How to connect iPhone to McIntosh C2300 preamp?

[idabs96]

Hello all, my girlfriend's mom has a McIntosh C2300 preamp, and we were trying to show her some music on my iPhone. Although I'm new here, I do know a few things about audio quality and such, so I'm not looking to be told that the quality won't be high, but rather if it is possible to connect an AUX source (my iPhone) to a preamp which doesn't seem to have an AUX input. I saw somewhere that I could just plug it into the CD input or something, assuming I had the proper cables. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[orgel]

I think the cheapest method would be to get a Y cable (1/8" out of the iPhone's headphone jack to L-R RCA plugs into one of the pre-amp's non-phono unbalanced inputs. I do this routinely with my iPod Classic on my "B" system, but I'm going into an aged Sony receiver, so not much to lose. These cables are readily available at pretty much any price point.

 

There are some halfway decent docks with analog out jacks, but the only ones I'm familiar with have the old 30-pin connector, so if you have a newer iPhone you'd need a Lightning adapter that would work with the dock. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

 

Pure i20 | Docking Station for ipad and ipod | Pure Wireless Music

 

I'd just be really careful -- power down the preamp before plugging anything in, and start with the pre-amp's volume all the way down when you first hook up the iPhone. Be especially careful since the pre-amp belongs to your girlfriend's mom. :-)

 

--David

[idabs96]

I think the cheapest method would be to get a Y cable (1/8" out of the iPhone's headphone jack to L-R RCA plugs into one of the pre-amp's non-phono unbalanced inputs. I do this routinely with my iPod Classic on my "B" system, but I'm going into an aged Sony receiver, so not much to lose. These cables are readily available at pretty much any price point.

 

There are some halfway decent docks with analog out jacks, but the only ones I'm familiar with have the old 30-pin connector, so if you have a newer iPhone you'd need a Lightning adapter that would work with the dock. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

 

Pure i20 | Docking Station for ipad and ipod | Pure Wireless Music

 

I'd just be really careful -- power down the preamp before plugging anything in, and start with the pre-amp's volume all the way down when you first hook up the iPhone. Be especially careful since the pre-amp belongs to your girlfriend's mom. :-)

 

--David

 

Thanks for the reply! Is there any particular input I should use? I'm attaching a picture so you can see exactly what the inputs are.

McIntosh C2300 Preamplifier, McIntosh C2300, Preamplifier C2300 McIntosh

[maximum kahuna]

As has already been mentioned do NOT use the phono inputs; so any input 3 thru 8 should work. I'd avoid the tuner input as well. So inputs 4 -8. Turn the volume down to start and ease it up slowly. You may be surprised by how good it sounds,

[orgel]

+1 on what maximum kahuna said.

 

--David

[Musicophile]

If you want to spend some more money on this:

 

Improving iOS audio with the m2Tech hiFace DAC | Digital Audio Review by John Darko

 

Not sure how much your girlfriends mum cares about audio quality.

 

You'd still need the same Y-cable anyhow.

[Audio_ELF]

Other DACs such as iFi Nano iDSD and Ressonence Herus also work with iPhone if you are looking to improve quality.

 

Eloise

[boatheelmusic]

Just get her an airport express and stream the phone to it.

[maelob]

How she ended up with Mcintosh preamp? Lol so jealous! Somebody definitely cared about sound.