4 vintage McIntosh components

[D Balanconi]

Need more info. on 4 vintage McIntosh components

Images of the components can be found at:

http://www.fastmoneyhappens.com/auction.html

[vinylphile]

Need more info. on 4 vintage McIntosh components

Images of the components can be found at:

http://www.fastmoneyhappens.com/auction.html

What do you need to know?? Briefly, these are all solid state pieces from the 70's. I can remember all of them from when I sold high end stereo, decades ago. They are reliable, but not particularly wonderful sounding when compared with the better units made today.

[Brian Levy]

The equalizer goes with the Mc ML series speakers so unless you have a set put it away. The MC2105 is 105rms/channel and a 1st generation amp that is the same as MC2100 but has glass panel and meters. The amp has an amazing sound and presents more depth and emotion of the music than the later fare. These were voiced to present the same audio emotional responses as the Mc tube amps and did very well. The C28 preamp was the first attempt of Mc at a SS preamp that really reclaimed their as having some great gear. Though not the quietest preamp due to the amount of controls, particularly the input and output attenuators with all the asociated wiring, it is considered to have the best of the Mc ss phono preamps and presents an excellent vintage sound not showing any of the shrillness and hardness so typical of preamps during the time. The MR-78 is well THE DX'er of the Mc line. To accomplsh this it is not quite as good as the MR-77 which is similar in design.

The pieces should be gone over by a GOOD tech who has KNOWLEDGE and EXPERIENCE with McIntosh. I prefer to send Mc straight to the factory.

I have the 2105, 28 and 77. The C28 when in spec is very quiet unless you are dealing with say a set of Lowthers when the noise threshold will have some meaning. I use mine with a set of Klipsch Heesys and ther eis no issue. I did have the preamp gone through a couple of years ago and had some caps replaced, the wiring harness relocated slightly and a new jackset put on and it made a world of difference. The tech told me it was the caps that were out of spec that made the difference.

The amp is a killer and while there are many persons who like to down about Mc more than a few form some years ago who used to write on several sites now own these and they are converts. For years Mc has had its detractors but the bottom line was many never owned a Mc system and many were ex-sales persons who sold against Mc and became believers of all of the hype against the brand. These persons seem to now be fewer possibly b/c used Mc is affordable.

I've owned the tuner and preamp since new and the amp I bought a few years ago to replace a 250 that I had bought new. I still have the 250. I have had quite a few components and systems over the last 30 years to compare these against and the Mc stayed while the others all left. Only recently have I found a tuner that could replace the 77 but more for the fact it has AM which the 77 lacks so both are in the system now.

You may want to hit the audiokarma.org website since it has a dedicated Mc users group including a top notch guy who works for the company.