MC402 vs FPB 300cx

I am in MA, and there are one or (worthy) dealers up here. I have checked with just about everyone on MA, CT and no one has anything. There a couple of FPB 400cx on AG, but wouldn't be able to listen. Dealers also don't probably have any in stock since these aren't made anymore either. So I would have to find a demo, or a customer trade. So far, nothing on that front.

So after a night of listening to this amp (MC 402) I am very impressed. Although, the more I listen and discover positive, the more I learn about the negative. For me there is something just a tad bit sterile (for lack of a better word) about this amp. I don't feel as involved as with my Krell. Further listening will clarify that for me, but I am wondering if that has to width of the soundstage or depth, not sure. Will listen more. : )

System matching is very important so you either have to hear the pieces in your system or in a system the same as yours. Bringing the amp home is obviously the safest bet, the results others have with it with different gear may not be duplicated in your system. As Arthur stated, you are ahead of the game because you know what you like. Not only will you garner thoughts of the Mac while using it, you will learn more after you switch back to your own amp for a couple days.

Soooo true Brian, well said. I find auditioning equipment is well worth the effort, for more reasons than just finding out if the piece you are auditioning is for you. You learn about sonic differences for one thing, and what they are, so then you can understand what the heck people here are talking about when they describe 150 pound piece of metal and lead as "emotional". : )

Tonight is the true test for me to see if this is the right amp. I think alot of what I like about it at first is the power delivery, there is obviously better control over the drivers since it is 400watts.

But here is a point that I made earlier regarding the class a/b delivery of the MAC and Class A, which would validate why the Krell might show weakness in a system. Since the Krell is Class A it would make sense that it would show weakness in a given system, although I personally think my Preamp is first rate. A Class A circuit can be described as a piece of wire with gain, the output is basically an exact (100%) replica of the input, just larger. So, 100% of the input signal is used, whereas in an A/B circuit there is a range of usage, more than 50% but less than 100%. This has to be why we might hear tonal differences in the two types of circuits.

Splitting hairs of course...But good to be aware of in a process of auditioning in my opinion.

I think that the move from your present class A amp to the Class A/B amp would be akin to someone moving from tubes to SS . There are plenty of threads here about people looking for a SS amp that sounds like tubes .

Good luck and keep us posted .

Jc51373, that's the way I felt when I listened to MC402, that it sounded nice but was not really involving in absolute terms.

You are expecting the Krell to show the weakness of which component in your system?

Keep in mind that MC402 provides equal amounts of power into 8, 4 and 2 ohm loads - 400w/ch. But MC402 doesn't really get hot....it runs cool.

Krell doubles the power into 4 and doubles again into 2 ohms. This would be an advantage with the B&Ws.
Disadvantages with the big Krell - it's heavy, gets hot and draws a lot of power. You'll most likely need an amp stand.