2. amps-preamps
  3. 130893-102001

Inherited 21 piece of vintage McIntosh and need help building a system

Hello.  I was fortunate enough to inherit a huge collection of mac stuff from my uncle, but although an audiophile, I'm out of my element with vintage stuff.  Here is a list of what I have to work with:

C28 preamp

two C20, stereo tube preamp

two C8's mono tube preamp

MC2002, Solid state amp

MC2200, Solid state amp

MR67, FM Stereo Tube Tuner

MR 71, FM Stereo Tube Tuner

MR74, tuner

MX 112, tuner preamp

1700 tuner

1900 tuner

MA5100, integrated amp

two MC 60's, tube amp

MC 240, 40WPC amp

MC 250, 50WPC amp

Sansui 500A

Dynaco SCA-35

HK A220

 

Linn axis turn table

Technics SL-1950 turntable

Mac XL10 speakers

Utah A70-A speakers


Any suggestions on what the best pairing would be out of these?  I can't use all of it so some will be posted once I get a system built.

Thanks for the help,

Brent



128x128brenthardy
wwaterman2's avatar
wwaterman2
26 posts
 
Audio classics! Give them a call!  They are awesome to work with as the other folks on here said.
terry9
2,216 posts
 
Almarg nailed it.

All you need is a variable AC voltage source, generically called a Variac. And a couple of garage sale speakers to load your amplifiers, or a couple of 50 watt 15 ohm resistors, or better yet, both. Do an initial powerup with the resistors in place of the speakers, ramping up the voltage slowly as Al suggested, let the amp cook, power the amp down, then connect the garage sale speakers. Don’t hazard your inherited speakers until you know the amps are working.

Good luck - although you’ve already had a good slice of it!
passet02's avatar
passet02
262 posts
 
Sell them, put the money into a long term investment plan .
scorpio1951
189 posts
 
  Lucky, lucky guy. I have twelve McIntosh pieces, some vintage, some modern, some tube, some solid state.  They are in use in three different systems. Before you start selling components based on suggestions from this site, you may want to carefully determine your needs and carefully listen to the components you do have. Let your own ears decide, and don't blindly follow the advice of others. 
goose
669 posts
 
I have had Mac gear in the past.  I would be inclinded to keep the best tube pieces and make sure you re-furb or test everything to factory specs.  It's ok to start with the speakers first and find something you really like and then plug in the mac stuff to make sure it's compatible.

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