As passionate as anyone can be about the devices and components they amass, numbers simply do not lie. Primarily of these as Al said are the impedance matches between preamp and amp.
Very often I FEEL PEOPLE PLUG & PLAY THINGS TOGETHER AND are disappointed due to the mismatching of impedance in their system not the quality of the pieces being bought or brought in for audition.
One can spend whatever one wishes on really great stuff but it MUST mate up well numerically (impeadancewise) with the up or downstream component or its a waste of time and money regardless the heritage, design, quality, or reputation of the piece, as the results will be as you are now discovering.
If you look also at the NF amps, youll note they too have a quite low imp rating akin to the McCormack, and consequently why the NF preamp works well or weller, uh, better sheesh with the big Ss amp than does the BAT vk51.
Note too, the BAT amps, which we all know if one goes all in house there is built in sysnergy, have far greater input imp numbers than do the McCormacks. 100K vs. 10K. They didnt just pick any old input imp rating for their amps, did they?
Naturally, the BAT pre and BAT amps will work well together.. of course the NF pre and amps will work well together too but mixing them up is where youll find problems if the impedances arent optimized for one another.
So pursue the work around.. and add another gizmo into the signal path, and some more cabling or decide which unit you let go of or mate up differently. Currently it seems the NF pre and big Mac are one path the BAT pre and a Hmmm BAT amp?, might be another..Or an amp with likewise input imp numbers closer to those of the BAT amplifiers.. 100K which in BATland equals 50K per leg. 100K total balanced.
course, you could also run w/o sub, and that might help but Id not bet a lot on it.
Al explained all of this to me in likewise fashion but on different gear just recently . And it does all make sense on paper and in practice.
Which ever way very good luck to you.
Very often I FEEL PEOPLE PLUG & PLAY THINGS TOGETHER AND are disappointed due to the mismatching of impedance in their system not the quality of the pieces being bought or brought in for audition.
One can spend whatever one wishes on really great stuff but it MUST mate up well numerically (impeadancewise) with the up or downstream component or its a waste of time and money regardless the heritage, design, quality, or reputation of the piece, as the results will be as you are now discovering.
If you look also at the NF amps, youll note they too have a quite low imp rating akin to the McCormack, and consequently why the NF preamp works well or weller, uh, better sheesh with the big Ss amp than does the BAT vk51.
Note too, the BAT amps, which we all know if one goes all in house there is built in sysnergy, have far greater input imp numbers than do the McCormacks. 100K vs. 10K. They didnt just pick any old input imp rating for their amps, did they?
Naturally, the BAT pre and BAT amps will work well together.. of course the NF pre and amps will work well together too but mixing them up is where youll find problems if the impedances arent optimized for one another.
So pursue the work around.. and add another gizmo into the signal path, and some more cabling or decide which unit you let go of or mate up differently. Currently it seems the NF pre and big Mac are one path the BAT pre and a Hmmm BAT amp?, might be another..Or an amp with likewise input imp numbers closer to those of the BAT amplifiers.. 100K which in BATland equals 50K per leg. 100K total balanced.
course, you could also run w/o sub, and that might help but Id not bet a lot on it.
Al explained all of this to me in likewise fashion but on different gear just recently . And it does all make sense on paper and in practice.
Which ever way very good luck to you.