McIntosh 1900 with Klipschorns? ASAP if Possible


Greetings:

Does anyone have experience using a 1900 with K-Horns - good, bad or indifferent? Would you mind sharing them - your thoughts basic age of K-Horns. I understand all replies are based on your own hearing, other factors, but at least this will give me an idea.
Sincerely Appreciated,
whl248
whl248
ive ran khorns with a ton of mac gear,tube & solid state,the mac 1900's 55 wpc isnt going to drive them very well at all,55 wpc tubes maybee but i feel that the 1900 will be too weak to make the most of what a khorn has to offer.

at low levels the 1900 will do ok but when driven it will distort,even though khorns are ultra efficient when you run them with solid state amps the performance they give when teamed up with high power mac solid state gear is fantstic.

you didnt give us much info to go on,do you already own the khorns or the 1900 ? why the rush ? if you own khorns already there are a ton of better amps & recievers that will allow the speakers to give outstanding performance but im sure the 1900 wont cut the mustard.

both the mac 1900 & klipschorns are very old designs but the khorns are capable of being a world class speaker while the mac 1900 is just a tired old reciever & i would stay away from it if i were you.

im sure if you give us a better idea of what you intend to do & tell us a few things about your budget,preamp,musical tastes & current system that you intend to put the reciever & speakers into you will get some good advice.
K Horns are amazing speakers if you have enough room. Figure that if they can fill a small concert hall, then a 12 x 15 room is wayyy too small. I can't imaging using them in a room less than 20 x 30 or more.
I agree with Bigjoe that the mac just won't cut it. For how much old mac's sell for, you can get a nicer, newer integrated that will sound much smoother, tighter and cleaner. Unless the mac has had a complete rebuild, it will probably have too much hiss for the speakers, along with a limited frequency response.
The Khorns will run on almost anything due to their great efficiency. However, this is a downfall because they will also pick-up any imperfections in the system. Khorns can also sound bright if you aren't careful-tubes are great to mellow them out.
A solid state class A rated amp should be considered also. I powered my last pair of klipsch with a Threshold, sumo & Yamaham M80 and was amazed with how well these did in comparison to my old dynacos and ARC.
I am kind of surprised by these responses...I don't currently own a Mac 1900 but have (re-building) K'Horns and have always heard that they require so little power to be happy I wonder about 55wpc not being up to the task...many of my Mac friends say that the 1900 and the 4100 are the best Receivers Mac had to offer using similar sections of their separates lines...I am befuddled by the responses here unless you just mean that newer would be better...if that is the case, why is there all this interest in vintage gear?
Sorry, not being knowledgable about Macs hasn't really helped you but 55wpc of Nakamichi works well so why wouldn't 55wpc of Mac?
Good luck with your quest WHL248...I am curious here as well as I may be getting into Mac as well...
ok i look at it like this,you can take a vintage mcintosh mc275 & run it on your khorns then take a mc2102 & put it on them,the difference will be astounding in favor of the newer mac amp.

if its made by mcintosh then chances are that ive owned it at some point & i can tell you from experience of ownership that the older mac gear isnt even in the same league as the newer mac gear.

ive owned klipsch horns for a long time & you are correct when you say that they require very little power but power issues are only a very small part of the puzzle,when you hear how good a khorn can sound with a modern mac amp compared to a outdated & more than likely not up to spec mac amp you will know on the spot why khorns are still a top of the line speaker with very few changes being made to their design over the decades.

there will always be a strong following of the vintage mac gear due to its collectability & holding its resale value but that does not mean that its even close to being as good as the newer mac gear.

after running over 30 different amps of both tube & solid state from all vintages with my klipschorns i realized that i prefered how they sounded while being ran with modern high power amps over vintage gear & the modern gear turned them into a speaker that can compete with most on the market.

just my 2 cents.

mike.