Hello from Down Under, fellow audiophiles and freaks

[OzzieAudiophile]

Hello everyone.

I found this site most informative and helpful, which is why I had to say hello and interact with you all.

First of all I believe we are all here for the same reason. We love listening to music, regardless on what style, or genre it is.

So the only thing that is stopping complete happiness, is the means, equipment that we own and use for music at home.

This is why I am writing this post. I've hit a major crossroads because it is time to upgrade my system.

I had some 'experts' come in a review my hi fi system, and agree with me, that my strongest component is my speakers. The imaging is incredible. However my receiver cannot give the juice the speakers need.

Here is what I have :

yamaha rx-v1300 receiver
Dynaudio Contour 1.8 MK II's

Ok, additional information regarding my personal audtioning for McIntosh :

I have a pair of Dynaudio Contours 1.8 Mark II's, and just as the salesman said, I would
be able to better detect if a CD recording was produced well, or not. I actually auditioned many brands of speakers, it took me 6 months and 30 shops to narrow it down to 3 brands. Dali, B&W, and Dynaudio. I managed to get the latter, and do not regret that decision.

Now it took me 6 months before making an informed decision to part with that much money. It was no where near as 12K, but since we're talking about 12K, one word of advice that you don't have to be an audiophile, or genius to work out, take your SWEET time and audition as many systems as you can. Let your ears tell you what is good as well. I just think 12K worth of money is worth a lot of time to invest before parting. Maybe it's just that I'm old-fashioned. 12K isn't normally spare change. It's harder to justify a 12K bad choice, put it that way.

I have listened recently to a McIntosh and B&W setup, it was from what I was told
a 35K pair of B&W fronts (don't know which model).

1x McIntosh MCD205 CD changer
2x MC1201's
1x McIntosh Control centre (sorry didn't take down the model number)

The overall setup was about 75K to 80K.

Then I put on 2 of my favourite CDs, and one SACD which is their copy in the shop.

Now the CD I first played contained a mp3 song, which was obtained legally from the artist directly, it had to be a good produced mp3. When I played it on my system, I could hear the choirlike sample of about 5 to 8 voices.

When I heard that same track in the shop, it was as if someone cleaned my ears out, I could hear an additional 20 voices in the same song. It was absolutely incredible.
I auditioned a new CD I brought from last week, and it was great. I got a better kick from the mp3, so it really does make a difference what CD you feed it.

I am going to find it extremely hard to find any alturnatives to McIntosh, perhaps it's the poor setups of all of the other shops that I've gone to. I just checked ebay before posting this post, that there are NO McIntosh items for sale. Only outside Australia. Ok there are not many Australian distributors (I am in Oz), but I have not heard of any returns or resales either. The only resales I have heard are tradeins for upgraded McIntosh gear.

I'm thinking of getting a new power amp first, because for the time-being I can use the yamaha as a pre-amp. The 402 poweramp may be beyond what I need to drive my Dynaudio 1.8's, however the 402 is quadbalanced. Which I have been told is able to drive each channel much better. Correct me if I'm wrong on that.

I have read a lot of reviews of different brands.

So far most people have said nothing but positive things about McIntosh equipment.

So far it's not within my budget yet, do you recommend it's worth the wait to eventually
get it ? I'm thinking of the MC402 - Power Amplifier which is quad balanced.

However the review I saw of my Dynaudio speakers state that am amp of 150 W, should be enough. However my receiver gives 100W, which from the extensive amount of hearing that I have done, it's definately not doing my speakers justice.

Then eventually get the 201 CD/SACD player.

I don't want to buy something that is half price, and not be satisfied with it 3 years down
the track. I'd like to get it right the first time.

Is it worth the wait ?

I don't have that many choices in terms of brands in Australia.

There's NAD Master series, Plinus, Anthem, Marantz.

I'm also leaning more towards "balanced' connectivity and options for future
components. I have read and been told from enough experts that the quality from a balanced connection is much better than unbalanced.

If that is untrue, let me know.

I have yet to find negative feedback about McIntosh, and I know from my own eyes that the equipment looks beautiful. It DOES sound very good, when I auditioned them, that is not in question.

Any comments and advice would be appreciated