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Mac's BAD MATCH for 802D's?

I have recently purchased B&W 802D's to go with my Mac C46 pre-amp and MC352 power amp.

A very respected dealer in my area (who has been helpful to me in the past) insists that Mac is about the worst possible match for the 802's and swears I would feel "like a veil was lifted" if I instead switched to Classe, Ayre (I do have an Ayre cd player, which I love), Mark Levinson or Boulder Amp. I should note that he does not carry some of these brands so he wasn't just trying to "sell" me. I have to admit that although my system sounds very good, it's not as "open" sounding (transparent, or whatever the right audiophile adjective might be).

If anyone aware of an engineering reasons the Mac might not be as great a match to the 802's as other equipment might be?

Any thoughts on what might be the optimal AMP combination (in a $6,000- $11,000 range) match for 802's
tomehunt
tomehunt OP
2 posts
 
Thanks all for your input. By the way, what is the difference betwen running things at 4ohms vs. 8ohms?
bobschneider
27 posts
 
The output taps on Mac amps (like the MC352) with output transformers adjust the output stage for the best impedence match with the speakers. It shouldn't hurt anything to try your speakers on each of the taps, and see which sounds best.

BTW, I just got an MC352 from Audio Classics last week, and love it. I'm using it to drive Martin Logan Ascents.
dev's avatar
dev
832 posts
 
Tomehunt you can't go wrong with MC-501's and C-2200 all the way, heard this set up with 802D's like yours. I agree with Mmitch7711 and make sure you have them hooked up to 4 ohm tabs.
larryrosen
83 posts
 
Just a question about using the 4 ohm taps. I have 802n's with a mac 352. Is this something I should try? Or can I damage the speakers.
brianmgrarcom
1,317 posts
 
You will not damage your speakers Larry and you should try it. I am not the foremost expert on this, but having owned N803's and 802D's, McIntosh told me to use the 4 ohm taps with these B&W's.

Someone can correct me if wrong, but the advantage of these different taps is for better impedance matching with your speakers and although B&W states these speakers in question as 8 ohms, they behave more like 4 ohm speakers, yes?
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