^Ah, I misread it. Just as I originally thought.
MAC Autoformers?
Someone is selling a MAC MA6500 Integrated claiming its superiority over the Ma6600 due to the fact that "it does not have the degrading autoformer design found in the MA6600". That is the first time I've heard a claim that the autoformer was a hindrance to better performance; I thought quite the opposite. What do you MAC Maves think?
Showing 8 responses by unsound
https://www.stereophile.com/content/mcintosh-mc501-monoblock-power-amplifier-measurements-0 I have to admit that I was quite pleasantly surprised to see the amp double down from it's 8 Ohm tap down to 4 Ohms, but from there down to 2 Ohms, it was even worse than I expected. |
http://roger-russell.com/mcintosh1.htm#autoformer What is failed to be mentioned is that with most loudspeakers as impedance decreases / sensitivity decreases and as impedance increases / sensitivity increases. So if the speakers presents an impedance that swings between the impedances of the taps there will be potential for corruption to the ouput linerity. |
I’ll hazard a guess that Mac chose to use autoformers way back when early transistors weren’t as reliable. They chose to use the autoformers to increase reliability (which way back was part of Mac’s separation from much of the competition) and because it fit in with design parameters that they were already comfortable with. Most speakers of that era were thought to be used with tubes by the end user, that might not have realized the compromises that the autoformers introduced. IMHO, there is no good reason to use autoformers with the rugged transistors that have been available for almost 5 decades since then. |