![]() But that’s not a fair assessment given the mists of time and past systems I’m thinking about. While I can’t say that much about the sound of a vintage MC240 or MC275 that I heard back in the day, I probably wouldn’t consider those to be reference quality compared to modern tube amps. Traditionally, most folks would describe the sound of vintage Macs as warm and classically tubey. The power, detail, and smoothness of sound in that system is still a benchmark for me today. One of the first real recording studios where I worked has a custom TAD/JBL monitor system bi-amped with an MC2500 on the bottom and an MC2105 on the horns. My own experience with these amps, outside of the Yank Francis tale, had more to do with excellence in solid-state circuits. system, Mac is firmly ingrained in the minds of audiophiles all over the world as THE electronics to aspire to own. McIntosh is still using the founder’s original innovative Unity Coupled Circuit design for output transformers in all their vacuum tube amplifiers to better match power tube output to speaker loads. Powering both the Woodstock music festival and later the Grateful Dead’s famous Wall Of Sound P.A. In its long and storied history, Mac has been at the forefront of amplifiers and other components used in music reproduction. The original factory location in Silver Spring, MD was moved in 1951 to Binghamton, NY where it remains to this day. McIntosh, of course, was founded in 1949 by Frank McIntosh and Gordon Gow, and few people would argue against Mac being THE most iconic of all American high fidelity electronic component manufacturers. As Yank played records and extolled the virtues of Jethro Tull’s Stand Up versus Benefit, I readily accepted the McIntosh vacuum tube gateway drug without being aware of future implications, such as the arrival of this McIntosh Labs MC1502. The glow of the tubes and the warm sound issuing forth from his (or his Dad’s) McIntosh MC60 (?) chrome chassis tube amp cast a spell on me that continues to this day. There was nothing nefarious about an older music mentor getting together with a young music person who was hungry for knowledge. I realize this sounds a bit sketchy in today’s world, but things were different in 1971. So after bonding with him on the bus route over our mutual interest in classical guitar, Yank invited me to hear some tunes where he lived in his parents’ basement, conveniently a few blocks from my house. He was probably all of 19 but seemed like a learned sage to my 13-year-old self. He had long hair, John Lennon style glasses, and a perpetual smile. Yank was the school bus driver when I was in seventh grade in Rockville, Maryland. I was taught how to properly align tape decks and was turned on to music not generally heard on the radio. I found out about US import Marshall guitar amplifiers that had 6550s and not 6CA7 vacuum tubes like the better sounding UK versions. Some of my best education came from those adults who taught me stuff, such as how to accurately date vintage Gibson Les Pauls or which classical guitar transcription of a Bach Cello Suite was the best. When I was a kid, I seemed to gravitate towards people who were older than my usual peers. In the days before the internet, people used to actually get together to pass around information and share ideas. The idea of actually owning and using this gear, especially something as impressive as their new McIntosh Labs MC 1502 amplifier, took me back to my youth. For a lot of folks, McIntosh Labs gear ( website) is the stuff that audiophile dreams are made of.
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