McIntosh and Autoformers. . .?

Germanbox, your speakers and amp combo would appear to fall smack in the middle of the grey area with regards to sonic improvement with the addition of an auto-transformer. My experience was with the MA-1 Mk II, not II.2. Yet I would speculate that the benefits with the AT on my Maggie 3.6s would be the same whether the MA-1 version was the II or II.2.

My friend, you have an outstanding system to say the least. You deserve the best that it can offer, whether this means adding the AT or doing nothing. So, for the comparatively small price of Paul Speltz's "Zero" transformers, my recommendation is to contact him and work out an audition arrangement. Or, you can opt for Ralph's more expensive (buy probably no better) "Music Z" auto-transformer. Fit, form and function is basically the same. Then you can provide us with a follow-up report and further shrink that grey area where the AT works well.

I like the autoformer. I've owned some nice Krell and Levinson, but after listening to the Mac I hear a slight ocillation in those, mostly on strings and voices. I never noticed it before and it is slight. I think it is due to the AF, as it presents a steady load to the output stage. With a direct coupled amp, as the impedance of you speaker changes with frequency responce, and music is all over the place, the output stage will dish out more or less current so it's flucuating alot. Certainly the Krells and Lev's are up to it but it's still flucuating, and they may have their strengths too. Take all the advice you can get, but make sure you "buy" what sounds good to you or else you are a loser.

Nealhood, very good advice... thank you. Hopefully, Paul will allow me to audition it and I definitely will report back should I be able to arrange this.

How important is it to use good cable from amp to autoformer? I've pushed the finances almost as far as I can (wife has that serious look on her face if even a small box is delivered to the house) and the thought of matching speaker cable quality for the short run to the autoformer is giving me the shakes.

Good news, from my perspective anyway. I don't get bowled over by cables. Just keep then short as possible and use any decent 10 or 12 awg shotgun cable (available at your local Home Depot or Radioshack). Longer runs may require more attention but, with monoblocs you should be able to keep them relatively short.

I have not heard the dramatic differences between cables as I do between components. There have been very slight changes but, it seems that whenever I was happy with a given system, I was also happy with it when different cables were employed. They just don't make or break a system in my opinion.

I know the merits of cable selection can be a subject of heated debate and I am going against the grain here so you need to keep an open mind. However, to get started forget about the expensive stuff. In your system even lamp cord will perform excellent.

Nealhood, ordered a pair of ZERO's from Paul yesterday and should get a chance to see what they do in my system by the end of the week. Very good experience dealing with Paul... very knowledgable and accomodating. I'll try to write a review on the effects of an autoformer with an 8ohm speaker next week. Thanks for the advice!