Do you have a My First McIntosh story?

[Golucid]

Originally Posted by crwilli

Okay.

I grew up in Binghamton NY, about 3 miles from McIntosh. Never knew it. Drove by it on Conklin Ave hundreds of times.

First time I learned of McIntosh was in my first year of college in Binghamton. Short story is: A classmate lost his drivers license and decided to trade his Datsun 240z for a McIntosh system. Pre, Amp, Environmental Equalizer and speakers. Dual TT. (His dad was already a fan)

In exchange for me driving him to school, he taught me about music and McIntosh and how to shoot a bow and arrow. Killed lots of brain cells in his basement listening to King Crimson, Jesse Colon Young, Yes, The Who and their ilk. What I remember are fond memories.

Wish I was there with you killing brain cells!

[crwilli]

Originally Posted by Golucid

Wish I was there with you killing brain cells!

Yes, I think you would be a hoot to hang out with!

[audioguy3107]

Originally Posted by crwilli

Okay.

I grew up in Binghamton NY, about 3 miles from McIntosh. Never knew it. Drove by it on Conklin Ave hundreds of times.

First time I learned of McIntosh was in my first year of college in Binghamton. Short story is: A classmate lost his drivers license and decided to trade his Datsun 240z for a McIntosh system. Pre, Amp, Environmental Equalizer and speakers. Dual TT. (His dad was already a fan)

Cool story......my mom's side of the family is from Binghampton.....she went to Johnson City High School way back. We used to spend all Christmas holidays up there with the grandparents back in the 80's. Of course that's way before the hifi days. Grandfather worked for IBM over in Endicott if I remember correctly.

- Buck

[spanky]

It was 1998, I had just gotten married. One of my brothers had a very good year, and to my astonishment gave me, as a wedding present, an MR77 tuner, MA6100 integrated amp, and some Bowers and Wilkins shelf speakers! What a present!! Beat the hell out of the china, glassware, etc. I quickly traded up the speakers for some B & W 640dm floor speakers. Up until this point I'd been listening to the gear I bought in the 70s, after one winter where we had a monstrous snow season, and I made a killing shoveling snow. I bought a Pioneer sx780, Dual 1242 TT, and some huge Transaudio speakers.
Fast forward to 2014. I knew that one at least one tweeter was blown, and possibly a midrange, and the bass didn't sound the same. I realized that none of my stuff had been serviced in nearly 20 years, so took all my gear in. Several speakers were blown, and I had to wait more than a month. Took the old Pioneer out of the closet and made do.
When I went to pick up my equipment, I was about to leave, when the tech said "wait--don't forget your toys!" He handed me a freezer bag full of small kids toys and about a dozen pacifiers, which my son had deposited in the baffle holes of the speakers when he was a toddler!! That explained the muddy bass.
When I got everything set up, I was stunned at how great everything sounded, and it lit a fire. I started to think, maybe a better turntable might make everything a little sweeter. And maybe something a little more in the vintage of my Mac gear. After looking for months, finally decided on the TT, a Thorens td 124. After scouring eBay for months, found one that was a little more than I wanted, but figured I've give it a shot and low-ball the guy. He accepted, and I e-mailed him immediately. Hadn't noticed before in the post, but found out he lived about 3 miles from me! I picked it up that night, saved on the shipping, the guy saved a ton on not having to pay ebay and paypal, everybody wins! It was in mint condition, low serial number, absolutely perfect bearing. I don't think it had ever been played. I've seen beaters of this model with no plinth, tonearm, frozen platters, etc., sell for more than twice what I paid. Since it was made in 1958-60, I decided to rebuild it to be on the safe side. While I was doing that, I figured I might as well get a better tonearm, which was no great shakes. Found a mint early SME 3009 2 unimproved, not a scratch on it, rewired, upgraded to rca connection, for a fair price. I had a decent winter myself this year, and the bug for audio nirvana kept after me. About a month ago, I bit the bullet and bought the amp I've always lusted for- an Mc240, in original condition and working perfectly. The ma6100 now serves as a preamp only. I never knew music could sound like this, short of a live performance. Still have not listened on the Thorens. Had to take a break, and start saving for the last (I hope) piece, a cartridge!

[Masterlu]

spanky... Welcome to AA!

[Questortapes74]

Hello. I will add my thoughts. I first came to experience McIntosh in the fall of 1987 while in college. My friend had a new integrated amp with associated turntable and bookshelf speakers. He spun Floyd's A Momentary Lapse of Reason and then Hold Your Fire by Rush. Both albums were released that fall. Just beautiful to my ears. I have always been a "prog" head and jazz-fusion aficionado. Now almost 30 years later the dream has been realized. The more that things change the more that things remain the same...

[Khorn]

Originally Posted by Cohibaman

My brother and I would often go to the mall, just to pay visit to high end audio store. There was a "back room" that normally had its door closed, but you definitely heard something was going on inside. We always walked right in, knowing what wonders were in there.

Inside, they had a wall (well, a rack or two anyway) of Mcintosh amps and preamps. I can't for the life of me remember the brand of turntables they sold, but I do remember them using Nakamichi cassettes decks and Pioneer RT-707 and RT-909 reel-to-reels for sources (later they got the Nakamichi Dragon, damn!). I also remember only one of their speaker brands; Klipsch. The Cornwalls, the Klipschorns, and of course, the Heresy. Ever since....I've had the McIntosh bug and knew I one day would be rocking a Mcintosh!

Got my first McIntosh/JBL pro bi amped three way system. The curved bass cabinets were driven by an MC 2205 xover by JBL active dividing network to a compression driven huge wooden diffraction lens horn and passive xover to a slot loaded compression driven HF driver.
It’s a long story but I haven’t had McIntosh since.

I have been running Klipschorns since the 80s and I’m now thinking of buying a McIntosh MC 462 to drive them.

I would greatly appreciate any experiences with this setup.

[damacman]

Originally Posted by Khorn

Got my first McIntosh/JBL pro bi amped three way system. The curved bass cabinets were driven by an MC 2205 xover by JBL active dividing network to a compression driven huge wooden diffraction lens horn and passive xover to a slot loaded compression driven HF driver.
It’s a long story but I haven’t had McIntosh since.

I have been running Klipschorns since the 80s and I’m now thinking of buying a McIntosh MC 462 to drive them.

I would greatly appreciate any experiences with this setup.

You sure an MC462 would be enough power?

[doggiehowser]

I don’t currently own a McIntosh nor have I ever owned one.

But when I was 18, I bought my first CD and I didn’t have a CD player. It was a lot of money then. I happened to be in a McIntosh showroom in a shopping mall in Singapore - run by the distributor Ong Radio.

I asked the sales person if I could play my CD. And he said yes. It was an all McIntosh system. CD player. Amp. Can’t recall the models. Or the speaker. But holy crap Madonna’s Papa Don’t Preach sounded sublime.

Most Hi-Fi shops in those days were snooty and looked down on anyone not sporting designer brands. I was a high school student so wasn’t expecting much. But they were just so inviting and let me play my CDs because they just loved music. This is the kind of place I want to work in.

[W9TR]

The first time a saw a McIntosh product it was the MC 275. I was in engineering college, and into big solid state amps, so thought it was a hilarious anachronism.

Fast forward 30 years, and a local stereo store was having a store closing sale and McIntosh gear was 30% off. They had a demo MC 2102 and I fell in love with it. I came back the next day and it had been sold, but they offered to get in a new one at the same price, so I jumped on it. Turns out they lost their McIntosh franchise because of moves like that.

The progression since has been:

Power amps:
MC 2102 + MC 2102 sold pair to buy
2 MC 2301’s

Then an MC 275V just because

Then MC 601 x 3 for the HT
Then MC 602 for the rears

Preamps:
C 2200 > C 2300 > C500 C/T > C 1100

MX 151 for the HT

Sources:
MCD 500 > MCD 1100

That’s my McIntosh story. So far.

Tom