Mcintosh MC7100 opinion
Hi Everyone,
Love to get some of your opinions. I have a B&W 805S and earlier this year I upgraded from a NuPrime ID-8 to Parasound Halo Integrated. Still I'm not able to the 805S's sound to open up. I'm not sure if I simply have a defective speaker or just need a lot more burn in time or need more amp. I've an opportunity to get an older Mcintosh MC7100 for $700 locally (that's all I can afford right now) and use my Halo Integrated as preamp I'm wondering what you all think about getting something almost 20yr old. Or am I better off waiting another year and try something new. Thanks ahead.
LL
FWIW, $700 for a good condition MC7100 is very reasonable. If you trust the seller and have the spare cash, you should strongly consider buying it. Especially if it's a late model with the balanced inputs. That said, Erik has passed along good advice. I'd add fooling around with speaker position and double-checking all electrical connections. Those are always less costly than changing gear. Good luck and happy listening! |
This MC7100 is the baby brother of the MC7200. The circuit design in these two amps is very different from MAC’s autoformer based designs. These amps are lighter and run hotter, McIntosh made these amps to drive harder (other than 8ohm) speaker loads and were popular around the early-mid 90’s. The sound of the 7200 is very nice, warm and dynamic with great detail, solid low end. These amps will pair well with many loudspeakers as this was there design intention. P.S. the balanced inputs are just wired with the RCA's. XLR connections dose not make it a balanced circuit design. They are Direct Coupled amps. http://www.roger-russell.com/amplif2.htm#mc7100 Matt M |
Thanks to all's feedback so far. - I checked, the tweeters are working as expected. - I'm running Nordost Gold Flatline II bi-wire cables. A family member of mine suggest that the cables may not be good enough but I used to pair them with 805N before and it was fine so I'm not sure... - I have had several chances to demo newer Mcintosh amp with the latest B&W 800 D3 and 700 S2 series at local Magnolia and fairly impressive with the results which led me down this path looking into Mcintosh gear. - The locally advertised MC-7100 does show balanced input. Maybe if I'm lucky, I could bring my speakers and get a demo at the seller's place... |
