mcintosh 7270 questions

You can call McIntosh directly 800-538-6576. They've been very helpful to me. They may even have the manual or a copy of it for sale.

The watts selection is for having the meter indicate wattage in real time. The needle will sway with the music. The hold designation will indicate the peak wattage reached for a given time period (10-30 seconds or so) This allows you to see what the maximum output was. I understand the Mac meters are very accurate.

Having owned many Mac amps, I can tell you there is indeed something wrong with your control knob. It has click points for meter-hold, and regular meter swing. Also, your lights are out on your meters. I have never seen it possible that you could adjust the lights. You can get a manual from Mac for around $12, or there are several for sale on E-Bay.

Mcintosh will send you a manual for free if you tell them you just bought a 7270 without one. They have sent them to me free of charge in the past at any rate.

Your meter controller is broken and you need new meter light bulbs. McIntosh can send you a new control and bulbs (replace all the bulbs because the others probably aren't far from burning out too) and you can replace all of it yourself quite easily - all you need is a screwdriver and some patience. Take care -

Arthur

The "watts hold" position simply keeps the meter at the highest output the amp achieves during the current session. I'm not really sure what it's for except maybe to verify peak output or balance the output of the 7270's two channels.