smartin53
Well-Known Member
So now that I am back from the sandbox, I was able to toy with the MX110 and MC240 I got off eBay 5 months ago.
Out of the box, both were a bit dirty with the MC240 having some rust and a mishmash of tubes, while the MX110 was just dusty and had its original complement of Telefunken/McIntosh branded tubes. Also did a basic inspection that showed all was physically good with no burns or leaking caps.
I brought both up with a variac with no issues while doing some cleaning to each. I also did a test rust removal on the MC240 with good results, but it will end up with pitting. The MX110 just needs some new foam.
As for functionality, I hooked up the MC240 first and to my amazement the thing has zero issues. It was dead silent and pushes audio with no problems. After that I plopped in the Gold Lion KT66 power tubes along with Gold Lion 12AU7/12AX7 and EH Gold 12BH7 Input tubes. These made a marked improvement with the sound and worked great. The power supply only got warm, and the output transformers stayed cold (I wasn't exactly pushing it hard). No problems with caps getting hot either. All the pots worked with no crackling.
As for the MX110, it needs a bit more work though I think its mostly related to dirty pots. I had some issues with channels being quiet/noisy at some volume levels. At other points they are fine though. To be safe I pulled the existing tubes and installed a new set of tubes to ensure I wasn't dealing with problems compounded by worn tubes. Luckily it looks like the original tubes are sound so I'll likely reinstall those.
For now I had to stash everything for a few weeks. I intend to do a full capacitor swap on both since the good behavior is likely chance only. In the meantime I'll be doing a quick recap on a Dynaco ST-70.
Out of the box, both were a bit dirty with the MC240 having some rust and a mishmash of tubes, while the MX110 was just dusty and had its original complement of Telefunken/McIntosh branded tubes. Also did a basic inspection that showed all was physically good with no burns or leaking caps.
I brought both up with a variac with no issues while doing some cleaning to each. I also did a test rust removal on the MC240 with good results, but it will end up with pitting. The MX110 just needs some new foam.
As for functionality, I hooked up the MC240 first and to my amazement the thing has zero issues. It was dead silent and pushes audio with no problems. After that I plopped in the Gold Lion KT66 power tubes along with Gold Lion 12AU7/12AX7 and EH Gold 12BH7 Input tubes. These made a marked improvement with the sound and worked great. The power supply only got warm, and the output transformers stayed cold (I wasn't exactly pushing it hard). No problems with caps getting hot either. All the pots worked with no crackling.
As for the MX110, it needs a bit more work though I think its mostly related to dirty pots. I had some issues with channels being quiet/noisy at some volume levels. At other points they are fine though. To be safe I pulled the existing tubes and installed a new set of tubes to ensure I wasn't dealing with problems compounded by worn tubes. Luckily it looks like the original tubes are sound so I'll likely reinstall those.
For now I had to stash everything for a few weeks. I intend to do a full capacitor swap on both since the good behavior is likely chance only. In the meantime I'll be doing a quick recap on a Dynaco ST-70.
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