neevo
Super Member
I never thought I’d own a McIntosh, so I’m very excited to be posting here! I was overseas on holiday when I saw a post online for some old stereo equipment being sold. One item that caught my attention in the list was a McIntosh. Looking at the photos I didn’t see anything I recognised but 1 item did catch my eye. A bit of googling and it appeared he was selling a C20 Preamp.
I messaged him but didn’t think I would be able to get in before anyone else as I still had another 2 weeks away and it would likely sell for more than I could afford, despite the condition it was in.
Well as it turns out we were able to sort a price via messaging and today I went to pick it up.
I’m here for some advice as I have no idea what I’m getting myself in to and whether my plan to bring it back to life is possible.
I’m prepared to take my time to fix it up as this will be a passion project. My aim here is to be a quality repair/refurbish and return the amp to as close to original looking as possible. I’m not precious about internals, as long as the quality of sound is preserved, the outside is like as beautiful as practical and my budget affords.
The good:
1. It’s a McIntosh C20
2. Most of the amp looks unmolested
The bad:
1. The condition is terrible. Broken faceplate (glass) and also the PO painted the chassis
2. The filter caps have been played with. The metal covers have been removed and not cleanly replaced. The wiring is a little untidy where the work has been done
3. Rust. Everywhere. Not sure how is best to manage the corrosion. It’s on the chassis, parts of the internals and lots of the bolts, screws and rivets
4. Ceramic rca’s don’t appear to connect to anything
5. No tubes
6. No bottom cover
7. No case
8. The silkscreening from the front left panel is gone
9. The low freq trim plastic pots on the rear are pretty solid
10. The end of the 4x tag strip near the filter caps has broken
11. It’s 110v, so I’ll need a step up transformer at some stage
So I have my work cut out!!!!
Pics:
Replaced filter caps:
The broken tag strip and replaced cap:
The damaged rca. The final rca doesn’t appear to be connected to anything. Plus the resistors inside are not attached to anything elther
I messaged him but didn’t think I would be able to get in before anyone else as I still had another 2 weeks away and it would likely sell for more than I could afford, despite the condition it was in.
Well as it turns out we were able to sort a price via messaging and today I went to pick it up.
I’m here for some advice as I have no idea what I’m getting myself in to and whether my plan to bring it back to life is possible.
I’m prepared to take my time to fix it up as this will be a passion project. My aim here is to be a quality repair/refurbish and return the amp to as close to original looking as possible. I’m not precious about internals, as long as the quality of sound is preserved, the outside is like as beautiful as practical and my budget affords.
The good:
1. It’s a McIntosh C20
2. Most of the amp looks unmolested
The bad:
1. The condition is terrible. Broken faceplate (glass) and also the PO painted the chassis
2. The filter caps have been played with. The metal covers have been removed and not cleanly replaced. The wiring is a little untidy where the work has been done
3. Rust. Everywhere. Not sure how is best to manage the corrosion. It’s on the chassis, parts of the internals and lots of the bolts, screws and rivets
4. Ceramic rca’s don’t appear to connect to anything
5. No tubes
6. No bottom cover
7. No case
8. The silkscreening from the front left panel is gone
9. The low freq trim plastic pots on the rear are pretty solid
10. The end of the 4x tag strip near the filter caps has broken
11. It’s 110v, so I’ll need a step up transformer at some stage
So I have my work cut out!!!!
Pics:
Replaced filter caps:
The broken tag strip and replaced cap:
The damaged rca. The final rca doesn’t appear to be connected to anything. Plus the resistors inside are not attached to anything elther