How long should amps go for?
 

My Mcintosh 501’s are now 9 years old and still sound and look fantastic and it occurred to me these are not spring chickens anymore. Do capacitors on these last longer than past models ? Any maintenance needed? They really make the Strads come alive, much more weight and “umph” than my Elipsa ‘s with the amps. .

David... they are on their last leg. You should upgrade them right away before they blow up, and catch fire. Thank goodness you have my handles, that’s probably the only thing holding them up.

:laughin: :lmao: :roflmao:

That's funny Ivan! :D

Oddly, I was just thinking about my 501's today, as I've been looking at the latest iteration of Mac amps in the fold-MC611, MC462, MC312...

My 501's are 10 years old now, and they still sound fantastic.

I run a recycling service for old amps, any Mc amps 10 years or older, please contact me and I will send you my shipping address for proper electronics recycling.

David, that is a difficult question to answer as it depends on many parameters from the quality of the capacitors initially installed to the temperatures they were exposed to during their life. Besides, there are different types of capacitors with various dielectric materials. Capacitors also have a "shelf life" so even if there are capacitors that are new old stock but have been laying around for 10 years since they stopped making them... Well, you have to understand that a replacement of that specific capacitor may not be possible so it would have to be replacement of the same value but a different brand.

Does McIntosh even offer a recapping service? :scratch2:

I have a pair of MC402‘s that are probably the same vintage as your MC501s. I opened them up specifically to take a look at what McIntosh used for caps (there was a huge problem with inferior/defective caps 10-20 years ago https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague).

To McIntosh’s credit, they used high quality caps in most of their equipment and avoided a lot of the problems that other consumer electronics manufactures had.

You should be good to go for another 10 years without an issue.

When was the last time you got an oil and filter change? :D

My MC2300s have been going four decades now with minimal service - I use them daily.

I had my Mc352 for 20 years and I did not detect any degradation in SQ, although the degradation in my hearing over those 20 years could probably match any SQ loss :).

my uncle has a Mcintosh amp and pre-amp that is 30 years old.. Still fine.
I also have an accuphase power amp that is nearing 25 years old, still fine too...
I somewhere read that amps can last to 50 years or so.. By then caps might need replacement so 10 years is really nothing...