Need Help with Yamaha and Mcintosh (1 Viewer)

[kostas]

Hi
I need help with the following dilemma.
I have an excellent amplifier used in my previous set-up. A(Mcintosh MC-7061 ) which is a 6x100 (8 ohms) amplifier and can be bridged in many ways to provide more power.
It gets it's signal from a DSP 3090 Yamaha A/V receiver playing in a 5.1 Dolby Digital set-up.

Upgrading from Yamaha's amplifier to the Mcintosh showed a great improvement in my set-up.
from the Yamaha I just use the pre-outs now.

As my new set-up is being planned I lean to wards buying the new yamaha RX-Z9 which provides 9 amplifications channels.

What should I do then ?

Use RX=Z9's amplification without the Mcintosh? or again use just the pre-outs and buy one more Mcintosh to complete the channels (want to set-up system in THX ULTRA2)

I know the watts are not the same since Yamaha's delivers 7X170 but Mcintosh's can be bridged to provide more than that. And from my experience it's a different sound all together getting amps from a dedicated amplifier like the Mc-7061 (THX labeled as well) than from an excellent nevertheless machine like Yamaha's RX-9.

Third option is to buy just a processor A/V like meridian 861, or krell showcase an complete the system with the addition of an extra Mcintosh. Only problem is that The model (Rx-Z9) has everything included. DTS,THX ULTRA2,DD,DTS NEON, even DCDI by screen enhancer from faroudja.!!!!

Any comment is greatly appreciated.

Kostas

 

[MarkLaf]

I am not the most qualified person to answer this but in my opinion I would use the mcintosh for the 7 and if you want to upgrade just use the 2 extra channels on the yamaha. without listening to them i woud say the mac might still sound better than your new yamaha. just my 2 cents. hope it helps!

Mark

 

[Cliff]

Kostas,

I don't think anyone can provide a definitive answer to your question, due to the subjective nature of the listening experience. But I can understand your situation, since I too use a Yamaha receiver (RX-V1) as a prepro and McIntosh amps (several MC-7100, which are 2-channel amps similar in design, I believe, to your MC-7106).

For many years Yamaha made what I thought were very-good sounding amps and receivers. Then something changed in the late 1980s/early 1990s which resulted in an overly forward and bright sound, to my ears. I was very disappointed, e.g., with both my DSP-A1000 and RX-V795a due to this sonic harshness. That is when I started using McIntosh amps in my HT, which nicely solved the problem. As you know, McIntosh amps have a very smooth sound, and they are conservatively rated.

When I purchased the RX-V1 about three years ago I noticed that the sound of the Yamaha amp section had vastly improved over my previous units. From what I have read, all models since then have also shown this improvement in sound. Perhaps the improvements coincided with the introduction of their so-called "ToP-ART" design, which included changes in the amp sections - I'm only guessing about this. In any case, I discovered that I would have been perfectly happy with the sound of the RX-V1 amp section, but opted not to use it due to the fact that, by then, I had employed two amp channels and two speakers per surround channel (an ear level speaker and an elevated speaker). Since the Yamaha did not permit the use of both pre-outs and amp section simultaneously, I continued to use the receiver as a prepro and my McIntosh amps (along with some fine NAD amps) to power my speakers.

Were it not for my special speaker lay-out, I would be perfectly content using the built-in Yamaha amp channels in my receiver. I can guess that the same would apply to the new RX-V9.

But, of course, your last suggestion (e.g., incorporating a Meridian and another McIntosh amp) would be a further step-up. In the end, your financial resources are a part of the equation, too, and if you can afford that level of equipment, that might be better than the RX-V9.

Sorry to ramble, but I know this is a serious purchase decision you are making, and I just wanted to share my experiences.

Best of luck.

Cliff