I bought my Diapasons a year ago and started to drive them with a McIntosh MA6500 integrated amp, already to good results. Later, I had the new McIntosh C 2200 tube preamp, which was excellent in giving more and preciser soundstage, more natural sounding voices, better defined pop music, you name it. After that, I compared it to a C42 and C200 preamp. The C200 is even better than the C 2200, especially if you do not listen only to classical music, but dynamic pop music as well.
At a dealer's premises, I compared the preamp part of my own MA6500, the C2200, and the C200, running them with the amplifier part of the MA6500, and with a MC352 power amp. I found that the differences between the preamps were much greater than between the power amps. So I bought a C200, and the results are amazing. Given the fact that the C2200 costs 4500 $, and the C200 $ 6000 or more, the 2200 certainly is the better bargain. You should already be able to find one on Audiogon, I think. The Macs and the Diapasons work excellently with LAT International interconnects and speaker cables.
At a dealer's premises, I compared the preamp part of my own MA6500, the C2200, and the C200, running them with the amplifier part of the MA6500, and with a MC352 power amp. I found that the differences between the preamps were much greater than between the power amps. So I bought a C200, and the results are amazing. Given the fact that the C2200 costs 4500 $, and the C200 $ 6000 or more, the 2200 certainly is the better bargain. You should already be able to find one on Audiogon, I think. The Macs and the Diapasons work excellently with LAT International interconnects and speaker cables.