"I'd have said you were crazy."
I was talking with Larry Fish, McIntosh Laboratory's vice president of product planning. Larry's a solid-state man himself: more watts for the dollar, lower measured distortion. It's been fun watching him warm to tubes.
McIntosh Lab's first foray back into tube-amp production was the reissue of the MC275 power amplifier, in 1995. (The original version was produced from 1961 to 1973.) The reissue was Sidney A…
"Well, I see you decided to buy an MC2000 after all," said the Swede, who had reviewed the MC2000 for Ultimate Audio.
"No, Lars, it's the MC2102. And it's less than half the price."
"Had me fooled for a minute. I see that the meters are smaller and the entire unit is smaller, too. It's a beautiful amp."
Indeed it is—even without the titanium-clad chassis.
Another manufacturer visited me a few days after I'd taken delivery of the MC2102.
"Gosh, I love those McIntosh amps. Look at that…
As did the MC2000, the MC2102 uses four KT88 output tubes per channel, the tubes made for McIntosh by Svetlana, of St. Petersburg, Russia, Marina's home town. (I've never been inside, but the exterior of the huge, sprawling, Stalinesque factory looks like a prison.) The MC2102 is rated at 100Wpc into 8, 4, or 2 ohms,…
Now, it could be that I was getting such clean, clear sound from the MC2102 that I was tempted to push the volume a bit. I don't know. But I do know what the meters told me: I "needed" 100W.
Gosh, did I have enough power?
I hinted to Larry Fish that I'd heard a subjectively more powerful sound with the MC2000. The MC2102 has a smaller power supply, and its output tubes are run at lower voltages. The MC2000's plate-supply voltage was 500V, the MC2102's is 450V. Hence, 100Wpc instead…
As a child growing up in an…
"I enjoy 'Fine Tunes'!" it began, catching my attention immediately. "However, I do cringe a little at the suggestion of RadioShack power strips." He included a copy of an article from Canada's Ultra High Fidelity magazine, entitled "Down with Power Bars." It wasn't about snack food.
Loveless makes a good point. I've collected a number of the previous-generation, metal-bodied, Archer-branded power…
As jagged, ambitious musical talents go, few have been as misunderstood, or have so thrived on that discord, as Randy Newman. He has amassed one of the most melodically fruitful and slyly humorous song catalogs in pop history, one that mixes the influences of Tin Pan Alley, Stephen Foster, and Fats Domino. But he's most famous—or, if you're Jewish, Southern, or a legal midget--most…