[deadie]

You're selling your MC275 for the price you paid for it a decade ago?  From the seller side, props.  As a buyer of vintage McGear, the long term value retention sucks!    
 
Well, if you still want to try out your HD800s with the 1/4" TRS termination to the MC275 speaker taps, you're welcome to borrow my cable.  I had this made to drive a LCD-2 with the Emotiva X-Mini.  No bueno.  All power, no musicality.  Anyway, ping me if you're interested.  
 

 

[4N6]

Having a little fun with the office system. Brought in a pair of Sonus Faber Guarneri memento speakers to hook up with the MHA100/exaSound e22 rig. WOW! My office never had it so good! How will I ever get any work done?!? 

 
As an Integrated Amp, the MHA100 is pretty darned good and it upscaled very well going from the ProAc's to the Sonus Faber's. I'm very, very impressed.

 

[groovyd]

Mac amps always kick well above their rated output.  You can pretty much double the power rated out when comparing to any other amp out there.  The MHA built in speaker amp is no slouch even for larger then bookshelfs.

 

[lockjaw]

deadie:
 
I had no idea one can hook up headphones to a full size amp like the MC 275
 
my amp sale fell through, maybe a message from up above saying "are you freaking crazy wanting to sell that amp!!!"
 
who am i to argue with the man upstairs???  
 
 
so now that the mc275 is sticking around, I have to try hooking up HFs to it.  Will experiment on my stalwart Sony md7506!  
 
I should be able to cobble together a cable like the one you have, if not, would love to try yours.  I think my soldering iron still works.  Fire insurance is up to date...  
 
thanks!  - steve

 

[deadie]

Good luck Steve!  Here are the two main "Speaker amp for headphones" threads: 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/649107/speaker-amps-for-headphones
http://www.head-fi.org/t/629352/he-500-lcd2-d5000-dt770-sr80-on-a-speaker-amp-emotiva-mini-x-a-100-project
 
What preamp / volume control would you use between your source and amp?
 
Slightly off topic, but what's also a trip is to turn it around, so to speak - instead of an amp driving headphones, I've also used my Chord Hugo's TRS headphone out to directly drive speakers.  The creator of the Hugo, Rob Watts, gave me the idea in the Hugo thread.   

 

[lockjaw]

Probably use my Lehman black cube as a pre amp
Could also use digital volume control on my audio lab m-dac.
Probably better to keep dac at max volume and use lehmann. Can try both

I plan to eventually get a better dac when I'm done destroying my amp and headphones!

Cool idea to use Hugo. Does it have the mojo?

 

[deadie]

The output direct from the RCA or TRS jacks to the speakers is surprisingly robust.  I'm using efficient Paradigm Monitors, and while the Hugo doesn't take it up to room filling levels, it's very musical and more punchy than you'd expect.
 
But, on topic, I want a MHA-100.    Man I'm jonesing to call my rep at Audio Classics for one of the used units.

 

[groovyd]

Is that Mike, your Audio Classics rep?  Got my D100 off him.
 
I think to drive your headphones properly from a serious speaker amp you will need to create an adapter box with headphone jack on one side and 4 speaker cables out the other.  I suspect it needs to be impedance matched to 8-16 ohms via a hefty resistor divider and network that in the end only puts <4 watts across the headphone load.  If your amp is 75 watts that means 71 watts of power need to be bled off in the resistors, pretty beefy i think.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

Mike at Audio Classic is the best in the biz. I've been a customer for many years.

 

[groovyd]

yeah, he did well on the D100 for me.  i am considering the MHP100 to replace my T1 connected to the D100.  Am assuming it is a perfect match for that output in terms of power and impedance.  have heard a lot of good reviews so far.

 

[deadie]

Yep - Mike Sastra, cool dude, knowledgeable, chill. 
 
Yeah there's definitely potential need for resistors between the source and amp, tons of good info particularly in the Emotiva thread.
 
I also have a Mac 2505 amp (50w) in my office, which I use dual purpose, driving speakers as well as headphones through its TRS output.  I'd love to try to run my HD800s from the speaker taps, see / hear any difference.  
 
But it's another one of them vintage spade / screw amps, so I connect via bare wire to my speakers.  There are those spade to banana plug adapters off the bay, just haven't gotten around to buying them.  

 

[IceClass]

Well my dealer called to say the MHA100 has arrived but I still have three weeks wait until the infinitely better half flies down through the big city to pick it up and bring it home.
 
Agony.

 

[lockjaw]

I put my order in today for the MHA100 ! ! ! ! !  
 
Should have it within the week, can't wait!
 
I ALMOST purchased a D100 to go with but just didn't have the nerve.. yet.  I'm a little worried about the MAH100s built-in DAC, I'm sure it'll get the job done for now.  I have an AudioLab MDAC which I can AB.  Suspect they will be of similar quality.  Will post some comments.  
 
Do guys think the D100 is worth it??  
 
-Steve

 

[groovyd]

My D100 is a beautiful sounding DAC, but I haven't heard the MHA100s... I am waiting for them to release a tube based headphone amp only that pairs with the D100.

 

[IceClass]

Is the preamp section of the MHA100 worthy of the investment in a MC275?