May need to look for new speakers - which ones?

[gregswaim]

How about upgrading your CD player first? Check the "Selling" forum here on AA for some nice used players: MCD201/MCD301- would be a nice addition to your current setup.

[Gregory]

Originally Posted by gregswaim

How about upgrading your CD player first? Check the "Selling" forum here on AA for some nice used players: MCD201/MCD301- would be a nice addition to your current setup.

I though of that. The MCD7007s have dropped to half of their original retail price. Generally McIntosh hold 2/3 of their original price, but with the way the $ is going.. who knows what things are worth.

I've also looked into going the MS300 route. Would the MCD201/MCD301 sound be more "pure?"

The question was really about speakers.. but for a 2.5k max price range, options are limited.


-Gregory

[magnmac]

Originally Posted by Gregory

I would say up to 2.5k and the room is ~25 feet deep and ~20 feet wide with some complicated wall and ceiling junctions. I was even toying with the idea of upgrading to CS3.6s which can be had for 2.5k, and I've seen handyman special 3.6s for about half that or slightly less. Some of the old Mc speakers like the XR6 could be a formidable refurb challenge.

-Gregory

While I think there are enough good DIY posts and knowledgeable sources in the AA planar asylum forum for you to research and get a handle on refurbishing a set of maggies, based on your recent amplifier posts, and your room is large enough to enjoy these, if relatively loud music (due to hearing loss?) is what you are used to I'm afraid your 200 WPC 2205 might be a little on the lean side for 3.6's. They won't sound bad; they just sound much better with more grunt. Chamber music? no problem.

But checkout most likely the best deal in hifi; money back guarantee!! would leave you some monies left over to upgrade the amp or source etc.

[gregswaim]

Originally Posted by Gregory

I though of that. The MCD7007s have dropped to half of their original retail price. Generally McIntosh hold 2/3 of their original price, but with the way the $ is going.. who knows what things are worth.

I've also looked into going the MS300 route. Would the MCD201/MCD301 sound be more "pure?"

The question was really about speakers.. but for a 2.5k max price range, options are limited.


-Gregory

Your speakers will only sound as good as the source that you provide to them, and yes it will sound better/" be more pure". Your speakers are fine,in my opinion. I've got a nice MCD201 for sale at $1450.00 right now in the "Selling" section if you are interested. The MCD201 replaced my older Linn Sondek LP12 with Ittok tonearm- I sold that in 2006 right after buying the MCD201 brand new at Marvin's Electronics in Ft.Worth,Texas.

[Gregory]

Originally Posted by magnmac

While I think there are enough good DIY posts and knowledgeable sources in the AA planar asylum forum for you to research and get a handle on refurbishing a set of maggies, based on your recent amplifier posts, and your room is large enough to enjoy these. If relatively loud music (due to hearing loss?) is what you are used to I'm afraid your 200 WPC 2205 might be a little on the lean side for 3.6's. They won't sound bad.. they just sound much better with more grunt. Chamber music? no problem.

But checkout most likely the best deal in hifi; money back guarantee!! would leave you some monies left over to upgrade the amp or source etc.

That's easy to explain. The CS3.6s are rated at 86 dB efficiency and the CS3.5s are rated 89 dB. I requested frequency response data from Thiel but they sent the same marketing charts from over 20 years ago in PDF format, so I went about scaling and overlaying the two graphs in great detail. This took over a week.. editing and tweaking a multi-layer graphic image until the following chart emerged.


The 3.5s are clearly more efficient and have deeper bass response due to the active equalizer, which is switchable from 40 Hz down to 20 Hz. The extremely deep and coherent bass really pays off when watching DVD movies!! The trade-off is of course distortion at high output levels. The 3.6s radiate 3 dB less power but are flatter in response. The 3.5s have a `bump´ around 300 Hz and have some 3 dB peak-to-peak excursions from 1.5 to 4.5 kHz. Can you here that? Maybe!! Relatively speaking, the 3.6s would need an amp with twice as much power to sound equally as loud. The CS2.4s may be a good choice for this system as well. It's just that the fantastic initial impression the Thiel CS3.5s made on me in 1988 when powered by a MC7270 amp never faded.

Since I'm not a subscriber.. you'll have to PM about the MCD210.


-Gregory

McIntosh owner for over thirty years.

[magnmac]

My apologies; when I hear a 3.6 I immediately think of Magneplanar's.. YOu were referring to the Thiel 3.6's!! totally misinterpreted that...