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Preamp or CD Player for Best Sonic Improvement

Hello,
I'm new to this forum. I have been considering an upgrade for my system & have come up with the following options.I have not being able to make up my mind yet so i shall very much appreciate any suggestions & comments.

(1) Upgrade my pre to a Mac TUBE C2200. ( I will only consider Mac for now )

(2) Upgrade my source to either Linn Ikemi or electrocompaniet EMC1UP.

Either way i will be upgrading my source at some point but right now i'm only interested in the option which will give me the best sonic improvement TODAY as i will not be able to upgrade again for sometime(at least for 2 years).I have to say that i will prefer option 1,the TUBES, if it can give me the best sonic improvement for the next 2 years till i can afford a better source.Is this correct or should it be vise versa ????

My sys - Linn Genki CDP,Mac MA6900,TDL Reference Studio Monitors(18Hz-20Khz),Transparent Cables

Thanks a lot for the replies,
Dylon
dilly0727
ljgj
955 posts
 
Are you planning on using the Mac C2200 with the amp of the 6900? I
own a C2200 and a C42 preamp. The 42 will never make it back into the
main system again. The 2200 is a gem. The 6900 has I believe the 42
preamp and the 202 amp in its integrated state.
thsalmon
348 posts
 
I'm basically a "source first" proponent, and I'd get the Ikemi. It is clearly superior to the Genki.
dilly0727 OP
2 posts
 
Thanks for the replies.Yes Ljgj. I plan to use the amp section of the MA6900 (maybe till i can afford seperates) with the C2200.Can i expect a big improvement with the C2200 over my buit-in C42.

As Thsalmon suggests i too believe that the source is very important & the Ikemi is much better than Genki.But as i mentioned i will be upgrading it at somepoint.So would the C2200 be a better improvement NOW ?

Right now i would like to change the component which would give me the best overall improvement.I'm not very experienced with tubes & i have not heard tubes in my sys.I also know that the differences or gains in digital front ends are relatively small compared to the price you pay.So with my budjet of $4500/-,are the TUBES the way to go ? Final vote ??

Dylon
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
You havn't mentioned other sources, and it may be begging the obvious, but changing the pre will benefit all of your source components, while changing the CD will only benefit....the CD. Additionally you might consider that, while amplification design is "mature", with so many emerging digital formats the future direction of digital source material is in question.
ljgj
955 posts
 
I vote for the C2200 and later get a new Cd player than the 402 amp. Sell the 6900 to finance the amp. The 42 is a very good preamp - the 2200 is more natural sounding and IMHO will be an improvement.
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