mcintosh c39


Looking to replace my preamp,I have been using a vintage hk 402 as my pre,its hooked up to a anthem a2 power amp 225 watts per ,thorough a pair of von schweikert vr3s.Would like opinions on mcintosh c39,have heard good things about this piece, but have not had the oppotunity to audition myself.Any advise or opinions would be great thanks Maxwell
maxwell
I'm looking at one of these that must be the earlier unit as I only see the 2 balanced xlr outputs and the DIN style connector. That would mean that I could used balanced out for stereo but I would be limited to using a 5 or six channel amp that has the same DIN connector. (ex. MC7106)

Does anyone know of any other possible amp choices for HT set-up?
The 39 is not fully balanced.

Also, IIRC, the first production 39/130 had xlr outs but later ones replace those with a 6 rca outs to be used with their MAC-3 decoder. It was in that transitioning time between Pro Logic and 5.1.
Anyone knows if C39 is fully balanced or it's just a fact of having XLR outs?
I owned one for a number of years and was very pleased with it's performance. They extremely well built and do a very good job on analog. Beware though as there were two versions, one with 6 channel and one without. The one without seems to be not as prevalent as the 6 channel version. A good source of info on these would be audioclassics.com.
I own the McIntosh MX-130 AV Pre. As I understand it, the C39 is basically the same Unit, minus the tuner.

One advantage I understand the C39 has versus the MX-130, is the C39 has XLR main outs, the MX-130 doesn't.

I've been very happy with my MX-130, dead quiet, relaiable, versatile, usable tone controls which are said to be out of the circuit when set flat, a great variable loudness compensation dial, very attractive.

If XLR outs are not important to you, the MX-130 might as well be another option. They often sell quite cheaply due to advances in home theather processing. They both work perfectly fine as a stereo only pre-amp, and IMO are very good buys for the money spent. Mark