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McIntosh MR78 upgrades?

I have an MR78 that's working well. 

I can bring it to Audio Classics, and for about a grand, get the power supply and audio section upgraded, and the tuner will be aligned. 

There's another shop, maybe 2 hrs from Audio Classics that does a power supply upgrade for $250, plus an alignment would be billed based on actual time on the bench. So let's say $350-$400. 

Is the audio section upgrade worth $600? Would be most interested to hear from people with Mac tuners that have had them modernized. 
zavato

Showing 5 responses by zavato

zavato's avatar
zavato OP
1,414 posts
 
Kenny- thanks! Interesting. Wonder how it tested before the mod!

I used to have a magnum dynalab tuner that that went through a factory upgrade at about $800 and I doubt I could hear a difference.

I did discover that one of my panel lights- a "festoon bulb", whatever that is, is out. 
zavato's avatar
zavato OP
1,414 posts
 
Kenny, you're right, and part of my issue is that in my area I really have only 2 stations that sound good. So I truly question whether the full blown mod is worth the money vs just recapping the damned thing. 
zavato's avatar
zavato OP
1,414 posts
 
Decided not to go the Audio Classics route. Selectivity is not an issue where I live and and I only have a handful of stations worth grabbing. Given that, I'm doing the recap and alignment and easily saving $600 in the process. That's solid $ to spend on music. 
zavato's avatar
zavato OP
1,414 posts
 
So I heard from the folks that I brought my MR78 to for recapping. They advise that some of the caps inside are just a few years old, and some are original. Apparently someone tinkered around inside several years back. I'm told the work was neat and high quality caps were used. Curious that whoever did the work a few years ago only replaced a few caps. 
zavato's avatar
zavato OP
1,414 posts
 
So- to update this old thread I started years ago, the cap and LED work I had done in 2017 turned out to be $125 or so. In March 2020, but before NY went into lockdown, I sent my tuner to AC for Rich Modaferri to wave his magic wand over it. I’ve had my tuner back for a while now. It was worthwhile and dealing with Rich was both a pleasure and enlightening 
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