Quote:
Originally Posted by jdandy
Charles.......Go with what you presently own and see how that works out. The phono stages (moving magnet and moving coil) in the C2300 are very good. Why spend money on a MP100 before you've given the C2300 a fair run for the money. I'd be will to guess you will be quite pleased with the phono stage performance of the McIntosh C2300, especially if you use quality tubes in the phono stage. My Ortofon Cadenza Blue moving coil cartridge sounds amazing with my C2300 in the living room system. I have no desire to go elsewhere.
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Before I got to bed last night I'd decided to make the changes, not merely "consider" them. The first step is going to be changing out tubes and rearranging everything, then giving a listen. And even as I got up this morning, I realized the MP100 thing was due to the "eye candy" factor mentioned earlier. The MP100 would be cool to have, definitely, but I have to be past the point of being seduced in that way. I had laser surgery on my right eye yesterday, and that helps bring home the idea of having priorities in order; a new phono stage isn't one of them, not even in an audio context. That might fall to the Sanus Euro racks vs. some Salamander Synergy racks to replace them.
And you're right, I didn't hear anything to complain about when I used the C2300's phono stage before, albeit briefly. I thought it was comparable (at minimum) to my long-in-the-tooth Aragon, purchased in 1994. And there have been changes to the system since that mini-comparison, notably the Transparent power cords and interconnects. So the sound will be different.
I'm waiting for the replacement to my defective Gingko platform (Mr. Vu said he'd e-mail me when the replacement ships), but I'll take up the project of re-tubing and hooking things up when I have the time. Since my threads interrelate on some levels, any significant impressions I have will probably end up in my tube thread
and here, though tailored to each thread. The 2300's phono section is under scrutiny more than anything else, yet how the tubes sound in the new environment is also under scrutiny.