Mp 1100

[j3brow]

Awesome Britt!! Big congrats. Looking forward to your thoughts. I have the C1100 but have designs on the MP1100 down the road. Cheers.

[MisterBritt]

Originally Posted by j3brow

Awesome Britt!! Big congrats. Looking forward to your thoughts. I have the C1100 but have designs on the MP1100 down the road. Cheers.

Hi Jason. I'll report back with my impressions. I am really digging the MP1100 but I won't have an upgraded power cord (Shunyata Alpha) until this weekend. It's giving a most impressive performance just the same. It's awesome. I've reviewed and taken notes on probably 12~15 albums so far, albeit with the stock cord (and tubes). Cheers.

[MisterBritt]

The McIntosh MP1100 phono preamplifier offers the listener a huge cinematic presentation. I say "huge" and what i mean is a solid, extensive ambiance. Where appropriate, there is much more resolution, detail of information, to include sonic cues. The soundstage is fuller than what I had been used to; the front of the stage is moved forward and the back moved back and the sides extend.

I have enjoyed taking notes over various listening sessions over several days. The following notes were taken at day one, day two, day three -- some at night, some at morning, some in the afternoon. After a couple days I installed an upgraded power cord, the Shunyata Alpha, the likes of which I have previously owned and admired. Shunyata power cord installed, I would say the biggest improvement was in the bass.

Also at that time, I moved my Mullard CV4004 tubes from the phono stage (where they were no longer in the signal once the MP1100 was added) to the D/A position, through which I am running the MP1100.

Even so, my initial overall impression is that the upright acoustic bass was tight an tuneful, with an improved sense of spacial integrity. Electric bass was about the same quality ranking but different in character, due, I believe, to the stock cord not being upgraded. That was addressed a couple days in to the sessions.

While I cannot substantiate it, my hunch is that this unit has that more "modern" presentation that we read about in comparison between, say, the "modern" MC601 amps versus the stalwart MC501 mono blocks.*

Let's move right along with listening impressions. The following are notes I took on the fly and are not necessarily the order of my listening sessions. I'll attempt to eliminate as much repetition as is warranted. Sometimes, if my notes indicate it, I'll emphasize the same observations to make a point. These notes are not a review of the MP1100 per se so much as they represent the kind of banter one might have been subjected to if he were listening along with me to the new MP1100.

Stevie Wonder Innervisions: (Japan First Pressing)

One can clearly hear as many as three different and simultaneous harmonicas in the tune, "Living for the City." What had been mumbled as our protagonist boards the bus is now clearly heard as, "Much Obliged." By the time the lyrics include, "... 'cause Arbitron is shitty" in that montage, I was grinning full on. Stevie had been running and O&O (owned an operated) radio station in Detroit and Arbitron was the ratings service, no doubt under-representing the commercial strength of his station's listenership.

Elvis Presley Elvis in Memphis: (Friday Records)

Drummer Gene Chrisman seems to have gone from a 20" to a 22" bass drum. The Sweet Inspirations come through in high resolution like a church or choral group in cinematic psychedelia.

Pink Floyd Animals: (The latest BG remastered re-issue)

An acoustic guitar clearly ringing in the upper register at the onset of this album. I'd never before noticed that ringing. It's clearly two guitar tracks rather than one. I had always previously thought this album was rather murky. I no longer think that. Just beautiful separation on all the acoustic guitars.

Pharoah Sanders Jewels of Thought (early or first issue ABC/Dunhill)

Incredible detail on the shaker, bells and percussion with names I cannot pronounce. There is a verbal cue that I previously would describe simply as studio chatter that now is clearly, "Go Ahead," before Leon Thomas vocalizes his Universal Prayer. The yodeling is fantastic. The resolution of the entire soundstage is superb, making me guess Neumann M50 omnidirectional microphones are in play. The soundstage is knocking me out!

Steely Dan Can't Buy a Thrill: (Speakers Corner re-issue/Test Pressing)

"Do it Again," the first tune, if not the whole album, has always been light on bass. But the bass sounds much improved. "Do it Again" has two ride cymbals, each on opposite sides of the soundstage. I'd never really noticed that before. On the tune, "Dirty Work," the horns "bad-dah" and the acoustic guitars are gorgeous.

One cool thing about this records is that there is typically a lead guitar or two killing it all through the tunes but brought back in the mix to where you have to listen for the lead guitar. Or you could take many of these tunes and remove the vocals and bring the lead up as a "solo" instrument.

On the second to last tune, "Midnight Cruiser," one can clearly distinguish the two electric guitars. Whether that's Denny Dias and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter both, or one or the other with overdubs, or Elliott Randell for that matter, doing overdubs, it is clearly two guitar tracks. (These are just my on the fly notes, folks.)

Jimi Hendrix Experience Electric Ladyland: (early English pressing on Polydor Records -- expensive, pristine album)

Side Three: "Rainy Day, Dream Away" .... I don't know if this composition can be deconstructed in any way. You'd end up with less than you started with. I will now confirm, however, my previous suspicion about that flying saucer that's circling at the end of the side, like a ferris wheel, it does indeed tilt on its axis and travel top to bottom as well as left and right. Jimi must have employed what Pink Floyd called the "joystick" in the mixing this album. You can take an individual track and move it around 360 degrees. Wow!

Gerry Rafferty City to City: (mint, vintage MFSL)

My only note indicates I was pondering whether he was using a Telefunken ELA M 251 rather than U47 on the vocals. Brian Wilson loved the 251s but most folks favored the U47 as the top microphone for vocals.

Beach Boys Surf's Up: (recent Analog Productions)

Sounds like it was mixed underwater in Neptune's Lair Studios (I'm making this up.) Those Sennheiser microphones have a very cool sound. I cannot imagine this record any other way. Is this album a precursor to the punk slash grunge slash garage movement?

Miles Davis Quintet My Funny Valentine: (Japan 18AP 2062)

This would be my current favorite (as it has been for several years) album by my favorite band. This is the reason I went back to vinyl. (I have four copies of this album, to include the recent MFSL, but this is my preferred copy.)

I heard something I have never heard before. And I've listened to this record -- what? -- one- or two-hundred times? Tony does this very pianissimo trill figure, single-stroke roll, on Side A, cut two, "All of You." Okay, I'm really sold on the MP1100's ability to lower the floor noise and present low level information.

TO BE CONTINUED

* I've never auditioned the MC601s but have owned the MC501s and read the comparisons. I suspect the MP1100 would fall in the comparatively "modern" McIntosh sound category. I am comparing it to the 60th Anniversary C22 with an A23 Homage SUT. This SUT is not being used in conjunction with the MP1100. The 60th Anniversary C22 remains integral to the system.

I've got everything on Stillpoints except the new MP1100; high-end High Fidelity Cables and Shunyata cables and power cords; Shunyata Typhon V2 and Triton and attendant 20 amp Anaconda power cords and so forth. The two (more or less imminent) areas for improvement regarding the MP1100 are securing Stillpoints and replacing the stock tubes. The HFC enhanced phono cables come out of an Artisan Fidelity Garrard 301 with 12" Ortofon transcription arm and modern top of their line Ortofon SPU Royal A Moving Coil cartridge.

[j3brow]

Excellent Britt, very enjoyable read. And yes, I felt like I was there listening with you. Very insightful.

[MisterBritt]

-- CONTINUED --

Prince LoveSexy: (Japan first press)

Here's an album with tons of information, many layers, etc. On "Alphabet Street," the bass drum kicks set the MP1100 to clipping. I couldn't hear it at all but there is a message on the main readout that would flash almost every time the bass drum hit. This flash warning lasts for just an instant moment, just a flash. I don't know how or if it could be addressed. Whatever.

Porcupine Tree Lightbulb Sun

I engaged the rumble filter. I didn't like the sound of it and took it back off. But it was interesting to discover how much rumble noise is on a record. For instance, as the groove played out at the end of the record, the meters, which read from left to right (minus) -60 db to a pinch beyond zero, the meter needles typically would bounce around -40 db, suggesting to me there's about 20 db of sound coming off a typical record at play. I found that half-way interesting.

War All Day Music: (original Japan White Promo Label)

"Nappy Head" - same as the Pharoah Sanders album. Massive amounts of ambient information. Again, Neumann M50 tube mics set to omnidirectional mode? "Slippin' Into Darkness," more of the same. Just tremendous! Like an orchestral hall ambiance from a Decca tree. Just fantastic on all percussive instruments. Well, all of it is revelatory. The tambourine, for instance, sounds like an authentic tambourine, not digital chirping insects. There is a godsmack of realism.

Everly Brothers Stories We Could Tell: (Speakers Corner)

This was recorded in John Sebastian's home studio, which made me think it could be problematic. No worries. The MP1100 really pulls it all together. Not plagued by phasing issues, tape head malalignment or uneven edit issues, it offers a totally coherent presentation. This went from an album, the production of which I had previously believed to be of dubious execution (though no doubt well intentioned), to an absolute stunner.

Sam Cooke Night Beat: (Japan early or first issue)

Billy Preston on organ, Ray Charles on piano, this is a great one. The detail and depth is a trip. Upright bass is tight and tuneful. There's a rhythm guitar that pretty much holds his small piece of turf throughout the album. It can get losed or smeared, but the MP1100 presents the instrument with clarity and air.

Nirvana Unplugged in New York (recent Pallas pressing)

Very analogue sounding. Again, great depth and micro-dynamic details. Convincing crowd noise, applause, etc. This one does not suffer from digititas at all. Frankly, this album sounded superb before the MP1100 was added, so I'm just noting that the MP1100 enhances rather than detracts from a recoding that must have been digitized in the mastering chain. It sounds analogue.

Guns 'n' Roses Chinese Democracy: (not a good domestic pressing)

Okay, in contrast to the Nirvana offering, this one still suffers from digititas. It sounds like a CD, with a collapsed soundstage. The MP1100 did not improve this album.

Stevie Wonder Music of My Mind: (Japan, first pressing)

Another Stevie Wonder album for consideration. The mass vocals seemingly went from four voices to seven. You can really pick out the individual tracks (voices). The ultra-deep bass remains, cymbals and bass drum are cleaner -- you can really discern the bass drum beater on the head. Vocals, while problematic in my opinion on much of the Stevie Wonder albums, are less phase-y here, but still vestiges of that phase-y-ness, that flanger effect on the vocals, remain. I'm convinced it's on the master tape that way. Lots of clean, fat, wet bass. Love it.

Blue Note Records - various (Japan circa '77-78 King pressings)

I have a tremendous appetite for the Blue Note Records label. My preference is for the mid-70's King (as opposed to Toshiba) pressings. I listened to Anthony Williams Spring, Herbie Hancock Inventions & Dimensions, Eric Dolphy Out to Lunch, among others. These are superb, as always. Nothing really to add. I prefer these King pressings on the highest quality vinyl which is no longer available. I am not saying I think the Kings are better than the Music Matters, but to my ear they have a more authentic tube-y sound. They are my go-to Blue Notes.

Miles Davis Bitches Brew (Japan first pressing)

Very organic. Tremendous depth and detail like I have never heard before today. This double album intrigues me as my understanding is it was recorded over many sessions "in the round," meaning the musicians sat or were otherwise arranged in a circle. Also, I believe the final product is much the handiwork of producer Teo Macero, master splicer. And yet, here we have tremendous depth and ambient information.

I previously observed that the front of the soundstage can get pulled forward, vocals and acoustic rhythm guitars come to mind -- just whatever is on the record. Here, however, we have the lead instrument, Miles' horn, for example, planted firmly in the middle of the stage, with ambient information in front, behind, and to the sides. This one, like the Pharoah Sanders and the War album previously mentioned, is just mind-blowing.

CONCLUSIONS: The MP1100 offers up a big, bold, modern sound. Increased three-dimensionality. Very hologrammatic soundstage. Tremendous micro- and macro-dynamics. This piece is a winner.

[vintage_tube]

Originally Posted by MisterBritt

Your post got me to thinking. If the selectable gain of the MP1100 represents a modest increase from 60 db to 64 db, and the THD spec is improved from .05 to .02, could it be an identical phono circuit? I was curious. I spoke with my McIntosh dealer today I asked him about it. He said the designer of the new phono circuit is Ron Evans and getting it right was one of Ron's last (latest) challenges at McIntosh. (It made me wonder if Ron had retired but I didn't ask.)

It was Ron Evans and Sidney Corderman, I was informed, who designed the miraculous PowerGuard. Ron, whose name was not immediately familiar to me the way for instance Sidney Corderman, Chuck Hinton, Gordon Gow, Frank McIntosh and Ron Cornelious are, but he too is one of the pillars of McIntosh.

Also, by way of confession, I had read an announcement published in Europe which quoted the price in pounds or euros and I did the calculation back to USD and it was about $12,000. I imagine that's true overseas. But I wasn't thinking that the product might be priced higher overseas than here for a variety of reasons: import fees, tariffs, taxes -- whatever. Bottom line, I was informed the MP1100 retails for $8,000 USD for those of us here in the states.

At any rate, my dealer had visited with Ron Evans about this very product earlier in the week. I was informed that the phono circuit in the MP1100 is not identical to McIntosh's other offerings. It is new and improved. I'm not an engineer. I don't know. But I am relaying that I asked specifically about this matter, we talked for quite some time, and was informed that it is a better phono circuit than McIntosh's other offerings.

Ron Evans, VP, Senior Design Engineer, was a "quiet" name outside the halls of McIntosh but his many patents & designs, some of which he shared with Sidney Corderman impacted the audio world.

He's not the individual who'll designed a new product such as the MP1100 & just walked over to the C1100 build area to grab a phono stage. He was a engineer, a tinkerer, a designer -- one of his recent is the MC2301's which are going on 9 years without a single change. That's unheard of -- usually by now, it would be at a V2 run. As a final salute to McIntosh, the MP1100 has his fingerprints and name all over it & that's great to anyone wanting a stand-alone, state-of-the-art phono stage.

When I spoke to Chuck Hinton a few months ago, I casually asked if Ron was around & was told "he retired 10 days ago". So, I knew as I read this thread he had retired; but, found this:

"Today we celebrate the distinguished career of McIntosh engineer Ron Evans (shown on left with McIntosh President Charlie Randall). He started his career with McIntosh not long after finishing school on March 3, 1969 and now retires exactly 48 years later on March 3, 2017. This timing is not a coincidence on his part and is indicative of the attention to detail he put into every project he worked on. He received many patents over the years and his design fingerprints are on countless McIntosh products that have brought audio enjoyment to so many around the world. Join us in wishing him the best in his well-earned retirement. Best of luck Ron!" (The facebook page where I found the above retirement announcement had a blocker half way below the article -- couldn't get rid of it -- so included this recent shot of Ron at Audio Classics trying out his MP1100).

Best,

Bob



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[vintage_tube]

Originally Posted by MisterBritt

CONCLUSIONS: The MP1100 offers up a big, bold, modern sound. Increased three-dimensionality. Very holgrammatic soundstage. Tremendous micro- and macro-dynamics. This piece is a winner.

Awesome report -- sure makes a vinyl addict sit and ponder when & where to put this jewel in their system.

Thanks sir,

Bob

[MisterBritt]

Originally Posted by vintage_tube

Ron Evans, VP, Senior Design Engineer, was a "quiet" name outside the halls of McIntosh but his many patents & designs, some of which he shared with Sidney Corderman impacted the audio world.

He's not the individual who'll designed a new product such as the MP1100 & just walked over to the C1100 build area to grab a phono stage. He was a engineer, a tinkerer, a designer -- one of his recent is the MC2301's which are going on 9 years without a single change. That's unheard of -- usually by now, it would be at a V2 run. As a final salute to McIntosh, the MP1100 has his fingerprints and name all over it & that's great to anyone wanting a stand-alone, state-of-the-art phono stage.

When I spoke to Chuck Hinton a few months ago, I casually asked if Ron was around & was told "he retired 10 days ago". So, I knew as I read this post he had retired; but, found this:

"Today we celebrate the distinguished career of McIntosh engineer Ron Evans (shown on left with McIntosh President Charlie Randall). He started his career with McIntosh not long after finishing school on March 3, 1969 and now retires exactly 48 years later on March 3, 2017. This timing is not a coincidence on his part and is indicative of the attention to detail he put into every project he worked on. He received many patents over the years and his design fingerprints are on countless McIntosh products that have brought audio enjoyment to so many around the world. Join us in wishing him the best in his well-earned retirement. Best of luck Ron!" (The facebook page where I found the above retirement announcement had a blocker half way below the article -- couldn't get rid of it -- so included this recent shot of Ron at Audio Classics trying out his MP1100).

Best,

Bob

Very cool. Thanks for posting this!

[jdandy]

Britt.......Your McIntosh MP1100 review is an excellent read. I enjoyed the journey with you. Lots of fine music, too. Top notch reporting.

[Bob Bubeck]

Lovely review, Britt!

Might you report further using some classical music for audition at some point?

Thanks.

Bob