2. amps-preamps
  3. 1063122473

Mac MC60s enough power for Apogee Centaur Minors?

hi all,

just joined. i need your collective opinions. i'm not nor can i afford to be a really high end audiophile, but i have ammased a decent system (according to my ears) over the years.

for starters, here's my current set up:

McIntosh MC60 tube monoblocks
Conrad Johnson PV-1 preamp factory modded to PV-2a specs
Apogee Centaur Minor ribbon speakers
powered B&W subwoofer
Rotel 930AX cd player
Adcom ACE515 AC line enhancer (whatever that is - $15 at a garage sale)
Technics SL-1350 turntable - broken
cheap interconnects and speaker wire

my question is that the apogees seem fine on the 8 ohm tap but sound absolutely glorious on the 4 ohm tap. problem is that the macs start to strain on anything above a comfortable listening volume )not that i blast it). which is fine, but i'd like to kick out the jams every once in a while ;-)

so, is there anyway to get the macs a little more of a fighting chance against the apogees. maybe more filtering. right now, i just have the stock power supply. i used to run my old MC225 with 900 MFD of filtering on the front end and it helped a lot. but, then again, i never heard a stock MC225 on my apogees.

OR, should i just keep the apogees around as a fun toy and look for more efficient speakers? they do sound really nice though. again, on the 8 ohm tap, i can get higher listening volume, but not the silky warm sound as i do on the 4 ohm tap.

someone said that the adcom line conditioner might be the problem. something about the VA rating and to get the macs of the it. i'm a total benchracer and do not know much about electronics, but have lots of audiophile friends that do.

see ya,
Robby
centaurus3200

Showing 1 response by trelja

trelja
3,223 posts
 
Robby, please do not get rid of the speakers! They are quite special, and your describing them as "glorious" is accurate.

I suggest you try an Acoustic Research TDS202 unit in your system. This little gem doubles the volume of a system, with little to no sound degradation. The whole thing is quite unbelievable, as it is passive. Personally, I find to it to hurt the sound in a very small manner. However, two of my audiophile buddies actually find it to do the opposite, and improve the sonics. Whichever is true, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks.

My friend who has a low power tube amp that we only found two speakers that could be driven comfortably has had a quantum level of choices open up to him via the TDS202. In brief, it produces the same volume at the amp's 40% setting as it previously did at 90%.
More to discover