Need Advice

[cyisone01]

I currently have a 452 and 205 running through a denon 4311 to power a 7.1 home theater consisting of 802d2's for fronts, HTM2 center and B & W in walls everywhere else.

The system does double duty as my home theater and 2 channel system. I am considering up grading the denon to the MX121 or adding the C50 to the system to improve the 2 channel listening.

What do you guys think of these options or are there others I should be considering? Also what can I expect from going from the denon 4311 to either of these options?

Thanks!

[paul1]

I'm going for a C2300 it has H/T bypass I tried a c220 and it improved the sound out of sight but it do not have H/T bypass
The c2300 will be in a another league.
I am also running mc 452.
You will notice a huge improvement in two Chanel it's night and day.

[cyisone01]

With it doing double duty as a home theater system as well, wouldn't I go through tubes fast?

[edward3132]

I had the Denon 3311 initially but truly wanted better 2 channel sound. Decided on a C2300 since I wanted the sound of tubes and also has H/T bypass. The improvement in 2 channel was amazing.

Like all of us, I then caught the same McIntosh virus and soon upgraded to the MX121. It is essentially a Denon 3311 with upgraded components. It was an improvement in theater sound as well but not as striking. It's two channel capability is adequate but not like a standalone preamp like the C2300.

Not concerned about the tube life. Like others, have upgraded to Gold Lions in the line stage. Do not use vinyl. The price is minimal for the sound quality one gets.

[audioguy3107]

The role of a high quality 2 channel preamp cannot be understated! I think you would definitely notice a great improvement by going with a dedicated stereo preamp and I think you'll be somewhat surprised at how big a difference it can make. Of course how fast you go through tubes on a tube preamp would depend on how often and long you use the system, so a little hard to say. You can always estimate by looking at the manufacturer's rated life of the tube and break it down to roughly how long you would use your system per day to get an idea.

Buck

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by cyisone01

With it doing double duty as a home theater system as well, wouldn't I go through tubes fast?

cyisone01.......Tube life in the C2300 is really a none issue. In 32 months I have 6500 hours on a pair of Gold Lion 12AX7's in the line stage of my C2300. I just tested them last month in my MaxiMatcher2 Preamp tube tester. They tested strong, and still displayed very low noise. I expect to easily get another 5000 hours from them before I need to replace them.

Just for an example, lets assume the Gold Lion 12AX7 is good for 8000 hours, which is a low estimate. Using 8000 hours as the base, if you listened to the preamp four hours every day, seven days a week it would take you five and a half years to reach 8030 hours. Using the C2300 as a two channel preamp that is also used in HT bypass for movie watching will provide fantastic results. 12AX7 tubes aren't expensive anyway, so just enjoy the experience and don't worry about tube life.

[cyisone01]

Great advice gang! Would you go with the 2300 over something like the C-50. Also are there any concerns running it through the denon. The denon does not have balanced inputs.

[PMCH]

cyisone01, since you have such great speakers and amp, I would think you would notice an improvement with a better preamp than another processor for 2 channel music. I have used my C2300 in pass thru with a MX136 for HT and it worked just fine. You can always get another newer processor since that item keeps getting improvements made to it. I don't know why you would need balanced inputs into a processor if you had a stereo pre amp that had them. Since I use a Oppo for watching Blu Ray's, I let the Oppo's DAC's do the processing and run RCA's into my processor. Best of luck with your choice.

[cyisone01]

I was just looking at the wiring diagram and it shows balanced cables from the pre-amp to the receiver.

[edward3132]

Using unbalanced cable not an issue

Had my Denon 3311's front L/R pre outs connected to the C2300 input using an unbalanced cable. Then went balanced out to my 452. From my understanding, on the C2300, all unbalanced inputs are available at either the balanced or unbalanced outputs.