2. amps-preamps
  3. 139151-80294

How good is the McIntosh MC-2300 vs modern SS amplifiers?

John Curl gave a most informative talk on the Wall Of Sound used by the Gratefful Dead. He had a lot to do with the speaker end of things but had not much to say about the amplifiers which left me curious about them. 

I pulled up the following manual and schematic and suggest anyone interested in advanced circuit design of the 1970s have a look .. http://www.tubebooks.org/file_downloads/McIntosh/MC2300.pdf

Read this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_MC-2300

and this  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_of_Sound

There is an earlier discussion about autotransformers where some call the autoformer a "band aid" for a poor design and others slurs. However this is a fine amplifier, virtually bullet proof, and used in great numbers by a band known for its incredible sound. 

I welcome any comments and questions. 
128x128ramtubes

Showing 1 response by ehurwitz

ehurwitz
2 posts
 

I like the MC2255 in my living room quite a bit. I haven't compared it with the amplifiers listed in this admittedly old thread, but I would prefer to upgrade my Avalon NP2s before upgrading the amp.

But, to address the amp in question, on Saturday night I was loaned an MC2300 to power my bass rig at the Aggie Theater in Fort Collins in Colorado. I've played through all kinds of high power amps (my regular amp is a Quilter that is rated at 800 watts into 4 ohms and I've also used the large Crest amps rated at 500wpc into 8 ohms) and this sounded really, really good. I doubt I'd bring it into my living room and I definitely need roadies to schlep it, but it would be my amp of choice. And yes, we are a Grateful Dead band, so with a '67 Starfire with Alembic guts and Alembic preamps, it does a certain thing with perfection.

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