[K_Roen]

Let me introduce myself first.  My name is Keith and I reside in Escondido Californa.  I am not yet an owner of any Jim's masterful creations but I have ordered a pair of HT3's sight and sound blind due to the reviews I've read here in this owners forum.  I'm sure that my faith is going to be rewarded.   It is truely amazing to see the strong opinions here and the dedication to Jim's craftmanship both in his woodworking and selection of components assembled for each of his speakers.  My question has anyone any opinions of using McIntosh amps and preamps to drive the HT3's.  Reading all the post I haven't seen them mentioned and I am wonderig why.  I love reading the forums here and look forward to sharing my experiences (few as this newbie has) with all of you as well.

[DMurphy]

Hi   I guess there aren't any 'tosh owners out there.  It's solid equipment and would have no problems with the HT line.  What the HT3 needs is lots of clean watts, and I'm sure you have that.

[BPuckett]

The original post is pretty old, so I won't be surprised if my post doesn't generate any interest.  About two weeks ago, I ordered a pair of HT3's sans an audition, based on all the positive information I have collected about them.  I have found Jim to be a very fine person with whom to do business.  His approach to customer service is excellent and highly refreshing.  It would be great if all business owners would emulate Jim's method of conducting business.

Anyway, I have two McIntosh MC162 amplifiers that I run in bridged mode, one for each channel.  In bridged mode, each amplifier outputs 320 Watts into 8 Ohms and 500 Watts into 4 Ohms.  My preamplifier is a McIntosh C15.  I have found this combination to provide all the power I need with my current speakers, which have a rated efficiency of 90 dB.  Actually, I have more power than I need for those speakers.  The HT3's, at 85 dB efficiency, will have plenty of power available to drive them.  I'm looking forward to hearing them for the first time.

The rest of my system is comprised of a Musical Fidelity AC3 CD player and a Music Hall MMF-5 turntable.  I'm planning on replacing the turntable with something better in the next couple of months, but I haven't decided what I want, yet.

By the way, Jim was able to locate a beautiful batch of Hawaiian koa veneer, which was my first choice.  He's going to put a semi-gloss finish on the speakers, which I think will look terrific.

[Big Red Machine]

What cabling do you plan to use?

[dB Cooper]

The original post may not have gotten a response because of being posted four days before xmas, a time many people are busy as all getout.

[BPuckett]

Well, BRM, I fall into the camp of people who don't buy into the esoteric claims about cables (I'm a skeptical Electrical Engineer).  Sure, a well made set of cables is better than the standard speaker wire available at Radio Shack, but I can't convince myself to pay hundreds of dollars for cables.  Currently, I have a well made set of cables that I bought from Impact Acoustics.  Here's a link to a description of them...

http://www.impactacoustics.com/product.asp?cat%5Fid=3102&sku=29176

As you can see, they are considered to be "budget" cables.  But, they work just fine in my system.

That being said, I do have very good, and somewhat expensive, interconnect cables.  The much smaller signals carried by interconnects can be much more adversely affected by cable quality than the high level signals carried by speaker cables.

I respect other peoples' opinions about speaker cables, and I have no quarrel with anyone who uses what makes him happy.  But, I prefer to spend my money on components that actually make an audible difference to me.

I forgot to mention in my first post to this thread that, as soon as my HT3's arrive and I break them in, I will submit my opinion of how my McIntosh equipment plays with them.  Also, anyone in the Houston, Texas area will be welcome to audition them in my home.

Take care,
Bob

[Philistine]

Bob,
It was my purchase of a pair of HT3's that turned me from an AC site lurker into a member.  Most contributers fall into the ownership category of 'boutique' manufactures and not 'mainstream', consequently I'm not surprised that you couldn't find any McIntosh/Salk owners.  I have a Musical Fidelity amp, so guess that puts me in the non-typical category - nevertheless it sounds great with the HT3's and I'm sure yours will sound fine too.

I did talk to Jim about speaker cable suitability with the HT3's , along with Danny Richie at GR Research - I tried Nordost/Acoustic Zen/Zu Cable but found Gregg Straley's Reality Cables (which Danny recommended) worked very well for me.  At the same time a number of other forum members use these cables as they represent a great price/performance balance.  They did replace a bi-wired cable that was based on a a regular Belden copper product, and sounded significantly better.       

[zoestanley]

i have a d-sonic 7 channel amp hooked to my ht3s and really enjoy it so far.  i don't have the center or surrounds hooked up yet but the ht3s are awesome.  i also don't have any fancy speaker cables yet.