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I wasn't raised a McIntosh lad. My dad used Fisher, Bogen, Leak, and Ampex tubed electronics—and, at one time, even home-built speakers—to keep the house filled with a steady, enriching flow of Mozart. He never owned a Mac component, and, when going upmarket, reached for B&O, alas. So while I knew that many audiophiles hold tubed McIntosh gear—especially the early designs—in very high regard, I was somehow never bitten or smitten. But let's face it—for lo these many years, McIntosh has been for many the name in quality American audio. Take my friend Dan, to whom I've referred several…
Do I sound like I'm complaining? Nosireeee Bob. Gimme more!
On K&D's "Going Under," the Mac set out an amazing, hugely palpable and present male vocal replete with compelling lyrics. The fully formed, 3-D imagery was a pleasure to experience. Every acoustic element was cushioned in huge draughts of air limitless in scope. Skittering left and right across the soundstage of this track is a cymbal-like effect that makes a springy, silvery latticelike sound as it whips back and forth over the lyrics. The Mac sprinkled it so far beyond the speaker boundaries I had to crane my neck to…
But I'm a Libra, and for me, life is all about balance. If the MC2000's wasn't absolutely the tightest bass I've ever heard, I can live with it. Take the vibes on disc 1, track 9 of K&D. The MC2000 laid them out airy, shimmering, and seductive, the female vocal floating over the powerful, swaying beat, the ultra-lush midband squeezed out of the tube for the listener. The bass seemed to curl around her like a vine. Energy and drive were excellent, and, even at impressive volume levels, the MC2000 cruised along at only about 25W.
The amplifier also excelled at tying all elements of a…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Tubed stereo power amplifier. Tube complement: eight KT88 or 6550, four 12AX7A, two 12AT7. Inputs: RCA/XLR with mode switch. Output meters: left/right channels calibrated in W and dB, mode switch for peak hold and lights. Power output: 130Wpc (21.1dBW) into 8, 4, or 2 ohms, 20Hz-20kHz. Frequency response at 1W output: 20Hz-20kHz, -0.25dB; 10Hz-100kHz, -3dB. Harmonic distortion at any power level: 0.5%, 250mW to rated power per channel, 20Hz-20kHz. Maximum intermodulation distortion: 0.5%, if instantaneous peak power output doesn't exceed twice the…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: SpJ tonearm, La Luce turntable. Cartridges: Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum, Forsell Air Force One, van den Hul Grasshopper IV Gold, Clearaudio Insider.
Digital source: dCS 972 D/D converter, dCS Elgar D/A converter, both running at 24-bit/192kHz, Burmester 969 and Forsell Air Reference CD transports.
Preamplifiers: BAT VK-50SE/VK-P-10, Mark Levinson No.32 Reference.
Power amplifiers: Linn Klimax Solo 500s, Forsell Statement, Accuphase M-2000.
Loudspeakers: JMlab Utopias.
Cables: Interconnects: Synergistic Designer's…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Unless otherwise noted, the measurements given are for balanced operation. Also, unless noted otherwise, 8 ohm measurements were made from the 8 ohm output terminal, 4 ohm measurements from the 4 ohm terminal, and 2 ohm measurements from the 2 ohm terminal.
Due to a mix-up in returning the MC2000's tubes to their storage box after the photo shoot for this issue's cover—which preceded the taking of these measurements—it's possible that one or more tubes were not correctly placed in their specified locations during this testing. In theory, at least, this…
The THD+noise percentage vs frequency results are plotted in figs.4 and 5. The amplifier is obviously very linear, other than at very low frequencies (though the fact that the right channel is better than the left in this respect might indicate a bias problem). Fig.5 shows a comparison of the balanced and unbalanced measurements, which are quite similar. The McIntosh's distortion waveform at 2W into 4 ohms (fig.6) indicates the presence of second and third harmonics and some higher-order components, as well as noise.
Fig.4 McIntosh MC2000, balanced, THD+noise (%) vs frequency at (…
The 1kHz, THD+noise percentage vs continuous output power curves are shown in fig.9. The output is essentially the same at all load impedances, provided the matching output tap is used. The MC2000's discrete clipping levels at 1% THD+noise are shown in Table 1.
ohms (L) (R) (L) 8…
Fig.9 McIntosh MC2000, distortion (%) vs continuous output power into (from bottom to top at 2kHz) 4 ohms, 8 ohms, and 2 ohms (matched impedance taps).
Table 1 McIntosh MC2000 Clipping(1% THD+noise at 1kHz)
Both Channels DrivenOne Channel Driven W (dBW)W (dBW) Load
ohms (L) (R) (L) 8…
The most exciting development in audio today isn't multichannel surround, single-ended triodes, or $10,000 phono cartridges. It's "trickle down." I get buzzed when an audio designer known for cutting-edge multikilobuck designs claims to have a product that can produce 80% of the sonic realism of his flagship design at 50% of the cost. I get even more excited when he does it again—that is, produces a product that produces 64% of his flagship's performance at 25% of the cost. Designers who have successfully trickled-down their flagship technologies abound in all quarters of audiophilia, from…
The lower high frequencies, were somewhat sweetened; this added a slightly honeyed quality to instruments with significant high-frequency content. Louis Armstrong's trumpet had the requisite bite but sounded a bit more silky than I'd been used to hearing. Kevin Barry's Fender Stratocaster on the Mighty Sam disc seemed a bit more polite, as if Barry had swapped his Fender amp for a Mesa Boogie and hit the Fat switch. The extreme high frequencies also seemed a bit rolled-off, but not unnaturally so. The latter effect was akin to moving from a live hall (Avery Fisher or post-1980s-renovation…