Next step in my 2 channel adventure....

tratliff

As some of you know I have been in search of new amplifiers. A couple of weeks back I sold my Rogue M-180's and my replaced turntable the Marantz TT-15S1.

Well, I have placed an order for the McIntosh MC601's. I know not everyone on this forum is a McIntosh fan. I have found that many users of my speakers recommend them, including the manufacturer. I am excited to see how they perform in my system.

I have one nagging problem before getting them setup. I am currently running off the shared 15 amp circuit in my audio room and will be installing 2 dedicated 20 amp circuits this weekend. Anyone have any feedback on what to watch out for while adding the new lines? Do's...Don'ts.....?

I will provide some information about the performance after I get a few hours on them.

Some eye candy:

Joey_V

Dang... How am I going to keep up with you Todd?

That's nice man.

megasat16

Not a Big Mac fan but the 601 is ridiculously nice I wanted one! For your new dedicated outlets, let's make sure it's coming from a separate circuit from the main panel and preferably it has it's own sub panel with a good GFCI or AFCI for each line.

Use 10Gauge wire for minimum. Ask the installer if he can wire a 240V from your main panel to the sub panel at the same time and leave the provisions for the 240V wire near your 120V installed panel. There are amps (far and few but some high end amps are 240V for higher current capability) with 240V will appreciate the future proof planning. I found the 240V amps could sound cleaner since it got rid of the nasty earth line by design.

Good Luck trying out your new MAC. Take plenty of pictures upon unboxing them.

Get Joey to help you out! He now is an expert in moving big and heavy audio gears. lol

WagnerRC

very nice. congrats

tratliff

Mega - Thanks for the feedback. I was planning on using 10 gauge and already have a sub panel.

Should the breakers be GFCI?

megasat16

You are welcome! Are you installing the 20A lines yourself? It would be easy if the sub panel is already installed.

Yes, GFCI is a must for each 20A line.

tratliff

Yes the sub panel is already installed and not to difficult to drop the lines. I have done some electrical before and feel comfortable making the connections.

My thought was to use 10 Gauge with Hospital grade outlets. I was just unclear on the breakers to purchase. Based on what you said they should be GFCI. Thanks for clearing that up.

Should not be to difficult. That is if the weather stays below 95 here in Texas.

MrBuhl

Was born in McIntosh homeland - Binghamton NY. Always been a distant (out of my price range) admirer - I hope you enjoy!

megasat16

tratliff wrote: »

Yes the sub panel is already installed and not to difficult to drop the lines. I have done some electrical before and feel comfortable making the connections.

My thought was to use 10 Gauge with Hospital grade outlets. I was just unclear on the breakers to purchase. Based on what you said they should be GFCI. Thanks for clearing that up.

Should not be to difficult. That is if the weather stays below 95 here in Texas.

Should be easy if you have done it before and have an extra hands around you. Yes, it's better to use GFCI/AFCI stuff than regular breakers and sockets. Hospital grade outlets works great too!

Cold brew helps after the installation.

brianle

Super nice!

brianle

What were the reasons for this upgrade?

Nightfall

Check out PS Audio outlets

txcoastal1

megasat16 wrote: »

tratliff wrote: »

Yes the sub panel is already installed and not to difficult to drop the lines. I have done some electrical before and feel comfortable making the connections.

My thought was to use 10 Gauge with Hospital grade outlets. I was just unclear on the breakers to purchase. Based on what you said they should be GFCI. Thanks for clearing that up.

Should not be to difficult. That is if the weather stays below 95 here in Texas.

Should be easy if you have done it before and have an extra hands around you. Yes, it's better to use GFCI/AFCI stuff than regular breakers and sockets. Hospital grade outlets works great too!

Cold brew helps after the installation.

GFCI/AFCI breaker? GFCI/AFCI Outlet? ...or both GFCI/AFCI breaker and outlet

Joey_V

I look forward to bringing my m600 over or you vice versa.

tratliff

brianle wrote: »

What were the reasons for this upgrade?

Although the M-180's sounded great in the mids and highs I never felt like I could get the needed control in the lower range. I also thought they ran out of steam sometimes when I pushed them hard. It took a number of sessions to come to this conclusion.

They also gave my A/C a workout in the summer time. With the TV on and the amps going it could heat the room up about 5 degrees in less than an hour. That was tough on my listening comfort on a 105 degree summer day in Texas.

I am hoping that the MC601's in combination with the Cary SLP-05 tube pre that I will get the liquid smooth mids and highs with the control in the lower region from the SS amp.

tratliff

txcoastal1 wrote: »

GFCI/AFCI breaker? GFCI/AFCI Outlet? ...or both GFCI/AFCI breaker and outlet

After some research last night it looks like AFCI breakers with hospital grade outlets (not GFCI). I think I will get the PS Audio outlets but not at this point. Going to add them to the to-do list.

megasat16

txcoastal1 wrote: »

megasat16 wrote: »

tratliff wrote: »

Yes the sub panel is already installed and not to difficult to drop the lines. I have done some electrical before and feel comfortable making the connections.

My thought was to use 10 Gauge with Hospital grade outlets. I was just unclear on the breakers to purchase. Based on what you said they should be GFCI. Thanks for clearing that up.

Should not be to difficult. That is if the weather stays below 95 here in Texas.

Should be easy if you have done it before and have an extra hands around you. Yes, it's better to use GFCI/AFCI stuff than regular breakers and sockets. Hospital grade outlets works great too!

Cold brew helps after the installation.

GFCI/AFCI breaker? GFCI/AFCI Outlet? ...or both GFCI/AFCI breaker and outlet

I normally have both if I install the new circuit myself. One is not good enough for me. If I redo the old house wiring, I usually replace the old receptacles with the GFCI ones.

Levinton has Hospital Grade GFCI receptacles.

http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/SectionDisplay.jsp?section=42310

megasat16

tratliff wrote: »

txcoastal1 wrote: »

GFCI/AFCI breaker? GFCI/AFCI Outlet? ...or both GFCI/AFCI breaker and outlet

After some research last night it looks like AFCI breakers with hospital grade outlets (not GFCI). I think I will get the PS Audio outlets but not at this point. Going to add them to the to-do list.

Just make sure you wear a thick leather gloves and some eye protections and inquire the wiring code in TX and uses appropriate wires and the box for the new receptacles.

You should also pick up a ground/earth and wire fault detector to test the GFCI circuits if you haven't got one yet.

Joey_V

tratliff wrote: »

brianle wrote: »

What were the reasons for this upgrade?

Although the M-180's sounded great in the mids and highs I never felt like I could get the needed control in the lower range. I also thought they ran out of steam sometimes when I pushed them hard. It took a number of sessions to come to this conclusion.

They also gave my A/C a workout in the summer time. With the TV on and the amps going it could heat the room up about 5 degrees in less than an hour. That was tough on my listening comfort on a 105 degree summer day in Texas.

I am hoping that the MC601's in combination with the Cary SLP-05 tube pre that I will get the liquid smooth mids and highs with the control in the lower region from the SS amp.

Hahhaa...

One of the demos I remember most with the 802 diamonds was my Cary 05 into mac601. Gave me that ghostly or phantom like imaging. Great bass too. I enjoyed it very much.

That's why I want to hear your 601 again in direct a/b against my 600.

Who know I might buy a 601.

erniejade

That will wake the legacy up!! Nice choice. Make sure you start lifting some weights before moving them!

tonyb

megasat16 wrote: »

[
Just make sure you wear a thick leather gloves and some eye protections

Isn't that how most have sex in Texas ? lol He's just changing outlets, not bumping uglies with Rosanne Bar.

tratliff

Haha funny Tony.

Well I got the 10 gauge wire run from the breaker box to the new outlet locations. Boxes installed in the wall. Nothing is connected yet as I bought the wrong breakers and had to return them for the proper ones to my friendly Home Depot.

All in all it wasn't to difficult. Wife was a big help getting the wire to me as I ran it thru the attic and then fishing them down the wall.

Now I just need to install the breakers, outlets and plug the new beauties in. That is when they arrive.

Joey_V

Keep me in the loop

[Deleted User]

If you did it wrong, keep me out of the loop

miner

Congrats on those marvelous amps. Pretty blue meters.

DaveHo

I'm no electrician, but I've done plenty of my own work. Not sure why you'd willingly use an AFCI breaker, unless you enjoy resetting it every time it nuisance trips. No need for GFCI either unless it's outdoors or in the bathroom.

tratliff

I used AFCI because that is the way the other circuits in the house are run for secondary wall outlets.

All the outlets in the bedrooms, office, living and media room were all ready run into a sub panel and used AFCI breakers.

All wet locations and outdoor circuits were originally run to the main panel and used GFCI.

I wanted this install to be as seamless as possible since the house is only 2 years old. I never had any trouble with tripping the 15 amp AFCI circuit before so I would be surprised if the new dedicated 20 amp circuits trip much. Now that I am completing the work you would never know that this was done after the initial build.

tratliff

Got the amps installed. Still waiting to finish up the electrical. They are currently powered by the 15 amp circuits. I should be able to finish up the connections over the weekend and get everything in its final places. I just could not wait for the electrical to be finished before powering up the Mac's.

I have only spent a couple of hours listening to them. My component racks are kinda out in the room until the power is finished. First thought was that these things have great power reserves and are dead quite. The image appeared to be really good but without having everything in place I will wait to offer opinions. So far I am very happy with them.

brianle

Waiting is most exciting time ... lol

erniejade

Nice!!! How's your back after lifting them? LOL I have been happy with my 402. Dead quiet, dynamic, clean, great bass control, lots of reserve and not the "typical" old McIntosh sound people have associated with McIntosh. I can imagine the 601's would be like that on steroids.

tratliff

Once I got them out of the box they were pretty easy to move around. I have never seen anything packed quite as well as these in the factory boxes. I actually had more trouble getting the boxes in the attic than anything else. The boxes alone weigh 40lbs each. Trying to manage those up the ladder and into the attic was a chore.

Im looking forward to getting things completed this weekend. I have many changes to the system and setup. I never had much time to burn in the new turntable before selling the old amps. So I should be able to start fine tuning without making any changes in the near future.