PC recommendation for McIntosh 501's


Putting the "final" touches on my current system which resides in a listening room that has dedicated circuits and extensive acoustic treatment.

Apart from adding a power conditioner to the front-end, the obvious next step would be to consider upgrading the pc's feeding my 501's.

I'm not looking to alter overall tonal balance, just want to let the 501's shine. In other words I'm looking for something as transparent (neutral) as possible. Any suggestions?

Here's my set-up:

CDP - Mark Levinson 390s (VH Audio Airsine / Gold Oyaide)
Preamp - Mark Levinson 326s (Shunyata Python CX)
Amps - McIntosh 501's (stock pc)
Speakers - Focal Micro Utopia Be (Audience AU24 speaker cable)
Sub - Revel Ultima Sub30 (VH Audio Airsine / Rhodium Furutech)
IC's - Nordost Valkyrja throughout
aldog

Showing 2 responses by pops

My vote is stick with the stock cable - I have tried a few and felt I lost that organic feel that makes the Mac's special.
Aldog, I have tried and own synergistic research master coupler and MIT Z cord II - so I haven't exactly run the gambit on PC's. I like both PC's on source, the SR's work well with digital and the the MIT has always worked well with my Classe amp which is currently on the sidelines.

F1fanatic makes a great point, I can't recommend dedicated lines enough - it made a huge difference in my system. I found the PC's I have emphasized the top and bottom end but stripped out the middle on my 501's, quiet, blacker backgrounds, but just lost some of the organic midrange for me. I just took that as a litmus test for PC's since both had the same result on my amps. Just my experience...