MC452 Club

[Stahle]

Originally Posted by cmusic

That is correct, as you turn the volume knob red lights turn on or off. I saw it one connected and working at the dealer Yesterday and it is beutifull. I like it better than the C22.

It does look like a beauty. I just wish McIntosh had included the loudness switch like that found on the C22.

[Keiraija]

Hi, I know there are ppl who drive Revel Salon2 with Mc452 here. I want to ask how does it sound when they are paired together? (Mostly in bass region). I'm looking for a 400w amp to drive my Salon2s and Mc452 seems to meet both my requirement and budget. Thanks.

[Masterlu]

Keiraija... Welcome to AA!

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by Keiraija

Hi, I know there are ppl who drive Revel Salon2 with Mc452 here. I want to ask how does it sound when they are paired together? (Mostly in bass region). I'm looking for a 400w amp to drive my Salon2s and Mc452 seems to meet both my requirement and budget. Thanks.

Keiraija.......Welcome to Audio Afcionado.

The McIntosh MC452 will have absolutely no problem driving the Revel Salon 2, while at the same time getting the very best performance from the Salon 2's they are capable of reproducing. I am confident you would love the MC452.

[Keiraija]

Thanks for clarify!
Can someone explain what does the "headroom" of Mcintosh mean? ÂFAIK, 452 is 1.8dB and 462 is 3dB. Aside from that, I dont see anything different between the 2. Only $1500 different in price between a new stocked mc452 and a new mc462 here, so its hard to decide without knowing the differences.
Thanks

[Msegal]

Originally Posted by Keiraija

Thanks for clarify!
Can someone explain what does the "headroom" of Mcintosh mean? ÂFAIK, 452 is 1.8dB and 462 is 3dB. Aside from that, I dont see anything different between the 2. Only $1500 different in price between a new stocked mc452 and a new mc462 here, so its hard to decide without knowing the differences.
Thanks

Headroom is brief additional power available above the max power rating. A headroom of 3 dB indicates an additional doubling of power. So if the amp 450 RMS then it can briefly provide 900 RMS in peak situations.

Mike S.

[kurt1970]

Formula:
N = Headroom in dB / 10
M = 10^N

peak power = rated power x M

[puresp]

I must regretably announce my departure from the MC452 Club...

I've had it up for sale for more then a year together with my C2500 and about a month ago I finally found a buyer willing to pay the requested price for the combo. So off they went.
For anybody interested I can say that I got 63.63% of my purchase price back when I sold them after owning them for 5 years. I bought them new from a local dealer with a 14% rebate on the list price. I am thus quite happy with the resale value of these.

I should also say that they did give me many hours of enjoyment, so why sell them?? Reason is simple. I was offered a set of 3 month old Electrocompaniet AW600 NEMO monoblocks for half the list price and I just couldn't resist pairing these monsters with my Nautilus 801's as was done in the Abbey Road Studios (and I love the pun of their names).

For a while I kept the C2500 controling things but when a second hand ARC REF3 (and slighty later also a second hand ARC PH7) became available I again couldn't resist. The C2500 was the only component not being fully balanced and that had bugged me for a while.

The result of swapping both amplifiers was beyond expectations. Much better bass control from the NEMO's compared to MC452, most evident when the music has demanding bass lines. Also, better resolution by the REF3 compared to the C2500 line stage (I tried all combos). But overall the C2500 has a fine line stage - very close to the REF3. Regarding phono and digital the improvements were vast. The phono stage in C2500 is really crap, which I only realized when comparing to PH7 and the built-in DAC is not particularly good either. I first switched to the one in my MCD500 (using a NAD M50), which turned out to be significantly better. And now I use my newly acquired Lumin A1 with its built-in DAC, which was an even better solution. However, the renderer in the A1 may also contribute to the improvement here (compared to the M50).

Overall, I couldn't be happier with my changes

[Bob Bubeck]

>> The phono stage in C2500 is really crap, <<

A tad harsh, don't you think?

Bob
_________________________________
Sources: Koetsu Onyx Gold/Clearaudio Innovation Wood w/Universal Arm 9”; MCT500 CD/SACD transport; OPPO 205; NAD C446 Internet Tuner; Nakamichi 670ZX cassette deck. Electronics: MacIntosh C2700 preamp w/DA2 and MC462 power amp. Speakers: Wilson Yvettes Headphones: MacIntosh MHP 1000 Interconnects: Transparent G5 balanced and speaker cables; MCT - MCT500 -> C2700.Power cords: Transparent (on preamp, power amp and transport). Surge protected. Record cleaner: Kirmuss KA-RC-1 ultrasonic.

[puresp]

Maybe... Everything is of course relative.