Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles
George, I'm not upset in the least. I'm fairly well known by my dealer, to say the least. I would never dream of tying up their main listening room for 8-10 hours and handling all that expensive equipment or tying up a technician. I don't believe I have ever listened to anything more than 10-15 minutes and then out of curiosity. I know better than to form conclusions based on a dealer showroom.
What you did was take one snapshot when what is needed is 100 photographs to form a valid conclusion that means anything, to draw an analogy.
I would like to comment on the sound of McIntosh tube equipment. Mac tubes sound very similar to Mac SS. The difference is subtle, not striking.
When the C-1000 was reviewed in Stereophile, one of the most memorable conclusions was to that effect.
Also, Mac autoformer amps sound tubey to some extent.
AR used to in times past make SS gear, lots of it. It never caught on. Mac has been making tube gear far longer than AR. While this in and of itself doesn't mean Mac superior to AR, Mac tube technology goes back far longer than does AR and certainly is competitive with AR today. Mac is not intimidated in the least by AR or awed by AR.
To some extent AR digital is liken to old AR SS. Only AR aficionados would consider it.
Charles
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Charles ... again you assumed that I only listened to the C1100 once and only in a dealer show room to form my single snapshot as you called it. When I got around to looking to upgrade preamps while I still owned my 601's I listened at the dealers several times as well as at home to the C1100 along with three other preamps and no ... it didn't sound as good to me as the other preamps I was considering. I'm not saying your conclusions aren't valid because you like it so please don't insult me by suggesting mine are any less valid because I don't agree with your opinion or your methodology. Since you pretend to know how I make buying decisions here you go ... When I'm really unsure about a component ... I'll often buy my top couple of choices and live with all of them for several months before making any final decisions then sell off the others. Doing this with quality used gear doesn't result in too much loss and for me is a lot of fun and I end up with a system that sounds the best in my room regardless of brand. Right now I have no thoughts of upgrading anything ... other than my speakers maybe getting bigger soon but that's another story!
Also ... you seem to be thinking I'm some sort of AR guy? I'm not at all. Don't own any currently and not likely I will in the near term unless they introduce a Reference 50 Pre ( or Ref 11) and I like it better with my setup than the BAT. Its good product though as is McIntosh as are many other brands. The DAC 9 I used to own ended up not working out so Ivan helped me into a stack of Esoteric Digital that will not be going anywhere anytime soon!
Again ... everyone should listen to lots of different options if they can ... hopefully at home in the context of their environment and make choices based on the beauty that particular setup creates for them and just don't assume someone else's combo is ever the right choice ... trust your own ears!
George