C500/C1000 preamps - Any source for Upgraded Custom Umbilical Interconnect Cables?

joeinid

joeinid

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I saw this in the McIntosh user manual "The Custom Interconnect Cables are supplied with the C500 Preamplifier and C500 Tube Preamplifier. They are the ONLY cables to be used for connecting a C500 Controller to the C500 Preamplifier or C500 Tube Preamplifier." I was thinking with all talk about cable upgrades, has anyone offered upgraded cables for C500 and C1000 umbilical cords. Two are required and I'd love to find a better set thinking I'd get at least some improvement on my C500T. Any thoughts? Thanks!
 
Would be interesting Joe, but i am not aware of anyone offering upgraded cords for either.
 
I'm thinking they'd have to be custom made. I heard that the C1000 umbilical might be better than the C500 umbilical cords. I'd love to know if they can be interchanged. Hmmmm.

volks said:
Would be interesting Joe, but i am not aware of anyone offering upgraded cords for either.
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The C1000 umbilicals are round as opposed to the old computer looking style of the C500. They aren't interchangeable. But if one had custom (silver?) umbilicals made, I'd imagine they would make a difference, though. But I can't imagine squeezing anymore detail, extension, or musicality out of my C500 between the Psvane 12ax7's I use and the best power cord I could find after lots of auditions.
 
joeinid said:
I'm thinking they'd have to be custom made. I heard that the C1000 umbilical might be better than the C500 umbilical cords. I'd love to know if they can be interchanged. Hmmmm.
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That's easy to find out. Use McIntosh's 800 number.

Does any audio go through those cables, or are they just for the controller to the preamp section?
 
I don't know if the audio is affected. I can not remember who told me about using better umbilicals for better sound.
 
Some people worry too much and have run out of things to tweak. I'm waiting for audio companies to come up with high-end air that we can install inside our components to replace the 'bad' air that is currently inside them. You could send your cables to the Blue Goo master and have him slather some goo on your cables and give you a fancy looking piece of paper that says your cables have been 'upgraded.'
 
C500/C1000 preamps - Any source for Upgraded Custom Umbilical Interconnect Ca...

Mark - Joe isn't off base. I was told by Mike, the owner of LMC in Phoenix (one of the top Mc dealers in the country), that the c1000 cables were a nice upgrade over the c500 cables. Mike mentioned that there are some better, after market cables for the C500 which brought it real close to the C1000 sonically. He doesn't believe the C1000 and C500 sound the same....but with a few tweaks - you can darn close.


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joeinid said:
I'm thinking they'd have to be custom made. I heard that the C1000 umbilical might be better than the C500 umbilical cords. I'd love to know if they can be interchanged. Hmmmm.
Click to expand...

I agree. And perhaps the best solution is to plug directly the controller and the preamp without the outlet. Not very easy, but sure better than without the 2 db25 outlets.

no audio goes through these cables, only power but i think it's very important because all the filter, traitement etc. are done by the controller so they need to be near perfect.

Joe, if you find something like that...tell me ;) i will do the same for you ;)

Frank
 
I have never seen or heard of anyone with upgraded umbilical cables for the C500. Anybody here dig any deeper on this subject? Do upgraded cables exist?
 
The owner of LMC (Mike) in Arizona mentioned this to me. He said he had a source for one and it made a nice difference. I could be wrong, but that's what I remember when him and I last spoke a few months ago.
 
I believe the C1000 umbilicals interface well. Had no reason to question the quality of the cable for their purpose. My preference is not to tighten the rings on the umbilicals though with a view to theoretically minimising any potential vibration travel.

The C1000 is just one of those very very special, magical pre-amps that is a keeper for life. I sometimes think about purchasing the 3rd box, the C1000P while still in production, just to complete the set.

My only gripe is that it burns tubes in the phono stage even when that source is not selected. If there was room for improvement, it would be the phono stage and the headphone amp. Even so, no compelling reason to want to go out and buy either of these stages as separates.

It sometimes misses the power off trigger in passthru mode and falls back to its prior source mode of operation. Say one in fifty power down cycles. No big deal.
 
Mike said:
The owner of LMC (Mike) in Arizona mentioned this to me. He said he had a source for one and it made a nice difference. I could be wrong, but that's what I remember when him and I last spoke a few months ago.
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LMC is legit! friend of mine out here in the Southwest goes all they way to deal with Mike. I believe this is to be good insight to upgrading something I never thought could be upgraded.
 
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