George, I think he was referring to option 3 from your original post.Ah yes, same reply.
Cheers George
McIntosh autoformers vs direct-coupled output
Hi Out there! I'm just getting back into audio after a 40 year hiatus. An old "Tube" guy (McIntosh, Marantz, etc)
who didn't much care for the perceived change in sound with the intro of S.S. about 1970.
I happen to like certain features of McIntosh stuff. I'm also of the opinion that older, high grade items, brought
back to specs with judicious restoration, are more than adequate sonically, and a bargain against new.
All that said: I'd greatly appreciate feedback on the issue of McIntosh's Autoformer Amps vs direct-coupled.
Seems there's a serious division of opinion, and I'd like to hear yours!
Thanks for any/all input!
Bo
who didn't much care for the perceived change in sound with the intro of S.S. about 1970.
I happen to like certain features of McIntosh stuff. I'm also of the opinion that older, high grade items, brought
back to specs with judicious restoration, are more than adequate sonically, and a bargain against new.
All that said: I'd greatly appreciate feedback on the issue of McIntosh's Autoformer Amps vs direct-coupled.
Seems there's a serious division of opinion, and I'd like to hear yours!
Thanks for any/all input!
Bo
Showing 4 responses by georgehifi
M.L. #3 -There is no such Martin Logan speaker that I know, but seeing your saying it has it own active bass, the amp you are to use will just see the ESL panel loading only of 40ohms-0.9ohms, if an ML. I would go with the direct coupled Mac IF it is stable into these wild capacitive loads, and doesn’t act like a tone control (stays flat throughout the FR) I can think of far better amps for your needs. Cheers George |
Is this just another of those opinions masking subjective bias, or is there technical substance here?First you need to say the model ML you have, what type of music, if you have ML’s 1: Full range CLS/CLX, 2: Two ways with passive bass driver. 3: Or two way with active bass diver? There are far better amps than Macs, for the same money to drive ML’s models in general with. As ML's impedance can be as high as 40ohms and drop to very low 0.9ohm, this is not Mac territory in my opinion. Cheers George |
Weren’t the amps in the Acoustat X output transformerless?Yes but also deadly as they supplied the HT to the ESL’s stators via the speaker cables, instead of the esl voltage step up 1:50 audio transformer (attached). https://ibb.co/wcVZGSV Imagine if you have a normal ESL and the amp gives out 20v for music then the 1:50 stepup makes this 20v 50 x higher 1000v!!!!! and this is what travels on the speaker wire in direct drive ESL's like the Acoustat X Cheers George |