Anybody know how difficult it is to reverse the hot leads on the headphone socket on a Mac1500 receiver? I'd rather not have to send it out for service since it just got back not long ago. Don't know why I didn't notice it before (perhaps because I just started listening with my headphones a lot), but the channels are reversed: when you turn the balance knob all the way left, the sound goes all the way right, and vice versa. Seems like it ought to be easy enough for even us lawyer-types, but I don't want those to be famous last words. :dunno: Any help would be appreciated.

I know this might sound stupid, but are you wearing the headphones correctly, that is, left earphone on the left side of your head? There may be a wiring problem with the headphone plug. Do you have a test CD with seperate left and right channel tones? This will aid in trouble shooting.

The 1500 was built before the industry established a fixed rule on which channel was the tip and what one is the ring. It should not be hard to pull the bottom and swap the wires at the jack, just have to have a soldering iron and a bit of solder.

I know this might sound stupid, but are you wearing the headphones correctly, that is, left earphone on the left side of your head? There may be a wiring problem with the headphone plug. Do you have a test CD with seperate left and right channel tones? This will aid in trouble shooting.


Don't underestimate my ability to do something completely stupid, but in this case, yes, I have the phones on the right ears. They are AKG K701s and their configuration will not allow you to reverse them comfortably. I also ran the Stereophile test disk to confirm the problem, and tested the phones in another amp to be sure that it wasn't the plug wiring.

I'll attempt the course Terry suggests, and we'll see what happens. Its kind of a frivolous issue because I listen through a Creek OBH-11 headphone amp anyway, but I wanted to A/B it to the headphone amp on the 1500, hence my discovery. Thanks for the feedback.

Don't underestimate my ability to do something completely stupid, but in this case, yes, I have the phones on the right ears. They are AKG K701s and their configuration will not allow you to reverse them comfortably. I also ran the Stereophile test disk to confirm the problem, and tested the phones in another amp to be sure that it wasn't the plug wiring.

I'll attempt the course Terry suggests, and we'll see what happens. Its kind of a frivolous issue because I listen through a Creek OBH-11 headphone amp anyway, but I wanted to A/B it to the headphone amp on the 1500, hence my discovery. Thanks for the feedback.

I believe Terry's course of action will cure your ills.

I see you have several Mac receivers. That's quiet a collection. I still have the MAC4300V I bought new 20 years ago, still love it, too.

The lack of a standard headphone wiring scheme extends to the Fisher products of the era - mine all have the channels reversed.
I have left my McIntosh and Fisher components alone in this regard simply to preserve the original design.