How do you know that these tubes a seller claims are NOS aren't just pulls/used? For example a lot of Tektronics scopes used Telefunken 6922/6DJ8's. When those scopes were scrapped those tubes appeared on the market, fraudulently being sold in factory boxes as NOS at premium prices.
Tubes Recommendation for McIntosh Preamp
Hi, I recently purchased an used McIntosh 2-chassis C1100 tube preamp. So far I'm pretty happy with it.
I'm thinking about replacing the line level stock tubes. They are 2 12AT7 and 1 12AX7A per channel.
I'm looking for recommendation from fellow members here. I would like something on the warm side (definitely not bright sounding), and good solid and tight bass.
Also I wonder if I need matching. e.g. do I need 2 matched pairs of 12AT7, with each matched pairs for each channel. Or do I need matched quad of 12AT7 for both channels. Same question for the 12X7A. Do I need them to be matched. I don't seem to see any information available in the user manual on tube replacement.
Thanks very much in advance!
- ...
- 24 posts total
@xcool , did you replace your SLP-05? |
Hey @immatthewj, I still have the Cary SLP-05. I guess I’m keeping it as a spare for now. The purchase of this McIntosh is kind of a coincidence. I ran into the C1100 for sale ad while I was browsing around in Audiogon one day. From the pictures, it looked very clean and the price was reasonable. So I contacted the seller, who happens to be an audio store. They got the C1100 as a trade in from a customer, and I was told it was only a little over a year old. Of course I can’t verify that. I just have to take his words. So I decided to take a chance and purchased it. Given the pretty good resale value of McIntosh, I figure I can probably sell it for around the same price if I’m not happy with it. When I got the delivery, I was very happy to see how clean it looked. It was in mint condition, almost like new. When I plugged it in and started listening to it, I wasn’t happy with the sound. It sounded thin and bright. So I contacted the dealer to see if he would take it back, and I even offered to pay him a restocking fee. He told me to give it some time. He said the unit hasn’t been played for a while, and it will require some break in time again. I’ve never heard of that before, have you? but I decided to take his words for it. As it turned out, he was right. After I gave it a couple of weeks of playing, it started to open up. The brightness was gone, and sounded more smooth, rich, and warm. I was quite happy with the sound. Since then, I haven’t switched back to my Cary to compare the sound. It’s been about 6 months now. From my memory, the sound of the Cary is on par with the McIntosh. So I won’t say the Mac is better or vice vera. If I ever get around to plug in my Cary again, I’ll let you know how it compares to the McIntosh. Cheers! |
if this is important to you (and I am not saying that it is) you could probably call or email the people at Mac and if you gave them the serial number they could probably give you date of manufacture and possibly other odds and ends.
If it had been recently retubed, perhaps? I've also read posts abour capacitors needing some running time for them to "reform." I cannot personally attest to that, it is just what I have read about on this site.
|
Good suggestion @immatthewj on contacting McIntosh. I thought about that too. In fact, the dealer that sold me the Mac told me that the previous owner had sent in his warranty registration card, so therefore, the warranty is transferrable. Again, I took his words for it. I was going to contact McIntosh to verify that. Maybe one day when I have some spare time. Sorry for side tracking, 😀. Will still welcome any tubes recommendation for the McIntosh! Cheers!
|
- 24 posts total