Calling All "Vintage" Integrated/Receiver Owners - Page 417

YES.

There are very few things McIntosh has made that I can imagine being overpriced at $100 in great condition.

 

Worth being aware, at least, that they have a signature sound that some people like and others don't... in the worst case, you will find it easy to get your money back if you decide to replace it.

i'm curious as to what is the signature sound, Warm, cold, tubey solid state, or what?

Speaking about 90's stuff, I have a 1991 adcom gtp400 pre-amp/tuuner, any input on if I would benifit from a headphone amp like the bellari ha540 or a matrix m stage or little dot mk1+/mklll as compared to my adcom for driving my alessandro ms2i's. Any input would be appreciated. Thank's.

 

The characteristic sound is warm and smooth. I don't know to what extent all their equipment sounds like that, though.

 

 

Sure, but I suspect you can't go wrong by getting a McIntosh receiver or integrated for $100: If you like it, you've scored a find. If you don't like it, it will be very easy to trade up. (Usual caveats and assumptions that it looks good and is in full working condition, of course, but that applies to ALL vintage equipment.)

I am in exactly the same situation as you are. Ultimately, my choice has come down to two lower budget pairs, an HD598 and an ATA700X. I have no place locally to try much of anything in the equipment range I want to buy and the one place that I could audition, has nothing in the price range. I have several older amps and figure one "should" sound OK to excellent, with this choice. The other reason for going this route is that I, like you (I think), cannot relate to any of the descriptive listening terms used in the reviews. I figure, get a pair, listen to them and then compare what I am hearing to the reviews and then, if I find my purchases lacking, I will be able to hone in on why, and modify my next buying round accordingly. I figure selling the headphones locally will be easy enough and I might even make some money! But as I also have 3 kids, I might have to give them away. One of my boys has already got dibs on the Rotel amp I am currently using with a cheap pair of phones I just bought and modified to get me through to when my purchases arrive.

Love this thread!

For efficient headphones like the Alessandro, I do not think you would benefit much versus using the Adcom. Nice piece, that.

Thank's for your opinion, After seeing your really nice collection of phone's and amp's I respect your opinion, and I know there's always something better, but for the money I paid for this component back in 1989,  it sounds really nice to me and really didn't think I would benifit from a headphone amp too much. (Though I have no experience with a dedicated headphone amp). Thank's for your opinion, (really nice stuff you have).

Well.... That didn't take long...

New owner of a Sansui 350 A - we'll see how she works out driving some phones when I get home and the kids are down :-)

The main lamp behind the tuner is a little dim, but the room is also pretty bright. Looks like working on an old Ford pickup though, plenty of room to work in there and no bloody SMC to spoil the mood. Not sure if it's worth recapping and all that, I'll wait to find a nice pair of open phones to see how the unit sounds. I have a pair of sr60's and m50's but I'm not sure either one would resolve enough to lead me to see if there are any problems with the unit and if recapping is necessary (besides pools of cap juice leaked on the boards inside).


Edited by ozarkcdn - 12/4/12 at 2:02pm

 

Looks nice!

 

 

I've noticed a little issue with my SX-1250. After it warms up, the right channel hisses and buzzes a little. This occurs with speakers or headphones. Am I looking at a service trip, or could it be a something simple?

Have you ever treated the switches and controls with deoxit?

I sometimes have the same issue with my pre-amp, can I use a contact cleaner or should I buy deoxit? If so I never heard of it, where can I buy some? Also should the unit be taken apart or can I spray it through the space between the volume knob and face plate? (If it is even a spray). Thank you.

Edited by joseph69 - 12/4/12 at 6:46pm

That I have not. When I played with them initially, I didn't notice any noise. I'll give that a try. I forgot to mention the heat sinks are noticeably warmer on the right side as well.

Hmmm...well if the heatsink is noticeably hotter on the right side, that likely means that the bias is off for that channel. That's not something you should mess with unless you truly know what you are doing, so you might want to take it to a shop. If the bias is really far off you could eventually burn up the output transistors. At least on the SX-1250 there are currently available drop in replacements. On the SX-xx80 series, the output devices are unobtainable (other than used ones).