Help choosing a power amp to run with my new Sierra LX speakers

[reforminded]

With the MC452, you won't need that much power, and if you use it all, you will damage just about any speaker.

What was the class D amp you were using for comparison?

Setup 1) Vintage McIntosh Stack with C29 Preamp and MC2205 Power amp. Both were recently serviced and bench tested beautifully. The MC2205 was bench tested at hitting a little over 260 wpc before clipping. The sounds from this stack is big and bold with plenty of oomph, but I worry I am losing some detail, particularly at the low end. Damping factor is lowerish at 16, so I wonder if that is a conflict with the long excursion woofers, although I have read that anything over 10 is fine unless you are pushing monster long throw 15" woofers. Sounds stage is big and deep but not as open and differentiated. The sound is big and musical but I worry I am losing detail compared to the Marantz.

Setup 2) Marantz Model 30. Listed at 100 wpc, but Stereophile measured it at 165 watts before clipping, and two different german sites measured it at 174 and 183. (https://www.stereophile.com/content/...r-measurements) It is a dual Hypex NCore amp that share a lot of circuitry (and the modules) with the legendary PM-KI. Overall the integrated Marantz measures quite well, and is dead silent in the background. The sound is very detailed and clean, but has less oomph than the Mac. I feel like the bass notes are more articulate and differentiated but without as much extension. Sounds stage is very wide and detailed but not as deep as the Macs. Sometimes I worry it is too analytical a sound compared to the bg fun Mac, but is a little drying presentation the trade off for increased detail?


When I first switch from the Macs to the Marantz, the music sounds kind of thin and veiled until my ears adjust. Then after listening for a while and tuning myself to the more subtle, detailed sound of the Marantz,when I switch back to the Macs it sounds a little boomy and almost overwhelming in comparison. But then again my ears adjust. I am worried I might just need to keep both and get a 2 in 1 out splitter to feed the speakers so I can switch the setup based on what I am listening too haha. Initial impressions are older records (aka Fleetwood Mac from the 70's and vintage Jazz Records) sound better on the McIntosh, while digital sounds better on the Marantz. I can't decide or figure it out, which is why I am here looking for advice.

[curtis]

Interesting you seem to hear that much of a difference.

While I thought I heard a difference between my ATI 1505 and Purifi 1ET400A based amp, it didn't cause me any concern.