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How good is the McIntosh MC-2300 vs modern SS amplifiers?

John Curl gave a most informative talk on the Wall Of Sound used by the Gratefful Dead. He had a lot to do with the speaker end of things but had not much to say about the amplifiers which left me curious about them. 

I pulled up the following manual and schematic and suggest anyone interested in advanced circuit design of the 1970s have a look .. http://www.tubebooks.org/file_downloads/McIntosh/MC2300.pdf

Read this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_MC-2300

and this  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_of_Sound

There is an earlier discussion about autotransformers where some call the autoformer a "band aid" for a poor design and others slurs. However this is a fine amplifier, virtually bullet proof, and used in great numbers by a band known for its incredible sound. 

I welcome any comments and questions. 
128x128ramtubes

Showing 3 responses by kalali

kalali's avatar
kalali
1,645 posts
 
"Yeah, to give a visual comparison, it was like looking through frosted glass"

Complete BS or bias at best. I have not heard the MC2300 but I own a pair of MC2200s and have compared them with several modern SS amps in the $3K-$5K range and the they held their own and even sounded better when paired with the right speakers. I don’t expect them to sound better than likes of Gryphon or Pass Labs Class A amps but they did sound better than Pass Labs X250 driving my Martin Logans. Speaker pairing as always is important.
kalali's avatar
kalali
1,645 posts
 
"How can you call BS regarding what someone heard from an amplifier that you admit to not having heard?"

That's a fair point but I look at the collective comments from this poster every time a McIntosh related topic comes up, most of the time insulting, e.g., autoformers, meters, sound quality, etc., etc. I have no loyalty to either the brand or the model (and prefer mine without meters).
Sorry about the off-topic post.
kalali's avatar
kalali
1,645 posts
 
I rest my case.
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