mcintosh mc402+c46 or mc402+c2200,2300

Depends on what your needs are. I would eliminate #3 as an option as the 402 is a wonderfull amp. If you want the tube sound pick the 2200 over the 2300. If you need theater pass thru unity gain then get the 2300. The 46 is solid state and will provide years of great service and has no appologies to offer in it's sound quality. The tube front end will be a more musical presentation for 2 channel. These of course are all one man's opinion and I am sure many will offer a different point of view.I own a 402 and had a 352 and can attest a vast improvemnent. I own a MX135 and used it for years as a stand along pre-pro.
The 135 is basically a 46 in the 2 channel end of the unit.

Go to the McIntosh forum on Audiokarma. Do a search and you will find a lot of information on the sonic differences between the C46, C2200 and C2300. Jeff Dorgay did a review of the C2300 in Tone Audio. Also, Paul Seydor wrote a review of the C46 + MC402 combination as well as the C2200 + MC2000 combination in Stereophile. Both reviews are available online. Seydor uses the C46 + MC402 as his reference with Quads.

I am using a C2300 + 402 combination and it is very musical, dynamic, detailed and has a slight tube warmth. The C2300 benefits from tube rolling and I have found Telefunkens to work very well.

One additional consideration is if you are using vinyl. The C2300 has an excellent tubed MC + MM phono stage. I have compared this against stand alone phono stages costing up to $3,000 and I continually prefer the McIntosh.

You really can't go wrong with any of the combinations you are interested in, unless your speakers are hard to drive then you should go with the 402 which delivers 100 amps of current. Good luck.

Depends on the speakers but probably number 2. That's a great tube-SS combo for a speaker that needs a lot of juice. You know some nice Focals, Linns, Egglestons, Paradigm Signatures, Vandersteens, etc. that would sound great!!

I went with an upgrade just recently.
I switched out a C36 for a C2200. The amp is a MC7300 (300watts) and the difference it made was absolutely astounding.