Buying Sumits, Classe or McIntosh Electronics

[donlduck]

I'm soon to be a new ML owner. Pulling the plug on Home Theater System built around Sumits with Stage, a pair of Script i's, and most likely a Depth i. My local dealer offers both Classe and McIntosh electronics. Need opinions/experience with either or both. I've listen to both sets of gear but was only able to hear this system with McIntosh. The electronics I'm looking at are as follows:

McIntosh MX135 with MC207
Classe SSP600 with CA5200

Any advice/help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Don

 

[Beat_Dominator]

Wow tough choices there. Both companies make great products.

 

[Pcar928fan]

They are both VERY expensive but I am not sure that either offer "the best" in Home Theater stuff...stereo stuff FOR SURE, but maybe not HT.

I'm soon to be a new ML owner. Pulling the plug on Home Theater System built around Sumits with Stage, a pair of Script i's, and most likely a Depth i. My local dealer offers both Classe and McIntosh electronics. Need opinions/experience with either or both. I've listen to both sets of gear but was only able to hear this system with McIntosh. The electronics I'm looking at are as follows:

McIntosh MX135 with MC207
Classe SSP600 with CA5200

Any advice/help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Don

 

[Pcar928fan]

No offense ment in my last post donlduck. I would LOVE to have Mac gear it just looks SO beautiful...but I am just wondering how well they process signals for HT use. I have read very little about them. I think the Classe stuff would be the better choice of the two for HT, but I have read little about them either...the look just does not turn me on and if I am spending that kind of money it better not only work well it better LOOK GOOD too!

Have you looked into other gear? Arcam? Rotel? Just wondering why you have narrowed it down to these two?

I'm soon to be a new ML owner. Pulling the plug on Home Theater System built around Sumits with Stage, a pair of Script i's, and most likely a Depth i. My local dealer offers both Classe and McIntosh electronics. Need opinions/experience with either or both. I've listen to both sets of gear but was only able to hear this system with McIntosh. The electronics I'm looking at are as follows:

McIntosh MX135 with MC207
Classe SSP600 with CA5200

Any advice/help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Don

 

[jtwrace]

I would go with the Classe

 

[donlduck]

No offense ment in my last post donlduck. I would LOVE to have Mac gear it just looks SO beautiful...but I am just wondering how well they process signals for HT use. I have read very little about them. I think the Classe stuff would be the better choice of the two for HT, but I have read little about them either...the look just does not turn me on and if I am spending that kind of money it better not only work well it better LOOK GOOD too!

Have you looked into other gear? Arcam? Rotel? Just wondering why you have narrowed it down to these two?

I heard the ML setup I am buying driven by the McIntosh gear and the HT experience was truely amazing. Powerful, spacious, and articulate. When they demoed the attack on Pearl Harbor from the DVD of the same name the detail was outstanding, distinct individual airplanes with subtle nuances during the mass attack and chest rattling bass. I also listened to the NAD Master Series Processor & Amp, but not with Logans as they are handled by a different dealer. Very nice and more affordable and still a back up option.

 

[edwinr]

I like the looks of Mac products. I tend to prefer the sound of Classe. Although I will say the latest Classe gear looks pretty good too.

 

[aerius007]

See if you can find a BAT (balanced audio technology) dealer. They have tons of power and I have never heard a bad thing about them. Thats what I bought to run my logans, which should be here early next week.

 

[Pcar928fan]

I will have to get my dealer to fire something up in the Mac room for me. Unfortunately they don't deal ML's AT ALL! Just that B&W stuff (ooops...almost said crap...sorry! I listened to some of their speakers and was FAR from impressed...did not listen to 802's though). They also have Classe gear, but I have not listened to that either.

I tell you another high end product that I like...Halcro! Just like the looks of it. Not as much as I like the MOON looks from Simaudio, but the Halcro has the front display like my Rotel RSP 1098 and the Classe have that too, but I am not sure if it actually displays any video...

Donlduck, if you have a home security camera system it is cool to be able to monitor that while you are watching something else...that is how I have my Rotel set up. Not sure if the Halcro could handle that but it would be something to think about it you have a security camera system...

For sure that Mac gear looks GREAT, and if it can produce a good surround sound field then you would be hard pressed to do better!

I heard the ML setup I am buying driven by the McIntosh gear and the HT experience was truely amazing. Powerful, spacious, and articulate. When they demoed the attack on Pearl Harbor from the DVD of the same name the detail was outstanding, distinct individual airplanes with subtle nuances during the mass attack and chest rattling bass. I also listened to the NAD Master Series Processor & Amp, but not with Logans as they are handled by a different dealer. Very nice and more affordable and still a back up option.

 

[IWalker]

Have you considered a Theta pre? Don't know anything about them personally...but have heard great things. Could go for that with a Pass Labs Amp and be well set up.

 

[cleon]

i am very sorry to tell you this,but both of them sucks.Because i don't want to get misunderstood,both of them are great amps but not for the summits.McIntosh is very dark and classe is weak.If your dealer has a cam350 monoblocks left is a great match otherwise try plinius,levinson or krell cx300.I have heard all of them and that's why i go with the plinius.I am in the search for the cam's350 as well cause i want to play my summits with them and my plinius with the stage.happy new year and happy listenings:cheers:

 

[tonyc]

I heard the Summits with Classe at a dealership in Dallas and thought they sounded great. I don't remember the specific model number but it was the latest Classe a/v preamp and 2 channels of their current 5 channel amp. Remember that associated cables can make good equipment sound like tinker toys. My personal preference in solid state amps is Rowland, which should tell you all you need to know about my particular set of biases. The same dealer swears the new McIntosh tube amp will drive the Summits. It sure is gorgeous and I hope to audition it at home once my Summits get broken in. I suspect you are dealing with Vu and Kim who are righteous straight up good folk who will not steer you wrong. I think you will be pleased whether you choose the Classe or the McIntosh.

 

[kwr]

i am very sorry to tell you this,but both of them sucks.Because i don't want to get misunderstood .....

The use of the word "sucks" gives you every chance of being misunderstood.

I have not heard McIntosh, have had a fair bit of experience with Krell, choose to run Plinius and would utilise Classe as my second choice. This is all on Monoliths. Classe scarcely weak in my experience. Monoliths significantly more challenging load than Summits.

Big advantage doing a system deal with the same shop Don. I presume if you are getting all the gear from them that they would be only too happy to set up both systems for you - you tell us what you think.

Kevin

 

[cleon]

I have make all of my listening with siltech ls-188,audioquest volcano,nordost Valhalla(speaker cables),cardas golden ref,siltech compass lake,audioquest sky(interconnects)siltech spx 30(power cords)always with hydra 8 or psaudio p-1000 conditioners.Krell sounds great with siltech speaker cables and siltech interconnects,Plinius with audioquest volcano-sky combo or siltech-cardas combo depends on your tastes and classeCAM350 mono blocks siltech speaker cables and cardas golden ref interconnects.As for conditioner defiantly psaudio premier with silteck spx30 power cords for the amps and spx20 for all the others.for peamp i have used halcro DM8 and Cary sl05 which is my choice because it adds some of the tube magic into solid state hardness.Highly recommended

 

[SugarMedia]

If it's not too late... get the Classe gear! If I could have spent a few more thousand it's what I would've ended up with. The sound and power are exceptional.

Quote from Audioport:
"Driven by the marketing departments of the large Japanese companies, technical specs replaced listening as a means of judging the quality of equipment for most people. Pioneer, Sansui, and JVC are names you'll remember. The "distortion- wars" were on ... but while numbers got better, the sound generally got worse.

"Slowly, a few small companies emerged and began building equipment utilizing newer, high quality parts and new circuit designs. This time however, the goal was sound quality and not distortion figures. During the 1960’s McIntosh and Marantz were the best companies in electronics. However, in the 70's and 80's they were greatly surpassed in terms of sound quality and construction by companies like Mark Levinson and Audio Research. Hi-End (or high performance) audio was born. (Note: McIntosh is now owned by the Japanese car stereo manufacturer Clarion and Marantz is owned by Philips)."

The former President of Mark Levinson has now been with Classe for a few years now.

 

[J Lustig]

I have had great results with Classe gear. Currently running two of their amps. I love both the sound and look of the Classe gear that I own. Just my two cents.:cheers:

 

[cleon]

I have had great results with Classe gear. Currently running two of their amps. I love both the sound and look of the Classe gear that I own. Just my two cents.:cheers:

Thats what i said,the past line of classe amps is a great mach with the logans thats why i said that if you can affort cam350 monoblocks is one of my best choises because they have a wonderfull and clean mid and tremble and not so good bass which dont matter because the summits have their own amp for the bass.The new line of classe doesn't mach the same because it is desighned mostly to be a mach with b&w's and it isn't clean if you can undersand me.The logans needs clean amps because the panels are too musical and if the amp is not clean the result is too dark and fake.
my 2 cents now

 

[karma]

HI All,
WOW!! On this most gentle of forums, we almost have a flame war going on.

Good. It's nice to know that we have strong opinions. Now, I will add my mine.

Look, you are buying a magical speaker. Why not get magical electronics? I would not settle for anything but tubes. My preference is Audio Research but there are others that are also good, like Conrad Johnson, etc.

I do not mean to insult the solid state brands mentioned. They are excellent. But great tube electronics are simply on another level.

My point is, IMO, only tubes will really show what these speakers can do. And, if you can afford Summits you can afford the tube electronics. Don't settle for less.

There is only one reason that I can think of were tubes may not be the first choice. Home Theater use may rack up too many hours and, thus, be too expensive to maintain. I have separate HT and music systems which solves this problem. The HT system is solid state (Krell) and sounds very good. But my ML CLSIIA/ARC music system is much better.

Do take a listen to tubes on your incredible system.

Sparky

 

[ScottG]

I will have to get my dealer to fire something up in the Mac room for me. Unfortunately they don't deal ML's AT ALL!
QUOTE]

I just bought from Audio Systems... I'll ask them if they have some Mac stuff... I always thought they looked 'cool' but haven't heard them paired w/ MLs

 

[miljac]

Hi,

you can always have a look at the Mac tube gear. I have a solid state integrated Mac and Ascents and it doesn't sound bad at all - on the contrary.