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McIntosh MC402 Burn in Period ? Very Impressed

Hello everyone.

I just bought myself a brand new McIntosh MC402.

After spending about an hour unboxing it I was ver y impressed. Getting back to unboxing I have to give kudos for the nice packaging to safely support the 150lb package.
Two boxes plus screwed on to to a wood board.

I am using all Bmi cables' balanced interconnects, speaker cables and power cable. The MC402 sounds wonderful out of the box. The only thing that is funny MC402 comes with a cable cover for the speaker cable ends, that is a waste because the holes are too small for any Bmi hi end speaker cable to fit thru.

Have to say this MC402 is the quietest power amp I have ever heard. The amp is dead silent when left on. Plus the amp runs cool.

When should I expect total break in on the McIntosh MC402 ?
mfslgoldcd
azmoon
126 posts
 
Mine was great out of the box as yours seems to be. May have gotten a bit warmer after about 100 hours but did not need any burn in to sound great.
adamg
89 posts
 
I purchased an MC402 here on Audiogon so I assumed that no burn-in would be required. However, I was very underwhelmed with the sound initially. After roughly one week, the amp really started to open up and is now everything I would want in a power amp - dynamics, musicality, detail...
pops
2,273 posts
 
My 501's sounded great right out of the box, they got did get slightly more refined/smooth sounding after 50 or so hours. They also sound a little more refined when warmed up for several hours.
dbarger
215 posts
 
I had a well broken in 402, which I sold assuming my new ARC Ref 110 would render it obsolete. But while I do love the Ref 110, I did miss the 402. So I bought another one. So I have the experience of going from a broken in one to a brand new one. I can tell you, the new one was not at good initially... It was fine, but not as riveting as the old one. After about 100 hours now, it is a great amp, like the one I sold. I would say it needed at least 50 hours to really come on song, and I assume it will only get better. The way it improves is the cleanliness of the soundstage, image placement, and composure under pressure. It is not screechy or irritating when brand new, but it develops into quite an awesome amp. I have owned a lot of amps, and these 402's are fantastic, in every way. It is the most natural sounding solid state amp I have heard.
mrchips
53 posts
 
The McIntosh MC402 is an incredible power amp. Very well balanced and superbly true to the music. Owning several power amps the McIntosh MC402 I will never ever let this power amp go. Simply magic and coherently wonderful sounding. This amp does everything a power amp should do. The characteristics are neutral but yet definitive. Smooth on top and well extended on botton. Most natural midrange vocal you will ever hear in a solid state amp but without the distrotion of tubes to deal with.

Enjoy your break in period of possibly one of the best sounding power amps in the world.

Kudos to McIntosh for such a wonderful amp.
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