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I finally got a Mcintosh amp

Hi All,

Well, after all the yearning & anticipation of getting My first Mcintosh piece. I have to say that my impressions of the MC 2505 were that of disappointment. The Amp itself was in excellent cosmetic shape for it's vintage. No Rust pitting, about two or three very minor dings, and a hint of of the common Bubble around the headphone jack (the VU meters were more a washed out green then Blue - could be from age??).

After the inital inspections, I preceeded to hook up my preamp, Cd Player & Paradigm Mini's. I then got out a few of my reference CD's and started my little work out....... Where's The "Airy highs and or midrange", where's the "inticingly broader soundstage" or transparency? Lastly, where the hell is the bass response (these where all the question I was asking myself)?

Per reviewers of these Vintage Mcintosh pieces. They're supposed to be "Tube-like" in sound. I don't think so...(Never hearing tubes before, I was under the impression that Tube sound is all those things and flat out more musical). Anyway, if this MC2505 is "tube-like", then My Rotel RB 976 is as well. Only My Rotel has better bass & Dynamics, even in it's 60watt X 2 capacity.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to diss Mcintosh or their costumers. I still Lust after that sound of the Mc122+Mc15+Mini Monitors, that I heard at My dealers showroom about a year and a half ago. I guess Mcintosh has gotten better in the later years of production. So, needless to say that the MC2505 went back. I'll have to save up a few more dollars to get the Mc amp I really could live with (Namely One from at least the late 90's or above).

Cheers,
Jalen
jalen01
navman's avatar
navman
1 posts
 
I got my hands on a pair of MC40s. Audioclassics serviced it, and the sound is, oh my, I have a lackof words......musical.Using an Audio Research LS7, it was very detailed, room filling, and realistic.

My newer MC162 is also fun to use.

I havent heard the amp you have bought, but I believe the sonic signature that people talk about refers to the early Mac tubes.

Find yourself a pair of old monoblocks and get them serviced. You might be surprised at how modern they sound.
ballanf336
1 posts
 
Hi , Your amp and its brother the MC-250 (which looks the same as the earlier tube amps like the MC-240 & 275) were the first solid state amps McIntosh built. The 2505 is, I beleive, the first Mac amp with the blue meters and is quite collectible for both those reasons. To compare it properly you have to listen to solid state amps of the day (it was introduced in 1967). Your Rotel is a fairly decent modern amp but I suspect your reaction may be colored by the quality of the signal you are feeding it. Neither amp will sound fabulous with a mediocre signal. If you are starting to upgrade your system you should start at the front end. I am running a pair of bridged MC-250's with an Arcam FMJ CD-23 and a McIntosh C-40 pre. They sound very good although they probably don't have the last word in resolution etc. The other neat thing about your amp is that you can take the line level output from CD player directly to the amp and control it with the gain controls. This way the amp is getting a much purer signal.
Bill
slyhog
1 posts
 
If you want to get the real Mcintosh you need the tube mono MC 40 or get the MC240, you can run direct out of your cd player into the amp and get real pure tone and all of what you thought you could ever hear.
opiv1
23 posts
 
I have a McIntosh MC2100 and I think it sounds great. I have owned a tube amp before and I think this Mac has a warm tube like sound. I do have a tube pre amp maybe that's the difference. This amp is definately not lacking in bass.
tbcblues
6 posts
 
I bought a Mac 2100 solid state Amp recently, paired with a C-28 preamp, and it could not produce the booming sound thru my ML-2C McIntosh speakers that my "El Cheapo" Stereotech Receiver could produce, so I unloaded them on ebay - I do know that the MC-30 amps, and probably the other tube amps of the same vintage, are better sounding if you can afford them - but it just blows me away how good that Stereotech sounds - I've been wondering if the MAC 1900 receiver sounds just as good(I bet it does)
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