McIntosh C22 MK V -- Thoughts + Impressions?

My C22MKV now has about 75 hours on it and it's paired with a Conrad Johnson Classic 62SE. Both the C22 and the CJ need more burn-in time but at this point I'm very pleased. The phono stage in the C22 is certainly good enough for my purposes. I wanted tone and balance controls as well as a built-in phono stage in a modern tube preamp. Both the C22 and the Classic 62se are the quietest tube components I've had in-house and I'm talking about decades.

I have no idea what the C22 would sound like with a MAC tube or SS amp nor do I know what the CJ amp would sound like with a CJ preamp. What I can say is that the C22 and the CJ 62 seem to enjoy each other's company.

Speakers are Sonus Faber Guarneri Homage.

And yes, I realize that I'm responding to a post that was made over a year ago.

After many more hours of listening, and some experimentation with speaker position (SF Guarneri Homage) I just wanted to report that for my ears, the pairing of MAC C22 and cj 62SE (biased for EL34's) is a joy. This is the first time in the over two years since I sold my MFA tube separates and subsequently auditioning a number of potential replacements, that I feel I can live "happily after."

And while I'm curious about how the latest generation of the MC275 would sound in our home, I am not especially motivated to arrange an audition. But then again, "never say never." At least sometimes.

I had the McIntosh C22 V in home for the past 3 days. I also had 2 other high end brands, that sell for twice the $6,500 price of the McIntosh. I was certain that I would gravitate toward the more expensive preamps, but at the end of the day, I preferred McIntosh for the following reasons:

1. Very good MM stage when used with Auditorium 23 SUT
2. Balanced and single ended inputs and outputs....easy to add a sub, or run a long balanced interconnect from preamp to amp.
3. Excellent "tone" when combined with my Duelund speaker cables (constructed according to Jeff Day's articles)
4. Played well with Western Electric 300B's and Horn speakers
5. Changes in interconnects and power cables were easily distinguishable
6. A very "relaxing" presentation. Could listen for hours without fatigue. Very musical.
7. I had a customer service question and McIntosh literally returned my call in 5 minutes
8. Portrayed the performance "venue" very well, with a deep sound-stage, separation between instruments and vocal duets etc
9. Channel balance knob to ensure equal channel volume
10. Tube rolling opportunity

Only negatives were, I didn't care for the MC stage or some of the features like bass and treble adjustments.

This was my first exposure to McIntosh, but it seems like a very solid value and sounds like a live performance in my system.

Want to know if McIntosh C22 mk V users are swapping 12ax7"A" with 12 AX7 tubes?

I read about the "series and parallel" circuit of the C22 preamp....hence the 12AX7"A" tube that it comes with.

If I don't mixed tubes (use all 12ax7 instead of 12AX7A) is this OK?

Thanks for the advice.

Stay to one sort of tubes, don't mix if possible.

And use the best tubes you can afford on your phono section.

Thank you for the feedback. Good advice!