McIntosh MCD-700X CD Players
- Thread starter w5hro
- Start date
w5hro
Member
I still need to find the service manual if one even exists along with the remote. I have heard that these MCD-7005, MCD7007 and the MDC-7008 players were flawed and partly due to the Phillips lasers going bad, but the one in this MCD-7005 is still good and it's one of the very first ones. It has a really low serial number. Maybe the laser issue was hit and miss from player to player, but apparently McIntosh did something that pissed Phillips off back in the late 1980's and they stopped supplying them with replacement lasers. I did find some original NOS lasers and they are pricey, but I might buy one as a backup just in case.
Anyway, it's still amazing that there is not more information about these players on the web. I cannot find hardly anything about them except for some non-important detail. There is pretty much nothing avaliable on this MCD-7005 player.
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Anyway, it's still amazing that there is not more information about these players on the web. I cannot find hardly anything about them except for some non-important detail. There is pretty much nothing avaliable on this MCD-7005 player.
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clinic-audio
all on YAMAHA untill 1990
Hello w5hro
MCD7000 is probably one of the best CDplayer ever made by MCINTOSH in the early types .Audio filter at the output make a huge difference in regards of the Philips base used to developp the MCD7000
MCD7005 is not a good CD player because it wasproduced by using new machine (electronic pcb's) with old tray mechanism . If you knock during play on the top rail of the front panel , the player will skip . If you use it in noisy area (or too closer to your speakers ) you will hear it skipping again . To bad , unit to much sensible to external vibrations....
MCD7007 is the best one made by MCINTOSH . No really troubles with this player
MCD7008 is a best sounding machine with a NAKAMICHI inside a CDM mechanism "Music bank system " using belts slipping after years of hard use
MCD7000 service manual does exist in two versions , first one with 56 pages (MCINTOSH part number 039526) second one with 65 pages . I strongly recommend you the last one (65 pages )
MCD7005 service manual does exist (one version only ) 50 pages MCINTOSH part number 039569
MCD7007 service manual does exist (one version only ) 50 pages MCINTOSH part number 039668
I don't have any troubles with replacement CDM (laser)
Working since 42 years on MCINTOSH products
MCD7000 is probably one of the best CDplayer ever made by MCINTOSH in the early types .Audio filter at the output make a huge difference in regards of the Philips base used to developp the MCD7000
MCD7005 is not a good CD player because it wasproduced by using new machine (electronic pcb's) with old tray mechanism . If you knock during play on the top rail of the front panel , the player will skip . If you use it in noisy area (or too closer to your speakers ) you will hear it skipping again . To bad , unit to much sensible to external vibrations....
MCD7007 is the best one made by MCINTOSH . No really troubles with this player
MCD7008 is a best sounding machine with a NAKAMICHI inside a CDM mechanism "Music bank system " using belts slipping after years of hard use
MCD7000 service manual does exist in two versions , first one with 56 pages (MCINTOSH part number 039526) second one with 65 pages . I strongly recommend you the last one (65 pages )
MCD7005 service manual does exist (one version only ) 50 pages MCINTOSH part number 039569
MCD7007 service manual does exist (one version only ) 50 pages MCINTOSH part number 039668
I don't have any troubles with replacement CDM (laser)
Working since 42 years on MCINTOSH products
slimpikkins
Super Member
Congratulations, Nice looking player. I need one of those of that era for my Mac system.
w5hro
Member
I tried, and I have to knock on the cabinet pretty hard to make it skip. In my environment I don’t think that would even be an issue. Maybe the wood cabinet it’s in is helping with that a little.
Thanks, I need to find that one then.
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w5hro
Member
My search was for a 7005 or 7007. The one I wanted most was the 7007 like the other guy mentioned, but they are hard to find in mint or near mint condition. They just don't come up for sale very often. Even the 7005 is hard to find in that condition which is why when I saw it, I grabbed it quick.
I don't like auto-changers that spin around inside like a carousel and never have. Those early mechanisms never seem to last and tend to crap out so the MCD-7008 was completely out of the question. Not interested in that one. I had two other auto-changers like that back in the 1980’s and both of them started having problems after only a few months’ time. In my opinion they are not worth the trouble. I later went to a JVC player that had the stacked typed magazine cartridge you plugged in which held like 6 CD’s and those were reliable. The JVC players just didn’t sound very good for some reason.
Anyway, my original search was for an MCD-7000, but then I decided it didn’t have enough functionality like being able to press the number buttons to quickly select individual tracks. That’s kind of important and it’s missing all of those extra buttons and controls. It may work good, but it’s a pretty plain player without much there.
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slimpikkins
Super Member
I have a njoe tjoeb CD player that I really like. It would be great to be matchy though...I’ve been pricing the mcd and later mvp players for a while and the mcd7005 is on my short list. Thanks for sharing and good luck with it.
Jim
Jim
twiiii
Lunatic Member
I had my MCD 7005 just over 30 years. At 1 year old under warranty there was a mod for the tray. I never had feed back issues or noise issues with my 7005. I had to replace the tray belt after 25 years but that was the only issue. I will say imagining and staging of an 861 is much better than any of the 7000 series players. Instead of being Left center right the 861 and 891 are smooth all the way from extreme left to extreme right. Front to back is much better, too. Signal to noise is better also. High end is smoother above 7.0 KHZ. I preferred the front panel controls on the 7000 series players how ever. I much preferred the sound of my Revox 225 player over the Mac 7000. The controls, too. If I had waited a few more months I probably would have had a more advanced Revox player than the 7005. But the 7005 performed well for a very long time. Mine was from the first group built. I'm to lazy to look up the serial number right now. A close friend still has his, ours had consecutive numbers, and I think he had the lowest number of the two.
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w5hro
Member
Do you remember what the mod consisted of? Any service bulletin?
It's possible mine has that mod, but maybe not. It’s one of the very first 7005's All I did at this point was take it out of the wooden cabinet and clean the player well on the outside and panel and then oil the cabinet. Later when I get the chance I will take the covers off and do some internal cleaning and lubricating and also check the belt. If I knew what the tray mod looked like it would help. The only issue the player has right now is the headphone volume (level) pot is faulty. When I turn it, I can feel something inside slipping and if I move and wiggle it around enough it starts working on both channels so it is the pot. I'll never use headphones with it anyway, but I still want to fix that pot. It should be an easy fix and it looks like it’s probably soldered on the one board behind the front panel.
I know many of the newer players are probably better, but I wanted something vintage that goes better with my MAC 1700 receiver, etc. I’m one of those strange mac owners who likes the wooden cabinets. I don’t like even seeing or using the stuff unless it’s in the cabinets. With the 7005 in the cabinet it doesn’t look so out of place with my MAC 1700 and MQ 101 units. Not only that, but this 7005 sounds really good. There is just something about the sound of these old players, probably due to the older lasers that just seem to produce that different sound I prefer. It’s only a 16-bit conversion, but I think it actually sounds much better than that last JVC player I had back in the 1990’s.
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w5hro
Member
That's good to know, but where can I find the service manual and bulletins so I can check and do them if necessary.? That's why I started this thread because there is hardly any information on the web about these players. I was lucky to even find the official owner’s manual, but I knew someone who had a 7005 where the laser crapped out and the player became a door stop so he sold the manual and remote. Unfortunately for me he sold the remote before I found out he even had the stuff.
At this point any photocopies would do.
Thanks…
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damacman
Resident Psycho
I also like the gear in walnut cabs, but it depends on the era. I had my MC2105 in a cabinet for a long time. I set it up on top of an MC2300 and that looked awesome. Ran that combo in my office for a few years and really enjoyed it. [Edit: I found a pic.]
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CruzBay
Super Member
Derail- There is also a mod for the MCD-7007 drawer. When new, the drawer would move all the way out to the stop, stay there for a second, and the motor would click off- moving the drawer a tiny bit.
Mine still does it. (never sent it back)
Mine still does it. (never sent it back)
Received the service manual tonight and it must have been sitting around in their warehouse for at least 30-years. When I opened up the packet a lot of heavy dust fell out. Too bad there is no sneezing emoji
View attachment 1141905
Anyway you could upload this as a PDF? and do you the know the part number of the laser? Every disc I put in mine is giving me a disc error and I believe it’s the laser.
Sure is a pretty thing! Congrats!
clinic-audio
all on YAMAHA untill 1990
The laser ?
No
be carefull with all the guy offering "original MCD7005 laser replacement" on the bay . They are not new and deleted from old machines , maybe older than your MCD7005
If you have troubles with your CD player , send your questions here
I purchased an MCD7005 earlier this year. It came with the original box. I changed all the capacitors and replaced the TDA1541 DAC by a single crown version. In addition to that I exchanged the crystal oscillator by a Tentlabs board with stable oscillator. The cd drawer did not came out well so I also put in a new belt. I have the player connected to my MA7900. It sounds great and it looks nice in my Hifi rack. I bought a cheap second hand philips CD player that has the same laser unit and keep this in store as a donor unit.
