301 Still Out

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My McIntosh MCD301 SACD/CD player went off to the store for repair back on 2/8. It's not back yet. I called the store Monday, and was told McIntosh has it. There is an authorized repair shop in Manhattan, but the store feels more comfortable sending devices with transports and such back to Mac itself.

On Wednesday, I decided to re-instal my previous CD player, the Marantz DV8400 universal player. I played it for the first time last night; some '50s and '60s tunes. It sounded okay, perhaps a bit muffled. It hasn't been used in three years, so it may need to break in all over again. It's also a 24/96 machine, versus the 24/192 MCD301. And I didn't have it up very loud because I was using it more for background as I sorted mail, plus I'm more about breaking in the Amperex tubes I put in the 2300's line stage recently, so I want to log hours more than anything else.

I don't know how long I'll have the 8400 in the setup, because I don't know how long the 301 will be away. We do what we need to do.

[Maks]

Marantz makes some good equipment, there are worse problems to have!

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Originally Posted by Maks

Marantz makes some good equipment, there are worse problems to have!

Agreed. Last night, the 8400 sounded a bit better as I played some more tunes from the same CD set as the night before. Perhaps the capacitors needed to get sufficiently charged. The other thing is the 8400 was never used with this system configuration so that could account for what I heard, I suppose. And the WW Stratus series 7 PC I connected it with is new also.

The 8400 was purchased in December 2003, so in terms of its type of component It's no spring chicken. But I plan to experiment with other CDs while I wait for the 301 to get back. My guess is there's more to the 301's issues than a glass shift, which was the initial thought.

[marklar182]

Mac Service is pretty backed up, they are behind 3-4 weeks from my communication with Sharon last week.

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Originally Posted by marklar182

Mac Service is pretty backed up, they are behind 3-4 weeks from my communication with Sharon last week.

Hello marklar182,

Do you have something in for repair also?

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Six weeks and counting. Still no word.

[marklar182]

Originally Posted by prepress

Hello marklar182,

Do you have something in for repair also?

I was going to send in my MC2102 Front Panel in for new Glass, but Tom Manely in TN took care of me in a less than a week!

[prepress]

Originally Posted by marklar182

I was going to send in my MC2102 Front Panel in for new Glass, but Tom Manely in TN took care of me in a less than a week!

That was nice and quick. What is the MC2102? Sounds like a power amp.

[prepress]

Still no 301, but today I played some ELP, disc 2 from their The Return of the Manticore anthology. It has tracks such as Tarkus, Rondo, Knife Edge and From the Beginning on it. The sound with the DV8400 was really nice, with detail I hadn't heard before. It occurred to me, albeit briefly, that I wasn't missing the 301. The DV8400 in this setup sounded plenty good.

Who knows, maybe I'll have both players in the system for a comparison of sorts when the 301 gets back.

[marklar182]

Originally Posted by prepress

That was nice and quick. What is the MC2102? Sounds like a power amp.

MC2102 is a Tube Power Amp