McIntosh amp dilemna

The best amp I ever paired with my B&W 800 D's was the Classe Omega Reference Mono's.  I had 5 Mono Block with 5 800D's. I loved the amps so much that I bought another pair last year.  Well I sold them this past week and the guy hooked them up to his B&W Matrix which is one of 3 pairs of B&W's that he has.  His amps that he was using were Mac 1.25kw's.  His words today was:

"Sounds great!"

"I don’t want to even think about doing A B testing with mc1.25"

"Mc1.25 is noway closer to this"

He went for $9200 for the pair inclusive of shipping.  $7k cheaper than the Mac's!

the next best thing is a pair of Classe Cam600's.  I saw a pair sell for $6k recently.  They just pair well!  I like Mac for there reliability not so much for their sonic signature.  Yes the Coda is more extended than the Mac IMO.  I believe you eould be doing yourself a disservice by not looking at these older Classe Amps.  Another option is BAT VK655se with Gen3 Superpaks.  And as per Steve Bednarski of Bat Upgrading the caps to VCap Cutf's 4-.22uf's and adding 4- .1uf VCap Tone caps as Bypass to the superpaks is NEXT level.  I just sold mine (pair of Mono's) and went to the BAT Rex 500 with the same upgrades.  Truly next level.  Both the upgraded BAT's were the only 2 amps that bested the Classe's on B&W's.  The Amp that was a close #4 was my Krell Evolution 1 that I had paired with the Evolution 2 Pre.  A Gen3 VK655se sold 3 months ago for $5500.  Good luck on your Journey.

Thanks vip. I recently sold a Classé CA 2300 that I first paired with the B&W’s. They did mate very well. Detailed and smooth. Just looking for a different presentation I guess and was always told Mac was a natural match. Not sure I can spring for the monos, which I’m sure sound terrific. I will definitely look into the BAT’s. Worried about Krell support but always heard good things.  ✌🏻

The CA2300 is not the Omega Reference Monos.  Totally different amp.  The Omegas can deliver almost unlimited current.  4000w into 1ohm.  There is one voltage regulator per transistor.  That is 32 per amp. Also No Global Feedback vs the CA2300 which is more like half a CAM600 so one Transformer vs 2.  Having owned a CA101, 201, 301, 401, and Omega Reference Stereo all of the amps sounded different.  I found the 301 and the 101 lacking.  As for Krell, Steve Javarian of High Performance Stereo has resurrected Krell's repair side with Rondi's Son and old staff.  They are back up and running.  Mac's look beautiful and are reliable but do not have the sonic signature that you are looking for.  I was on a similar journey.  But we all get the itch that needs to be scratched.  I will ask the gentleman who bought my Omegas if he is willing to talk with you.  If he is I will give you my contact info and share it with you privately.

Not having any McIntosh products ever so I can't comment on those, I recently bought a CODA 0.7x preamp and after about 100-hours of break in, boy it sure is terrific !  Everything that was said above about CODA is true.  I replaced a Pass-Labs XP-22 with it and I was concerned that it wouldn't be as good but, in my opinion, and my listening, it definitely is better for me.  I have a CODA #16 being built/tested right now so I can't wait to hear the combination of the two in my system.  

Good luck with your amp search !

Mcintosh has it all. The house sound , high resale value  ,blue meters,service centers and parts forever. Pairs well with my b &w matrix. Enjoy the hunt