Many Boxes from McIntosh

The most expensive system at the show, costing about US$200,000, was this all-McIntosh system, based on two of the company's three-chassis monoblock amplifiers, their four-chassis preamplifier, and their speakers with too many drive-units to count. (Okay, there are 110 per channel—40 tweeters, 64 midrange units, and six woofers!)

COMMENTS
Carl E's picture

What's the point of making separate chassis, besides making more BULK. Added costs that really don't make anything any better, come on already with this stuff. Don't the interconnecting wires cause audible degredation? Less connections, less chance for problems later on. Why 3 chassis, why 4 for the pre amp? Has McIntosh become another brand of nonsense?

Ron Cornelius's picture

In the case of these amps the three chassis design is needed for the power output of 2000 watts. Each amp section needs 15 amps for 1000 watts which is the limit of the AC outlet. The two balanced amp sections are combined in the autoformer unit with the meter. Rarely does one need 2000 watts of course but if you do the amp can deliver it.

Chris L.'s picture

The Preamp is also a three chassis design. The C1000 has a control chassis, a tubed pre-amp chassis, and a solid state pre-amp section. The idea being to separate the switching and volume from the amplification stages of the pre-amp. A separate phono box would add another, but both pre-amp sections have built-in cards.The fourth box appears to be a multi-channel controller. The C1000 has an A/V bypass mode for use in a multi channel rig. That's my best guess as it also has Mac pre-amp type knobs on it.As for the added lengths of wire, well the connections are custom cables and not too long. It is I guess a trade-off between the added wire or possible interaction between the power-supply, the amp section and the switching and volume control. Until someone truly invents that straight wire with gain, amplification and pre-amps are always going to be exercises in loss management.

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