McIntosh Official MC2301 Club!

[V7Sport73]

Originally Posted by audioquest4life

V7sport73,

Welcome to the club. I was eyeing these beauties while I was stationed in Germany and opted to get some exotic German made Octave amps. Once I returned to the U.S, I bought these amps a year later. I have not looked back since. Effortless power, silent operation, and raised emotional connection with music, are superlatives I would say describe these amps. I spin mostly vinyl with these and have reached audio nirvana.

So far I have only been listing to CD's. The system sounds wonderful. However, I will break out some vinyl this weekend and give it a spin!

[Golucid]

Originally Posted by audioquest4life

V7sport73, have reached audio nirvana.

Perfectly stated, audioquest4life

[W9TR]

Loving these amps everyday. My serial numbers are under 70, so I've had them for awhile, and they still amaze me. Best amps I've ever owned.
Tom

[Golucid]

Originally Posted by W9TR

Loving these amps everyday. My serial numbers are under 70, so I've had them for awhile, and they still amaze me. Best amps I've ever owned.
Tom

Wow... kewl, W9TR! Since you have had them so long. Are you running the stock OEM tubes, tube roll? Have you had to replace tube yet because it expired?

[audioquest4life]

In regards to tube rolling, many people have differing opinions. Some like the stock tubes, regardless of what others say about some other tubes besides OEM.

IME, I believe it is best to retain stock tubes for a while to understand how the system sounds and then later on swap out tubes in order to strive for improvements in your listening experience. This does not apply to all people as some are content on
using the factory tubes. For those adventurers, myself included, I waited about 10 months before I swapped out tubes. If you were to extract information in the form of data analytics, it can be stated that the Gold Lion appears to be among the top feeds concerning replacements for factory tubes. Though my personal experiences with GL have been good, I don't think they are the cat meow, or simply stated, wow me as much as it does others. That being said, I also experimented with EH and found a good match to my ears and listening tastes. Expensive for sure, a total of 32 KT 88 tubes in less than a year to experiment with can get costly. Also, I picked up some Psvane tubes for the 12 series section these amps use...a little too much energy for me. I finally settled on another brand which escapes me right now. I will update later on when I get access to the amps.

[W9TR]

David,
Sorry for the delayed response - I've been on a 5 day backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon.

I am on my second set of Gold Lion KT-88's and my third set of 12AT7's, two sets of Gold Lion and one set NOS Mullard.

I put about 500 hours on the stock tubes before I swapped them out.
I am getting great tube life out of the GL KT-88's; 8000 hours.
Tom

[W9TR]

David,
Yes, I've had two tubes fail early, one factory McIntosh and one GL. I do not replace whole quads or banks if one tube fails - it is just not necessary with these amps.
Tom

[Golucid]

Originally Posted by W9TR

I've been on a 5 day backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon.

Thanks for the heads up but what has caught my attention is your backpacking trip. I hike too and heck, that sounds awesome! Did you miss your 2301s while you were away?

[W9TR]

David,
The backpacking trip was epic for sure.

Here's a route description:
Royal Arch Loop Route : Climbing, Hiking & Mountaineering : SummitPost

I didn't really miss the stereo. The canyon is so incredibly spectacular it always grabs all my attention.

I spent a lot of time listening yesterday. I still pinch myself every time I fire up my system.

Tom