I’m tired of messing around....MC2301’s?

[JWJW]

Originally Posted by Timobi

I am a new owner....have owned the 2301's for about 2 months now.

The 601's were no slouch. BUT these are truly wonderful and mesmerizing. I plan on doing a full review soon. Was waiting on the break in but that is more than done.

A quick summary:

Find a way to get these. They are stunningly beautiful. Hypnotic sound. And legendary.

Wow. Thanks!!!

[JWJW]

Thank you to all the 2301 owners that have responded!
My god people. Other than each being the size of a Toyota Prius (and about the same cost ), are there ANY negatives on these amps?!?!?
I knew folks liked them, but jeez! You guys are certainly making this tough.

[1KW]

Go For It!!!

[Higgens]

What are you waiting for, Jon?

[W9TR]

Originally Posted by JWJW

Thank you to all the 2301 owners that have responded!
My god people. Other than each being the size of a Toyota Prius (and about the same cost ), are there ANY negatives on these amps?!?!?
I knew folks liked them, but jeez! You guys are certainly making this tough.

Jon,
One negative is less than an iron grip on woofers compared to an equivalent SS power amp. Damping factor is >15 compared to some SS amps having DF’s over 100. This has never been a problem for me driving Wilson, Sonus Farber, Proac, and Vienna Acoustics speakers. (The only ones I’ve used with the 2301’s). Just avoid speakers that are really hard to drive at low frequencies.

The other negative is when it is time to re-tube you are looking at 16 KT-88’s and 4 12AT7’s. So it’s a kilobuck wallet hit or thereabouts.

Tom

[j3brow]

I’m curious, how many of the MC2301 owners stick with McIntosh tubes or does everyone swap out with Gold Lions?

[W9TR]

Jason - on my first set of MC 2301’s I swapped out McIntosh for Gold Lions right away and sold the McIntosh tubes with 50 hours on them as just barely broken in. On the ones I have now, I kept the McIntosh KT-88’s in and just swapped out the 12AT7’s. I’ll switch to Gold Lions when the current tube set wears out many years from now.

[xv21]

Originally Posted by JWJW

3) The 2301’s have been around for a while now. Do you think Mc is looking to update? Should I wait it out to see, or do it NOW?

Randall: Obviously, it's going to differ between solid-state and vacuum tubes. It's our heritage. Vacuum tubes, it's just inherent that there is more second-order distortion. We are going to work on a crazy amplifier towards the end of this year that will bring both worlds together. From a performance standpoint, it is purely subjective—it's what you like to listen to. I like them both. I think vacuum tubes do a better job in some areas, and solid-state, same way.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/...harlie-randall

[Ventoux]

Originally Posted by j3brow

I’m curious, how many of the MC2301 owners stick with McIntosh tubes or does everyone swap out with Gold Lions?

My original Mac tubes have 600hrs on them (wanted to make sure the 2301's where fully broken in before I rolled) - and now my GL's have just over 1200hrs.

[Ventoux]

You'll also want to build one of these:

12 volt Hour Meter - Thanks again Dan