[kimchee411]

Can anyone comment on performance of MA8900 compared to MC452, particularly with regard to soundatage depth?

I used to have the latter running directly from a dCS Paganini DAC and later a C8 preamp and liked it quite a bit. I've also had MC252 and MA352. The MA352 wasn't a good match for my system. No depth and overly saturated tone. I liked the tone of the MC252 but also found it flat in terms of soundstage and dynamics. The MC452 was a huge improvement and satisfied in almost every way.

I've gone through a number of amps and integrateds since and am possibly looking to go back to the warm, rich, musical McIntosh autoformer SS sound with the MA8900. I think the improvement of the 452 over the MC252 may have been due to the newer transistors McIntosh switched to around that time and the 8900 is a slightly newer vintage than the 452 so I'm hoping to get a similar sound in a smaller, lighter package.

Currently using a Luxman 509x, which is very impressive and ticks the right boxes in my brain but is a touch dry and clean for my taste so I'm finding it doesn't really tug at my heart strings. I am a big fan of Luxman and have an M800a in my main rig that I adore, but in my bedroom I want a sound I do not feel like I need to listen intently to and just enjoy the music.

Source is MSB Analog DAC with network renderer and speakers are Wilson Tunetots with REL T-Zero Mk III sub.