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  #241  
Old 09-06-2018, 05:13 PM
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It's been a while. The biggest discovery I've made with my setup was to put both pairs of speaker cable on the 4-ohm taps of my MC501s, as opposed to the lows being on the 2-ohm taps and the mids/highs on 4 ohm. The result has been a welcome change in fulness, weight and thump to the system's sound; even a bit more detail in some cases, usually in the lower frequencies. For the longest, I'd blamed the 2300 for thin lows as well as the tubes I was trying. Perhaps that was unfair to a degree. Granted, solid-state devices can have more slam than tubes, and that was my initial observation with switching to the 2300 from my ARC LS3, but bit by bit things have gotten better, to the point I'm pretty well satisfied.

I tried the stock tubes, Amperex, Mullard, Gold Lion, JJ High Performance, and Psvanes. The JJs held court for quite a while, and the low frequencies were the best of the bunch, but the Telefunken Black Diamond tubes (made by JJ) give me a bit more neutral sound than the JJs, which were warmer. And now that everything runs 4-ohm, it's almost like an equipment upgrade. That C52 (or C47, same audio circuit) might be tighter down low, I'm sure, but right now I'm rediscovering some of my music collection when time permits (not so much these days), and thinking the C2300 is finally living up to its hype and true promise because it now has the best opportunity ever to do so in my setup. I'm hearing what the C2300's been passing along all this time that my previous setup restricted.

I still won't say I'd never switch preamps, but it's much less likely now (finances notwithstanding).
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  #242  
Old 01-06-2019, 07:46 AM
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While away for the holidays I again thought of upgrading the power cord on my C2300. It seems to be either a Kimber PK10 Ascent or Transparent Premium I'm thinking about most. I spent a lot of money over the last few months so this isn't happening right away, if it does at all. But it's become a real consideration, so I'll play it out.

Other than one PS Audio cord, all my power cords are either Transparent or Shunyata. All these are 10 AWG. I come back to the idea that a heavy-gauge cord like that isn't really necessary for a preamp and would like to know if anyone here experienced noticeable improvements in their preamp's performance (C2300 in particular, or Mac in general) by going to a heavier gauge cord? There's a Transparent HPPC on the 2300 now, which is 12 AWG.
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  #243  
Old 01-06-2019, 04:34 PM
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Charles.......The McIntosh C2300 preamplifier draws 75 watts at 120 volts. That's 0.62 amps. A 16 gauge power cable would be more than sufficient to supply all the voltage and current the preamplifier needs. If I am not mistaken, the C2300 factory power cord is 14 gauge, which is capable of delivering 15 amps. Your your 12 gauge Transparent HPPC power cable is capable of delivering 20 amperes. There is no reason to think there would be any benefit to the performance of the C2300 by installing a 10 gauge power cable. If you just want to see a behemoth of a power cable hanging from the rear of your C2300 then go ahead, but it is pointless with respect to the preamplifier's performance.
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STUDIO - McIntosh C1000C/P, MC2301 (2), MR88, Aurender N10, Esoteric K-01X, Shunyata Sigma spdif digital cable, Sonos Connect, PurePower 2000, Stillpoints, Furutech Flux 50, Michell Gyro SE, Michell HR Power Supply, SME 309, Ortofon Cadenza Black, Wireworld, Sonus faber Amati Anniversario
LIVING ROOM - McIntosh C2300, MC75 (2), MR85, Magnum Dynalab 205, Simaudio MOON Neo 260D-T, Schiit Audio Yggdrasil, Aurender N100H, Shunyata Sigma USB cable, Micro Seiki DD40, Ortofon Cadenza Blue, Nakamichi BX-300, Sony 60ES DAT, PS Audio P10, Furutech Flux 50, Sonos Connect, Stillpoints, Wireworld, Kimber, PMC EB1i, JL Audio f113
VINTAGE - McIntosh MA230, Tandberg 3011A tuner, Olive 04HD, Sony DTC-59ES DAT, McIntosh 4300V, JBL 4312A
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  #244  
Old 01-06-2019, 05:10 PM
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Not necessarily so. Before poo pooing based on current draw alone I strongly suggest trying whatever cable of whatever gauge wire you want then decide.

Case in point. My ARC Ref 40 sounded superb with a Shunyata Sigma Analog PC an 8 gauge cable. When I swapped out for one of my Sigma HC PC’s which is 6 gauge and designed for high current there was a rather obvious improvement in dynamic shading.
Strictly speaking on current draw alone which is obvious and and cord “could” supply power necessary is good starting points. After that it’s strictly sonic changes involved with differing mfr aftermarket killer cords.
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  #245  
Old 01-06-2019, 06:43 PM
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Richard.......Charles question as I understood it centered on wire gauge and whether a heavier gauge alone would provide noticeable improvements. That was the catalyst for my response. My point is wire gauge alone on a 0.62 amp load is unlikely to affect the sonic integrity of his C2300 preamplifier.

There is no doubt about the sonic impact delivered from the multitude of metallurgic materials, conductor alignment, braiding and insulation techniques, conductor gauges and strand size, shielding, terminations, and other engineering techniques employed by manufacturers to differentiate their power cable performance from other manufacturers.
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STUDIO - McIntosh C1000C/P, MC2301 (2), MR88, Aurender N10, Esoteric K-01X, Shunyata Sigma spdif digital cable, Sonos Connect, PurePower 2000, Stillpoints, Furutech Flux 50, Michell Gyro SE, Michell HR Power Supply, SME 309, Ortofon Cadenza Black, Wireworld, Sonus faber Amati Anniversario
LIVING ROOM - McIntosh C2300, MC75 (2), MR85, Magnum Dynalab 205, Simaudio MOON Neo 260D-T, Schiit Audio Yggdrasil, Aurender N100H, Shunyata Sigma USB cable, Micro Seiki DD40, Ortofon Cadenza Blue, Nakamichi BX-300, Sony 60ES DAT, PS Audio P10, Furutech Flux 50, Sonos Connect, Stillpoints, Wireworld, Kimber, PMC EB1i, JL Audio f113
VINTAGE - McIntosh MA230, Tandberg 3011A tuner, Olive 04HD, Sony DTC-59ES DAT, McIntosh 4300V, JBL 4312A
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  #246  
Old 01-06-2019, 07:18 PM
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You’re right. I missed your point I think. Thanks for pointing out my overlook. [emoji106]
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  #247  
Old 01-06-2019, 08:42 PM
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Correct, I was asking about gauge alone, apart from any benefit the cord might render due to geometry, construction, materials or something else. For me, the basic idea behind a heavier gauge is that in theory it might carry a bit more signal, thus I might get a bit more detail or air or something out of the music (Good grief—I think I'm becoming an audiophile). Going from 9 AWG speaker cable to 8 AWG made a difference, though not dramatic. More air around the music but no fundamental change in the music itself that I heard.

The Transparent HPPC on my 2300 replaced another 12 AWG cord, a WW Electra. There were noticeable improvements with this change, which was amazing to me.The HPPCs on my 501s were replaced with Transparent Premiums, which are 10 AWG, and there was improvement. Beside the heavier gauge though, the Premiums have network modules on them; perhaps that's a factor in the improvement I hear with them. So I wondered if 10 AWG might squeeze more out of the 2300, theoretically.

I do believe the power cord that came with the 2300 is 14 AWG, plenty heavy. Heck, even the 501s came with 14 AWG cords. A 10 AWG cord is about .625" or so in diameter (the PK10 is, at least), not much bigger than the HPPC if it is at all. But other than a sense of completeness or symmetry, I want to have some sense that this type of change is worth a shot when finances agree more. That will take a bit, so I have time to think about it and talk myself into or out of going ahead, and to do more research if the idea really becomes a "thing."
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SOTA, Grado, SME, Van den Hul, Gingko turntable setup; Pioneer Elite LD, BDP; Sony OLED TV; Magnum Dynalab tuner, antenna; MIT S-video cable; Pangea HDMI cables; DVDO video processor; McIntosh SACD, preamp, power amps; Telefunken Black Diamond preamp tubes; Kimber IC; Transparent IC, PC, SC; Mirage speakers; PS Audio, Shunyata PC; Audio Additives RCA caps; Furman power conditioning; Sanus: racks
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  #248  
Old 07-27-2019, 11:15 AM
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Here is an update on the above.

First, I agree that gauge isn't much of a factor once you get to the 10 to 12 AWG range; in fact, that was confirmed to me by Evan at Transparent. I have had several unexpected expenses (the latest a new air conditioner) that put off going ahead with any new purchases related to audio. However, the new Shunyata NR V10 and V12 power cords have re-ignited the issue for me. These are reasonably priced and would be good performers, surely.

While the Transparent HPPC cord is shielded, it doesn't offer noise reduction, and that's the hook that got me back into this. Might that give my C2300 some additional performance, I wonder. Having been in more recent touch with Transparent, I found out that by using their Upgrade program I could trade in my unused 1m HPPC toward a 1.5m Premium for only $9 more than the price of a NR V12. The Premium's network module offers noise reduction, among other things. Now, I haven't noticed anything I would recognize as noise, but the improvement with the Premiums on my MC501s may well be due to their noise-reduction feature. So perhaps I'll give it a shot for the C2300, once I recover from the A/C expense. I don't know how much NR is built into the Venom HCs on my Furmans, but the fact that I heard some improvement putting new cords on my amps doesn't mean the Furmans need them too, necessarily. When the Venoms replaced the Wireworld PCs on them I didn't notice anything different.
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SOTA, Grado, SME, Van den Hul, Gingko turntable setup; Pioneer Elite LD, BDP; Sony OLED TV; Magnum Dynalab tuner, antenna; MIT S-video cable; Pangea HDMI cables; DVDO video processor; McIntosh SACD, preamp, power amps; Telefunken Black Diamond preamp tubes; Kimber IC; Transparent IC, PC, SC; Mirage speakers; PS Audio, Shunyata PC; Audio Additives RCA caps; Furman power conditioning; Sanus: racks
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  #249  
Old 10-26-2019, 10:06 PM
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Got a good look at the C2700. Absolutely beautiful. Just saying.
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  #250  
Old 10-26-2019, 10:20 PM
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I am currently running a C2300 with the MC452 and absolutely love it.....
Just an hour ago Unboxed a pair of Aerial 7Ts in Ebony an upgrade form my 6Ts for sure.... glad I stuck with Aerials
Oh yeah this was about Pre amp I get off track
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