Mac6700

[ejr1953]

Originally Posted by miner

I was told a power surge could have corrupted the Sw/Firmware even though I have it connected to an APC 20S. Sound plausible? If so, time to consider replacing the APC.

When I had my MAC6700 it was plugged into a Furman Elite-20 unit, and our electrical panel has a large whole house surge protector wired in. At the time we had 30+ year old electrical feeder wires in our neighborhood, used to get "blips" on a regular basis (reason I had an electrician install that whole house unit).

Around the time I had the firmware re-installed, they replaced our underground feeder wires, no problems since then.

I hope all these frustrating challenges are behind you, so you can sit back, relax and enjoy the MAC6700! Great sounding unit!

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by miner

I was told a power surge could have corrupted the Sw/Firmware even though I have it connected to an APC 20S. Sound plausible? If so, time to consider replacing the APC.

Kevin.......It not entirely uncommon for voltage fluctuations to disturb the microprocessors in many McIntosh preamplifiers and integrated amps. That is why McIntosh has instructions printed in the manuals on how to reset the microprocessor should the control functions misbehave. In most cases following the instructions on resetting the microprocessor will solve the issue. In other cases it sometimes requires the component to be unplugged from the AC power for a minute to get the microprocessor rebooted.

It seems like the newest McIntosh preamplifiers, integrated amps and receiver that incorporate DAC's have far more complicated firmware controlling its various functions. It may be that certain voltage fluctuations, both over voltage and under voltage, might impact and corrupt the digital code stored in the microprocessor or eprom. Not being a software engineer, this is only speculation on my part.

It is not a bad idea to have a whole home surge arrestor installed on your main electrical panel. In general it is far more effective to clamp voltage spikes at the panel than to allow these spikes to impact the home's electrical circuits. Even with an APC backup powering the integrated, it is a far less capable than a well designed surge arrestor installed at your service panel.

[jdcarlson]

I have followed this thread with some interest.
I am happy that the OP finally got his unit back and it is working.
I am also totally disappointed in the way the people at Best Buy (Magnolia) and McIntosh treated him.
I had a very similar experience in 2003. I bought an early Digital DSLR Camera (Canon 10D). Best Buy had the best price at the time so I bought from them.
After less than a month it would no longer recognize the memory card. I took it to Best Buy (since I had purchased the extended warranty from them). They said they could not fix the camera. I said, then aren't you supposed to give me another one. They did not have any 10Ds in stock - so they offered me a lesser Canon camera in exchange. I was not going to do that.
I called Canon Camera U.S. importer. They said send it to them since it was still under factory warranty. They fixed the camera and had it back to me in less than a week.
Ever since then, I have been reluctant to go to Best Buy - I only do so when no one else has what I want.
As to the power fluctuation matter - since I live on the Gulf Coast I have learned to deal with power outages and/or spikes (not just hurricanes, but thunderstorms all year). I finally contacted the local power company to install a whole house surge suppressor. Inside the house I have a "Brick Wall" power filter (I believe still rated class "A" by Stereophile), and then plugged into that is a double conversion power supply. A double conversion power supply takes the AC from the wall, converts it to DC, sends that to a battery pack, and then takes the DC from the battery pack and converts it to regulated sine wave AC. I use industrial units rather than audiophile power supplies. The industrial units are about 1/2 the price of audiophile units, and if they keep all of the computers at my office working, they will keep my audio equipment working.
This gives me at least three layers of filtering of the AC power going to my audio equipment.
If you have power supply concerns, take a look at industrial grade double conversion power supplies (Emerson and APC are the best known). They do the job at half the cost of audiophile units.

[Tron]

btw, what is your new firmware version?

[miner]

v1.35

[christopher39]

Mcintosh mc5200

[ejr1953]

As for BestBuy, I'm a "former customer".

I bought a laptop and extended warranty from them. It was in their shop 8 or 9 times, when they replaced the hard drive, re-assembling the unit they neglected to connect the fans, so the heat caused damage to the motherboard. They said that replacing a motherboard is tantamount to replacing the entire laptop, but would do neither.

I had to take them to small claims court and get a judgement for the "remaining use", and the judge agreed with me. I sent the judgement to BestBuy corporate and they jerked me around about the payment. Only when I let them know I'd file a lien on their corporate presence in my state, would they send the check.

No more BestBuy for me!