Please do NOT make any external mods to your MC60, it will kill the value of this timeless Mcintosh classic.
McIntosh MC-60 Binding Terminals
I own a set of McIntosh MC-60 monoblock amplifiers. They are original so employ the Barrier strip small speaker terminals. Can someone out there direct me to a source to purchase the spades necessary to connect a set of speakers? Additionally if an Mc-60 owner can identify a source to reliably update this amp with minimal modifications I.E. standard speaker binding terminals or detachable power cord socket? Any observations in terms of what I can anticipate for sound would be most welcome. Have never heard this amp but by all acounts, its supposed to be quite respectable.
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I have a pair of stock MC-60s and second the recomendation to not modify them. To work around the narrow barrier strips I found some copper connectors at Home Depot that I can screw into the existing barrier strips, I then used some (short) decent speaker cable to connect to the copper connectors and then connected the wire to 5-Way binding posts.....a very simple and inxpensive way to allow me to connect good bi-wire cables to my vintage tube amps. I am sure that to a purist this would degrade the sound but it was a good solution for me. The sounds from these amps is very dynamic, with bloom and a great sense of air. It is amazing and pleasing to me that 50 year old, unmoddified amplifiers can sound this good. Good luck |
Audioquest makes a spade that will fit, as do others. Two commonly used spades are the "Bar" and "Bar8" depending on the size wire you are going to use with them. I believe the spacing between the the two forks is 3/16". I use the Audioquest spade with my MC275. You can order them on line or by phone from RAM Electronics. Just google them. Also, as mentioned above do not mod your MC60's! There are some components inside that may need updating if it has not been done already. Have them gone over by a tech with experience working on vintage McIntosh amps. DeWick Reairs is one such tech. You can find more info on the McIntosh forum over at Audiokarma. Good Luck. |
Cardas makes some great milled billet spades: http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=oem&pagestring2=Spades&pagestring=Spades+(closeup)&content_id=1&part_id=9 Or, if you want to keep your speaker cables intact, do it this way: http://audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1054603&postcount=1 . |