Who heard or has a McIntosh MC7100?

I have a MC7100 and I find it to be truly excellent. I have had several amps through my system and the 7100 is still here. It has a distictly full body to its sound with excellent bass (noticibly more powerful than the specs - it has trumped much-higher-rated-power amps in A/B tests in my system), smooth treble, and a midrange that just knocks my socks off. The soundstage and coherence are excellent. A friend of mine finds it a little too laid back but I like the soundstage to be presented in front of me, not slapping my face, so I am satisfied. It is a sleeper of an amp - one that most people don't even know exists since it doesn't have autoformers or meters. I would like to get a second one too. Anyway, I obviously highly recommend it. FOr the price, it is very hard to beat if you like this type of sound. Problem is it only sounds fantastic when mated to a McIntosh preamp (mine is C712 - the matched mate) despite having tried three preamps and even bypassing it. The MC122 can't match it in sound and doesn't even have balanced connectors. Only downside to the 7100 is that it can have a tinge of glare in the upper registers on some recordings but then again I have heard similar in Pass and Proceed amps and may be from the CDP anyway. Incidentally, I had a MC240 for a few weeks and compared to the 7100, the dynamics sound flat and the highs muddy, but the mids are definately on par. Anyway, for like $700 used, you can't beat the 7100 IMO. Feel free to email me if you have more detailed questions about it. Take care - Arthur

I also have one (7100 Balanced Inputs Etc..) Like it very much. I think it easly outpreforms my Rotel (RB976) musicaly with the exception of maybe bass performance. I'm running mine with cheap Parasound ph/850 pre-amp can wait til I mate it with nice Mcintosh (like Aball's) or some tube option to boost the performance more. Try one out...if you don't like it you can easly get what you paid for it here on audiogon. But, don't forget to Mate with equal or better quality pre.

Jalen

Hey Jalen - Right now on ebay is a McIntosh C710 preamp with a buy-it-now price of $450. It is the same identical pre as mine but for a much better price (mine tends to go for $700 range). The C710 is extremely rare but is identical to C712 except for missing CD and Tuner control ports which you can't use unless you have a McIntosh CD or tuner anyway. It is a steal for a great little preamp that has no apparent faults and benefit of balanced connectors. Just a thought - I don't know anything about the seller or his item. Arthur