My Vintage McIntosh System

cjmustang69 · Jul 4, 2014

I have never owned McIntosh equipment previously, but always wanted to try some vintage pieces - particularly with recent Klipsch Chorus speakers purchase. Relatively local CL listing for MC-2105 amp, C-28 preamp, and MR-74 tuner by original owner showed up a few weeks ago. I looked at it Wednesday - brought it home last night. The original owner was extremely nice and had kept equipment in very nice condition and had all Owners Manuals and Service Manuals. I finished hooking the system up this morning and have been listening to FM for the past few hours. I think the McIntosh equipment is some of the best looking equipment I have owned and initial impression is it sounds very nice also. I do plan to have the amp/preamp refurbished in near future - just need to determine where to have it done.

Yamaki · Jul 4, 2014

Congratulations! That's a nice setup. The gear looks to be in excellent shape. With all of them in slant-leg cabinets, too!

gmc · Jul 4, 2014

cjmustang69 said:
I do plan to have the amp/preamp refurbished in near future - just need to determine where to have it done.

If you don't mind a road trip, DeWick Repairs is a 5 hour drive from you, in Knoxville, TN, and is considered one of the best in the business when it comes to repairing vintage McIntosh. As you would expect from somebody so well regarded, he is currently backlogged for close to 3 months. He has a banner at the bottom of the page here, and there are plenty of referrals in the McIntosh forum if you search "DeWick" or "Terry".

If you would prefer to look for somebody more local to you, here is a link where you can search for authorized service providers in your area:

http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/us/Support/Pages/ServiceNetwork.aspx

Your equipment looks very nice, by the way!!!

cnolanh · Jul 4, 2014

Nice grab! I've been eyeing that stack on CL, and I'm glad it went to a fellow AKer. And I second the DeWick recommendation. He did a great job on an MC2100 for me (same amp as yours, minus the meters).

cjmustang69 · Jul 4, 2014

gmccaughey said:
If you don't mind a road trip, DeWick Repairs is a 5 hour drive from you, in Knoxville, TN, and is considered one of the best in the business when it comes to repairing vintage McIntosh. As you would expect from somebody so well regarded, he is currently backlogged for close to 3 months. He has a banner at the bottom of the page here, and there are plenty of referrals in the McIntosh forum if you search "DeWick" or "Terry".

If you would prefer to look for somebody more local to you, here is a link where you can search for authorized service providers in your area:

http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/us/Support/Pages/ServiceNetwork.aspx

Your equipment looks very nice, by the way!!!

Driving 5 hours each way - twice - is likely too much for me. I'll likely ship to Terry when I'm ready to have them redone. I do see a service location in Conover, NC in the above link - I haven't found any comments about their work on net so far.

AlTinkster92 · Jul 4, 2014

CJ, how do those panels sound behind your Choruses? I own a set just like them..

4Play · Jul 4, 2014

Make sure you check his website first. Right now his backlog is 80+ days. I decided to go with Audio Classics out of NY to service my MA-5100. Turnaround time is less than two weeks.

damacman · Jul 4, 2014

Now that's a classic McIntosh SS set-up right there. I have the same set-up, only with an MR77 tuner. It's presently waiting patiently for me to put it to use.

I just had my MC2105 rebuilt by a local (Gilbert, AZ) technician and I couldn't be happier. I went through the C28 myself about the same time. The switch cluster on the C28 is the problem area and should likely be cleaned at a very minimum. Between that and the array of knobs and switches on the C28, it's pretty common for them to drop channels or have distorted output on one or both channels. A proper cleaning of all controls is certainly in order for it unless the prior owner had that done in the last five years or so. c_dk discusses an improvement to the grounding scheme in the C28s that will improve performance as well. You may want to research that here in this forum.

Enjoy it and do keep us posted. I bet it sounds great with the Klipsch.

cjmustang69 · Jul 4, 2014

AlTinkster92 said:
CJ, how do those panels sound behind your Choruses? I own a set just like them..

I had been driving the Klipsch with a pair Parasound JC-1 amps and felt the panels behind the speakers seemed to improve the clarity of the speakers - less muddiness particularly the mids.

cjmustang69 · Jul 4, 2014

4Play said:
Make sure you check his website first. Right now his backlog is 80+ days. I decided to go with Audio Classics out of NY to service my MA-5100. Turnaround time is less than two weeks.

Yes - I know Terry has long lead-time, which I would like to avoid. I may contact audioclassics when I'm ready to have them done.

BillyBatts · Jul 4, 2014

OP;

Damn fine equipment, sir and I think you for posting those pics. Fantastic. Right down to the slant legs.

Cherish them. I sure would.

cjmustang69 · Jul 5, 2014

BillyBatts said:
OP;

Damn fine equipment, sir and I think you for posting those pics. Fantastic. Right down to the slant legs.

Cherish them. I sure would.

Thank you for posting. I can't overstate how much I think of these pieces. They sound great and style wise - they hit a homerun for me. The build quality is exceptional. I've attempted to take photo w/o flash to show lights, which I believe look great in a dark room.

Mike Gibson · Jul 5, 2014

You have a elegant looking setup. Go ahead and post pictures w/o flash and see how they turn out.

rshep · Jul 5, 2014

That's definitely a system to show off and be proud of. Takes me back to visiting the high-end shops when I was a teenager. Thanks for posting

62caddy · Jul 5, 2014

Agreed, another classic Mc setup. :thmbsp:

Cabinet sure makes the MC 2105 look considerably larger. Most I see don't have the cabinet on.

kevzep · Jul 5, 2014

cjmustang69 said:
I have never owned McIntosh equipment previously, but always wanted to try some vintage pieces - particularly with recent Klipsch Chorus speakers purchase. Relatively local CL listing for MC-2105 amp, C-28 preamp, and MR-74 tuner by original owner showed up a few weeks ago. I looked at it Wednesday - brought it home last night. The original owner was extremely nice and had kept equipment in very nice condition and had all Owners Manuals and Service Manuals. I finished hooking the system up this morning and have been listening to FM for the past few hours. I think the McIntosh equipment is some of the best looking equipment I have owned and initial impression is it sounds very nice also. I do plan to have the amp/preamp refurbished in near future - just need to determine where to have it done.

Really nice collection of vintage McIntosh you have there, matches up nicely too.....:thmbsp:
I have always liked the look of the McIntosh gear no matter what era it comes from....

cjmustang69 · Jul 7, 2014

It appears I can get the MC-2105 amp and C-28 preamp refurbished even quicker than I had hoped. I emailed Ryan, at AudioClassics, this morning. I will be travelling home to the Olean, NY area this Friday. Ryan confirmed I could drop the amp/preamp off on my drive to Olean, NY. He also offered to have them ready in a few days, if I wanted to pick them up on my return home to Chapel Hill. I plan to pick them up on Wednesday of next week. Being able to get this work done without shipping is a tremendous benefit to me. Given the outstanding reviews of AudioClassics work and their obvious terrific customer service - I can't wait to have them work on my amp/preamp.

cjmustang69 · Jul 17, 2014

Well. I now have my MC-2105 and C-28 back from AudioClassics and reinstalled in my system. Ryan was great to work with and was able to get work completed so I could pick them up yesterday on my return drive to Chapel Hill. The work was not inexpensive, but it is reassuring to know they are performing up to spec and all questionable parts have been replaced.

ekmanning5 · Jul 17, 2014

Fantastic system you have there. :thmbsp: Of course I may be biased as I have the same one.

cjmustang69 · Jul 17, 2014

ekmanning5 said:
Fantastic system you have there. :thmbsp: Of course I may be biased as I have the same one.

Thank You - I don't believe I could be happier with this system. Cosmetically, all pieces are near perfect - and now fuctionally the same. To purchase these pieces locally and have AudioClassics refurbish with no Shipping involved(risk of damage) was great. They also seem to pair well with the Heritage Klipsch speakers.

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