McAlister tube amp review

halo

My brother and I were invited to Rich’s (SCompRacer) home to demo his new McAlister tube amp last Sunday. First let me say he was an extremely gracious and accommodating host. I was killing a couple of birds with one stone during this visit. I got to hear tube gear, SDA’s, and an SVS sub all for the first time.

Equipment used:

SDA SRS 2 with silk tweeters, crossovers rebuilt with Solen Caps/Mills resistors.
McAlister PP150 Tube Amp
Ah! Njoe Super Tjoeb CDP with UpSampler board and Amperex 7308 tubes
Dodd Audio MLP tube pre-amp
AudioTruth Lapis & Nordost Red Dawn IC’s.
PS Audio XStream Bi Wire Speaker Cables

Material:

Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (Welcome to The Machine)

Norah Jones - Come Away With Me (Don’t Know Why)

Dire Straits – Brother In Arms (Money for Nothing)

Sheryl Crow – If it Makes You Happy (No One Said It Would Be Easy – Live)

Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon (Time)

Pearl Jam – Jeremy (Yellow Ledbetter)

Toni Braxton – Secrets (You’re Makin Me High)

Creed – My Own Prison (One)

Setup and room configuration are discussed here: link

I didn’t have any expectations or preconceived notions before the first track played. I don’t consider myself an expert by any means either. I’m just going to tell you what I think. Rich stuck me in the “sweet spot”. My brother sat down next to me and then the demo began.

Welcome to the machine started and I could not believe how much bass there was. As the song (and the rest of the songs that day) progressed one word kept repeating in my head – BALANCED. Nothing was out of place with the music. Everything was exactly where it was supposed to be. The highs, mids, and lows were blending perfectly. In my rig the highs and mids stand out whereas the bass is subdued. The only time I felt like saying “turn down the bass” was during Toni’s “You’re makin me high”. Alas there was no bass knob to be turned; it was all straight from the source. I think the tube amp has deeper, stronger, tighter, and more sustained bass. Vocals are soft and smooth with the tube gear, they are harsh/bright with my solid-state amps (first Rotel and now – to a lesser degree – Parasound). No listening fatigue here. I also think that the tube amp is very appealing aesthetically.

This is what I thought a separate component system should sound like. This is how I wanted my rig to sound. THIS is audio nirvana!

The only thing that concerned me was the massive power supply. When I first saw it I thought it was another amplifier! It was also putting out a slight hum that probably came from being dropped during shipping. I could not hear it from a foot away let alone the sweet spot.

After the 2 Channel demo was over we went into his home theater. He’s got LCi In-walls and an SVS sub. It all sounds fantastic. If you don’t think you can get great sound from in wall speakers I would say you're mistaken. As far as the SVS subwoofer....I get it! It isn't about the sound that it puts out; it is the vibrations! Master and Commander was the material for the HT demo.

Before we left I’d made up my mind that McAlister Audio is definitely in my future. I’m going to put in my order soon. Rich has generously offered to allow me to demo some gear in my environment on my speakers. I’m telling you right now that Rich is a class act and I cannot thank him enough for all his advice, assistance, and most of all his overwhelming generosity.

I hope this was a good review. I don't know all the proper audio terminology :eek:

madmax

Great review.
Thanks for sharing!
madmax

ND13

Nah!!!! Rich is one of those Fed Ex ****.

J/K- Rich IS a class act.

Thanks for the review.

Normanality

Great review Victor!

Having been out to Rich's house numerous times and having heard his
setup before and after the tube amp, I can attest to the tremendous
bass response and the balanced sound from those SRS's.

I still am amazed how much deeper and tighter the bass is over the Rotel 1090B. I wasn't expecting that. The Rotel was itself a big step over the Carver TFM35 & 45 and the Adcom GFA 555.

I also agree how good the HT setup with the Polk in-walls and SVS sound.
I'm jealous that he has the best of both worlds.

Steamer

Wonderful review. That tube amp is definately on my audio shopping list. When Rich gets into something he doesn't stop til it really pleases him. I was sold on this amp after the things Rich and Norm had to say about it. Like icing on the cake after reading your review.

halo

The line forms BEHIND me!!!!!!!!

madmax

Mine is about 2 weeks away, hopefully. I asked if he could do monoblocks and he said he can. 12 power tubes and 4 chassis yield 150 wpc. Mine is the 75x2.
madmax

danger boy

nice review.. sounds like a perfect demo. tons of great gear there... i can imagine it sounded very, very nice.

halo

I just put my order in today. Peter is a great guy and he knows his ****. Its gonna be a long wait but well worth it IMHO.

polkatese

Great review, peersool! congrats on the purchase. Rich is a class act and one generous man.

reeltrouble1

Very nice review, remember you are hearing a total system, not just the one piece. There is alot of quality in that whole rig.

RT1

BlueMDPicker

madmax wrote:

Mine is about 2 weeks away, hopefully. I asked if he could do monoblocks and he said he can. 12 power tubes and 4 chassis yield 150 wpc. Mine is the 75x2.
madmax

If these things drive your SDA SRS to your satisfaction, you better plan on a listening party. No alibis, or a tent village springs up in your front yard.

I've driven mine with that power class tube amplification for months and moved back to SS in that rig to control transient speed, extension (low and high), and headroom at higher sound level in the big SDAs. My DCM has a fixed output impedance @5 ohms, and I believe that has much to do with what I felt was missing driving speakers of this class.