McIntosh

I recently added an MR78 tuner and sent it up to Audio Classics to be modded by Richard Modafferi. A very popular mod. Excellent work.

By & large, Mc owners tend to be too conservative to mod.

I agree with Porsiob, as a Mc owner I would almost feel as I commited a sacrilidge if I were to make any changes. I would rather trade to another brand before making any mods.

since they are indeed made in a laboratory, i suppose it would be like tinkering with aspirin.

The only McIntosh mod I am aware of is Richard Modafferi. He is an independent consultant to Audio Classics and has agreed to do repairs, modifications and updates for customers of Audio Classics. Richard was a Senior Engineer at McIntosh Laboratories from 1968-74 and he designed the MR77 and MR78 tuners and the famous "Rimo" filter. Please see http://www.audioclassics.com/mods.php3 for a complete description of the Modafferi mods.

One reason not to mod McIntosh is to preserve value and collectability on their vintage stuff. 50/50 chance of screwing it up depending on who does the work.

their stuff has a high resale value and might actually loose value if modded IMO

i dont know about being too conservative to mod but my experience with mac gear & mods is that there is no point in modding the gear,why mod something that sounds good & your happy with.

zero resale value is also a reason,the only mods that will make a mac tuner gain in value are done by the mcintosh designer richard modafferi,any other mods performed by others make the gear worthless.

IT WOULD BE NICE 2 MOD Mcintosh power amp's!I have a mc2300 and it sounds like it was drained of it's impact,is there any help for these guy's,I Would like to power my acoustats 3+3's with this monster. any help would be nice Gerald

Hello!
Regarding modifications or updates to existing audio stuff (here FM tuners) validation depends upon who does the modifications.
I'm designer of MAC MR77 and MAC MR78. to date since 1986, I have done;
(1) 432 MR78 mods.(2) 48 MR77 mods.
Also I'm probably the only(?) one left (at age 81) able to restore a Marantz 10B tuner. I have done:
(3) 182 Marantz 10B restorations  (circuit design changes necessary).
Modifications by the designer of a thing, especially when done with full documentation should enhance value of something, not reduce it.  However there is occasion when the original item should be preserved as original in working condition if possible. Two high-end  loudspeaker pairs (my original designs) I donated to local tech museum refused updating, needing here to preserve them in original condition.

RIMO.