I just now realized something profound about the new Mc Preamps

jdwk

AK Subscriber
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it appears that you cannot hook up tape decks to them so that they can both PLAY and RECORD. I am really surprised and it just hit me while looking at the back photo of a c48.......I guess you can use a cd Burner through the toslink connection but I sstill think it's odd......
 
it appears that you cannot hook up tape decks to them so that they can both PLAY and RECORD. I am really surprised and it just hit me while looking at the back photo of a c48.......I guess you can use a cd Burner through the toslink connection but I sstill think it's odd......
I can record and play at the same time, mac calls it Listen/Record
 
it appears that you cannot hook up tape decks to them so that they can both PLAY and RECORD. I am really surprised and it just hit me while looking at the back photo of a c48.......I guess you can use a cd Burner through the toslink connection but I sstill think it's odd......

I don't know but it looks OK to me.

Screenshot_20180915-111312.png
 
Looking at the C48 you don't have to select record output on the face, must be always active. You listen to the source input that your recording only.

However on my C100 you can be recording one source and then switch out of it and listen to another source, while the selected source your recording is still recording.

Playback of the recording would be the same on both, you select the input for the tape deck and play.

The C48 is not a preamp thats packed full of options, they need to do that to reduce cost.
 
Not every preamp has a dual buss. I have had many recievers and preamps in my time, and only twice have I ever come across them in the wild. One was an Adcom GTP-400, the other a Yamaha R-700.

However well these worked, there was still signal leakage, so whatever you were listening to while you were recording something else would imprint during the very quiet passages on both machines, so I only used that feature once on each, only to discover that I couldn't use it again.

Mac may do a much better job of keeping the signals away from each other internally, but I don't have one to test that out.
 
The new pre-amps aren't that flexible anymore. A few have a Tape monitor switch like the C-22III for instance. But having a record and playback selector like the 30 series pre-amps and the C-40 and 42 are very rare. Now the C-42 would be perfect if it had a 10 Khz graphic control and a MC input. But then Mac has never made the perfect pre-amp for my tastes. That's why I bought a MP-100 to go with my C-34. Now its perfect. The MP 100 feeding the MX 151 is a very big surprise using a digital connection.
 
You cannot monitor what you are recording through your tape deck on the new pre-amps. I use cassettes, and it is the one small thing I find a bit annoying......
 
I had a talk with the op today about this on the C47. You use the fixed output on the 47 to go to any of your recording devices. That allows full volume and the recording device input volume controls the levels.

https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/preamplifiers/C47#gallery-3
But you can't monitor it on another input if you are recording with a Tape Deck, the record output takes it's source from the the selected input. So, yes you can record, but you can't monitor it from your recording device..
 
I’m grateful for the three(!) tape loops on my C33, which I do use. And Tape 3 has both rear and front jacks, so you can actually hook up four tape recorders/sources to the preamp.

A lovely benefit of the older preamps!
 
If you mean listen to the recording, yes. You are listening to what the source is. You can monitor recording levels with the recording device.
When recording with a tape deck, you want to monitor the recording if you are using a 3 Head deck, its very standard operating procedure and exactly why back in the day you had TAPE MONITOR inputs. They were independent from the source input, so you can still have the recording source selected, and listen to how your recording was coming out by using TAPE MONITOR.
McIntosh came up with their way of doing it with the Listen and record selectors.
 
I'll just have to state this is another thing the C100 does so good and far and above many mac preamps.

I can hook up three tape decks without even going to a miss marked in/output, Can listen to the recording source, the recored source from the tape or another source all while recording. Then I can listen to the processor loop or record with or without it as well.
 
I'll just have to state this is another thing the C100 does so good and far and above many mac preamps.

I can hook up three tape decks without even going to a miss marked in/output, Can listen to the recording source, the recored source from the tape or another source all while recording. Then I can listen to the processor loop or record with or without it as well.
Yeah of course, but the C30/32/33/34/40/42 etc etc they can all do this too....I guess Mc decided since Tape is not a major medium any more, that people perhaps wouldn't miss it....

Your C100 is from the 90's when tape was still a popular medium so of course they were to include those features in the design..
 
Yeah of course, but the C30/32/33/34/40/42 etc etc they can all do this too....I guess Mc decided since Tape is not a major medium any more, that people perhaps wouldn't miss it....
But are they fully balanced and have XLR connections. One of the reasons the C100 looks like a AVR in the back of it, is the redundancy of inputs. In a lot of in/outputs I'll have the option of XLR or RCA or use them both. But your right as with most stereo equipment. When we start seeing CD and DVD on the face tape started to disappear or leaving one simple in/output with simple record functions.
 
how do you think the c100 compares to say, the C50?
I never had a C50

All I know is the C100 is a keeper. Most people who have had other preamps and then used the C100 or C200 haven't switched to anything else since. I even had a member contact me today on my profile page asking about my past comments and feelings on the C100. I sent him a PM and I told him nothing has changed in my opinions over the years. He has a lead on one and is going for it opposed to a C2500.

You will not see anyone have a complaint about it either, that it doesn't do something they need it to do. Tony likes the C200 because it works good with his theater system and something to do with pass though.
 
currently in use:
Technics SP 15, EPA 250 arm, Grado BTE, Audio Technica AT 150 MLX, Technics 1500US, Pioneer HR 100 (yep, it's an 8 track tape recorder!) Nakamichi DRM 3, Mcintosh C33, MR80, MCD 7007, HHB CDR 800, MC 2500.

All this equipment will hook up to a C100 and you will still have more than half the in/outputs not used.
 
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