McIntosh’s Flagship C1100 Tube Preamplifier....

[W9TR]

Sounds like your C1100 is doing the same thing that mine did. Mine sort of wandered in the woods a bit before about 30 hours. Sometimes it would sound awesome, other times not as much. Then it locked in after 30 hours and just keeps on getting better.

I've found it takes about 20 minutes of warmup for everything to go from good to awesome. But that could also be my McIntosh tube power amps and the DAC warming up.

Last night was vinyl night. I listened to the Beatles Love - it has never sounded better on my system. Super quiet backgrounds and loads of detail. The C1100 phono preamp works really well with my Sumiko Palo Santos cartridge. Then I listened to Sonny Rollins Saxophone Colossus. This mono album presented a tight ball of sound centered between the speakers and hovering about tweeter level. Really great tonality. Doors LA Woman 45 sounded very dynamic and clean. Very impressive vinyl performance.
Tom

[robd2]

Excellent info Tom, thanks for sharing. I'm excited to see how it sounds tonight!

[Timobi]

I'll chime in. I'm close to being a C1100 owner For now I'm slumming with the C2600. Tube pre as well. But I noticed a bit spotty before about 50 hours...but after that its been truly glorious.

Hang in there...let it rip.

[robd2]

I just hit the 20 hour mark, I'm happy to report that it's cleaning up nicely. I'm excited to see how much more it evolves in the next 10-20 hours. What are the general thoughts about leaving a tube preamp like this on over night to speed up the breakin?

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by robd2

I just hit the 20 hour mark, I'm happy to report that it's cleaning up nicely. I'm excited to see how much more it evolves in the next 10-20 hours. What are the general thoughts about leaving a tube preamp like this on over night to speed up the breakin?

Absolutely, let it bake!

[robd2]

Originally Posted by Timobi

I'll chime in. I'm close to being a C1100 owner For now I'm slumming with the C2600.

Since you mention the C2600...
I also just finished up a multi day in home demo of the C2600, this unit was fully broken in. I was VERY impressed with the C2600 but had more of a trade in credit available to me and thus why I'm also trying out the C1100. Very fun to be able to spend significant time with each of these at home.

The jury is still out on which one I prefer.

Just for reference I'm currently a C47 owner.

[Sea music]

Originally Posted by robd2

Since you mention the C2600...
I also just finished up a multi day in home demo of the C2600, this unit was fully broken in. I was VERY impressed with the C2600 but had more of a trade in credit available to me and thus why I'm also trying out the C1100. Very fun to be able to spend significant time with each of these at home.

The jury is still out on which one I prefer.

Just for reference I'm currently a C47 owner.

As a C2600 owner I would like to hear your thoughts on the comparison to
The C1100. That would be an obvious upgrade path for me. Thanks

[Timobi]

Lots of similarities! I owned the c47 first. My first dive into the world of McIntosh. Paired with the Mac MC452 amp. But I felt that combo with my Goldenear Triton 1's were a tad bright? So after only owning the c47 for about 3 months or so; Traded up for the c2600. Thought the tube preamp would smooth things out a bit. It did. Subtle..but better. Maybe it was placebo but also felt the MC Phono Stage Was better as well.

Then a weird thing happened. I started reading more on Audioaficionado.org and before you know it I had upped my speakers to Martin Logan Masterpieces and began saving $$ for the C1100 and D1100 combo. Damn you AA

You know once you hit a certain level of gear, the improvements will be small and not earth shattering. But they are improvements. I am not expecting the new C1100 to be a world changer when it arrives next week. But I hope I obtain a quieter background and richer overall sound.

Its a fun but expensive hobby

[andytts]

I changed from C2500 to C1100. The difference is not subtle.

[robd2]

A quick update on my break in, at 30 hours now, getting better but there is still something I don't like going on. I almost feel im missing some of that tube warmth that the C2600 had. Could very well be a system synergy thing.

A few things I'm hearing.
1. This is an extreamly quiet preamp. Between tracks you almost feel like the system is off.
2. I'm hearing extreamly deep into the recordings, very cool.
3. Voicing: i feel this was probably voiced by the same team who did the c47&52. They all have very similar characteristics. Of course c1100 is the top dog. Even the way the cart loading settings match across the range sound change wise. Exact same voicing effects when changing on the MC settings. Makes sense as they were all released at the same time.
4. I'm feeling the c2600 is different. It just has different tonal characteristics. It was released later, maybe they decided to go a little warmer this time around?

Let's see how the next 20 hours go.