Mcintosh c220 with 20 year old Citation 22 ?


I have a little bit of a long winded story to tell . My 20 year old citation pre-amp only works on 1 channel and my magnepan IIIA are damaged from age, as the coil drivers have lost the adhesive holding them to the mylar film. I considered repairing the speakers and pre-amp but soon realized I wanted a new 2 channel sound system separate from my home theater and decided to go shopping. After looking at martin logans new magnepans , sonus faber cremona, bose901, b&w etc I made a decision. My wife wanted me to find a speaker I liked that was not going to dominate the room from a aesthetic standpoint. Her vote was the sonus faber speaker line. While I loved there look and sound, I really felt that the B&W 804 and 803 were a better value and both sounded very good. I thought about buying the macintosh ma 6500 or ma6900 integrated amps however I knew coming from a separate amp and pre-amp I would end up taking a hit when I upgraded sooner rather than later. I also found out after calling Mcintosh that both these integrated amps will be discontinued this year. A new ma6600 which will be priced simillar to the ma6900 is coming out which will have base and treble no equalizer and will have autoformers. The ma7000 is out and will succeed the ma6900. I learned that the c220 pre-amp has the features I want and was at a price point I was looking to be . I have never owned a tube pre-amp; I have been told that the replacement tubes are pretty inexpensive but that they should last atleast 5 years. So I decided I would buy the macintosh c220 pre-amp and the B&W 804s speakers. I am planning on using my old citation amp for a few months and then buy the macintosh 250 watt ss amp. however I am open to suggestions .
entdoc
Hey Entdoc - so much for waiting a few months, right? lol! I don't blame you, the MC252 is a stellar amp. You made a great choice of equipment - McIntoshes work super well with B&W speakers in my experience.

Arthur
I bought the mc252 last night and now I have the sound I am looking for. The c220 and the mc252 sound great togeter.
read my review of the 220 at audiophilia.com. you will need to search the archives.

in brief, i found the preamp a very effective reviewers tool, but not very tube-like.
I'm running the mcd straight into the 252 and couldn't be happier, no other inputs however. the mc-252 is the best buy in the mcintosh lineup. used 352's are about the same as a new 252.

hard to go wrong with a c220 and a mc252 if you like the Mcintosh sound.
I just bought a mac mc252 wow what a great amp .I use it with a c220 pre and a mcd201 .