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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
dev's avatar
dev
832 posts
 
Brianmgrarcom you are correct about what you said, most people don't know this.

I dropped by my freinds who I had mentioned in my first thread who has the Mac 501's and 2200 pre. with the 802D's. Well a freind of his was over and they had a Mac 1000 pre hooked up, unbeleivable. I have a VTL 7.5 and Audio Research Ref3 that I am going to be bringing them over to do a comparison. I couldn't stay for long today so we all agreed to get together tomorrow and do the demo so my freind gets to listen to this 1000 all night. I have to say what I heard was the best I have ever heard his system sound like.

Tommorow will be real interesting.

John his friend has the new EMM all one piece cd player which I have been wanting to hear, I have a Audio Research Ref7 that I will be bringing along also with some cables of course.

Virtual Dynamics, Stealth Sextet digital, Anniv Purist Purist cables.

I really am looking foward to this, I actually want to go over and start right now.

I'll post again once done.

brianmgrarcom
1,317 posts
 
That is quite a line up of gear Dev and sounds like a fun time!
dev's avatar
dev
832 posts
 
Well it wasn't just one day but two, now that was fun.

Alot of different sounds happening, we did blind test so the others listening would not know what was hooked up for two days and then finally sat arround still with some music in the back ground and dicussed the out come. We all had our note pads in which we kept track.

Well there wasn't really any dislikes except from the owner of the 802D's because he wanted us to leave our gear.

Regarding pre's WINNER #1 Mac 1000 #2 ARC REF3 #3 VTL 7.5

Sources: We could not agree on this, I picked the ARC every time but at the same time really liked the EMM. The owner of the EMM was also mixed and the owner of the 802D's was just so confused because he was so over whelmed with everything he heard. It really depended on which combination was hooked up but I have to say hats off to McIntosh for that 1000, it's now on my list to have.

Any questions, ask and I'll try to answer for you.
brianmgrarcom
1,317 posts
 
Thanks for replying back Dev, I was wondering what happened to you. It sounds like you all had a good time. No doubt that when you try and introduce many different variables it can leave ones head spinning.
aball
2,016 posts
 
That is the first comparison test of the C1000 I have come across. It is really cool to hear it won in blind testing with such "acclaimed" competition! The C1000 is on my list to have as well...although I will have to wait till I get a job first!

By the way, was that C1000 with the SS or tube power supply?

Arthur
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