Предусилители — McIntosh C2700

The McIntosh C2700 is a two-channel vacuum tube preamplifier that combines a valve line stage with a built-in digital section, and the maker has since moved it to its legacy product pages. Its circuit runs on five 12AX7A tubes and one 12AT7, while digital decoding is handled by the DA2 Digital Audio Module, which comes installed. Behind the black glass front panel, framed by aluminium and polished steel, sit blue backlit VU meters.

Key specs that matter

McIntosh counts 16 inputs in total, nine of them analog and seven digital. The analog group includes balanced XLR sockets, unbalanced RCA sockets and one MM and one MC phono socket. The digital group brings two coaxial inputs, optical inputs, a USB port, an HDMI ARC connection and the McIntosh MCT socket for a secure DSD link to the brand's SACD/CD transports. Outputs comprise three XLR and three RCA variable pairs, and headphones plug into a 6.3 mm front socket. Maximum output reaches 16 V through XLR and 8 V through RCA. Frequency response is rated at +0/-0.5 dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz and at -3 dB from 15 Hz to 100 kHz, with total harmonic distortion at 0.08%. The chassis is 444.5 mm wide, 194 mm high and 457 mm deep and weighs 13.4 kg.

Engineering and use context

Decoding inside the DA2 relies on an eight-channel DAC of 32-bit resolution arranged in Quad Balanced mode. Over USB it accepts PCM up to 384 kHz along with DXD and DSD64 through DSD512, while the coaxial and optical inputs work up to 24-bit/192 kHz. McIntosh keeps the analog and digital input circuits separate inside the chassis to prevent crosstalk between them. The headphone amplifier includes the HXD crossfeed circuit, and bass and treble controls are fitted for small level adjustments. A Home Theater PassThru mode is provided for integration with a surround processor. Around the rear panel are an RS232 port, an IR input on a 3.5 mm jack, data ports and 3.5 mm trigger outputs for switching other McIntosh components, and McIntosh ships a remote control with it.

Pairing

Either output type can feed a stereo or mono power amplifier setup, and the data ports and triggers link power switching with other McIntosh components. A turntable with either cartridge type connects directly, while a McIntosh SACD transport hands over DSD data through the MCT socket.

Alternatives

The McIntosh C55 is a solid state preamplifier from the same range with a matching set of 16 inputs and an eight-band analog equalizer.