JM Lab Speakers With McIntosh Amp?


I am looking to finally sell my Thiel 3.5 speakers and upgrade to a pair of JM Lab 926s. Will pair them with a McIntosh MC 2002 amp. Wondering if anyone else out there has a similar setup. I am using a McIntosh receiver in my family room with a pair of JM Lab Chorus 714s and the combination sounds great. In fact, I seem to be listening more to it than my main system these days.
avideo
Hey Man! Welcome to the group of people who have learned that the JM Lab 926 is a great speaker! Take a look at Aball, he has been using the 926's for some time and has migrated his way through many amps, but his favorites have been the Mac amps...for awhile he was running the 7200, now I think he has them bi-amped using a older mac for the mid/highs and some other solid state for the lows...check it out!
Thanks Bearotti for the lead-in. My system page indeed has lots of info about my trials and tribulations so if you are truly interested in a very detailed answer, check there.

The highly-condensed summary is that I feel the 926/2002 combination will be excellent. In the grand scheme, the highs won't be pristine but that will be the amp's fault and not the speakers', and will not be an issue at all considering the 2002's modest price these days. There is a chance the 2002 will be a slightly "faster" amp than your MC150 but if you want to stick with SS, you should try one of their newer offerings like the MC162 at a good price or the MC252 if you can go all out. But to be truly impressed, I would suggest you get one of the new-issue MC275 tube amps....

The Electra 926 is a wonderful speaker. I have had several pairs of various brands and find the 926s to strike the perfect balance between richness and detail, speed and coherence, and power and refinement. This is a very tough act to follow. They also have a fantastic power response so they can throw a huge soundstage and with the right source, populate it perfectly and with enough space and air to make it feel real and natural. This too is a hard attribute to get in a speaker anywhere near this price point. For what they go for used these days, the 926s are one of the best deals around in my experience.

Be warned however, that speakers have to be well sized to your room and the 926s are no exception. I have mine in a 14x13x7.5 room that has two permanently-open doorways in the back corner and feel that this is an excellent room for them. If you don't have the doorways, you can go with a larger room. If you have an open floorplan, you might want to consider adding a subwoofer. All this is assuming you want to get the most of the 926s. My -3dB point is at 23Hz with no more than +3dB variation throughout the bass region - which is awesome performance for a small, square room and no sub. If you have a large room, consider 936s or even 946s instead.

By the way, the Chorus 714S are AMAZING little speakers. One of my hifi buddies had a pair and those little jobbers knocked our socks off on many an occasion. He had a variety of tube amps hooked up to them and the amount of detail and impressive transparency that came out of the 714s was astonishing. In the dark, it felt like we were tripping, bordering on sensory overload track after track. The 716S pales in comparison, with a disjointed midrange and boomy bass. If one day I need inexpensive little speakers, I will be buying a pair of 714S. But your positive impression of them gives you only a hint of what you will have with 926s....

Arthur
Very very good sound. I heard the micro be and the Electra 1000be with all Mcintosh tube gear in a 12x13 untreated room And loved it. It felt like the Pat Metheny group was playing right there in the room. I also heard the Grand Utopia in a large untreated room with Mcintosh solid state gear and it also sound very good. You can't go wrong with your choice. I wasnt in the market for them but a friend of mine mentioned i had to give them a listen and im glad i did. If i hadnt put a deposit on the Merlin/Arsonum Filarmonia integrated, the mac/focal combo would for sure be on my short list.
I run an MC252 with Focal/ JM Labs 836 Chorus line with great results. I use a VTL 2.5 tube pre-amp as well. Not sure if the 926's are really worth the extra $2K or not. These 836's will blow you away!!
Not exactly the combo you are talking about. But I am listening to MC402 / c2200 Pre and the 1037's Be. This is avery nice combo for me. These items are mosly linear so you also need linear cables. I tried so many cables but finally found Virtual Dynamics. VD are the best. Read up on them. Even their entry level can do wonders.

I have tried Transparent (Super), Harmonic Tech., Synergystic Reserch, Cardas reference and Cross, AudioQuest, and Nordost (Frey) just to name a few.