A good purchase

[LowIQ]

I posted this on another site, but the Mac people here may be more interested.
I recently purchased a MAC 1500 rec from the 'gon. The seller had no feedback, so I hesitated. The same ad on E-bay showed good feedback under a different name. Glad I bought it.
It looks brand new. I mean brand new. The tube complement was unbelievable:
4 NOS Sylvania 7591's
2 OS Westinghouse AU 7's and
1 Phillips OS 12 ax7.
There is a Telefunken 12 au7 in the tuner section.
It sounds like million dollars, giving my Mac 275 (one) a real run for its money.
I had thought about renewing the caps etc., but the sound is so good that I am reluctant. The volume/on off control is smooth as silk.
It doesn't sound like a mere 30 watts, either.
If you saw this ad and didn't jump, you missed good deal.

[brownbear]

If it sounds like a million bucks, I say enjoy the hell out of it for a while.

[jdandy]

LowIQ.......Nice vintage McIntosh receiver.

[Jerome W]

Hello,
I have a Mac1500 too.
This receiver is extremely musical. Almost like a MA230 and a MR67 in a single chassis.
Congrats on this great pick !

[Cohibaman]

Nice score, congrats!

[Antonmb]

Wow, very nice piece.

[Antonmb]

Re recapping, if nothing else you should at least consider having a knowledgeable tech look at the innards to check for out-of-spec or leaking or bulging caps. I don’t know the age of this unit, but my understanding is that the typical lifespan of caps from the 60s and 70s is 20-30 years. If one or more do go bad, it’s possible it could cause other damage.

[LowIQ]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

Re recapping, if nothing else you should at least consider having a knowledgeable tech look at the innards to check for out-of-spec or leaking or bulging caps. I don’t know the age of this unit, but my understanding is that the typical lifespan of caps from the 60s and 70s is 20-30 years. If one or more do go bad, it’s possible it could cause other damage.

You are right, of course. I need to take it in to get the slide switches clean, no surprise, but the volume control was the one I was most concerned about, since they are hard to find. I use a separate on/off switch so as not to disturb it too much.
There are no sudden jumps in volume, or that sort of thing.
I have a MAC 1700 as well, rebuilt by the shop in Charlottesville, new caps and all new electronics in the signal path. It smoothed out the bass, which was kind of heavy and ill-defined, especially compared to the 275. After the rebuild, the bass cleared up and separation of musical strands became much more clean.
The same folks redid an MA 230 some years ago, new caps, etc. He sold it to me for $300 when twin ARC 52b's passed dc and blew up a pair of ProAc Studio 1's. Also rebuilt an MR 71 that compared favorably to a Modaff. mod I used have - sound quality the same, the Modaff. a bit better in DXing, but not much.

[vegaracer1]

I really love my Mac1700. I like the sound through headphones too.