared the C42, the C2200, and the C200, which I now own. The C200 sounded the best in all regards, as it should, costing much more than the others. But even when I compared the C42 and the C2200, the differences were small. Partly, it depends on the taste of the listener. If Baffled listens to jazz and chamber music etc only, the C2200 will be the slightly better choice - if large orchestral music and pop or serious rock enter the equation, the C42 might be better. To get a good hang of the differences, I think that the comparing review of the C46/C2200 and MC2102/MC402 in TAS, which can be downloaded from the McIntosh-website, is a very accurate one.