Mcintosh 5100, RIAA Comp. And 78's.

DrGonzo

Member
I have been looking into the mac5100 for my office system where I listen to a lot of 78 rpm stuff.

Does anyone have any experience using the mac5100 and the RIAA compensator to listen to 78's???

Any feedback would be much appreciated, as well as suggestions for other vintage integrated amps with a RIAA compensator.
 
Before I got a dedicated 78 pre-amp with various EQ curves, I just used the bass/treble controls on my C2300 with its RIAA stage. You can get pretty good results with that method IMO. If you've got a large 78 collection, you may want to look into a dedicated 78 pre, but for casual listening or smaller collections I find adjusting the bass/treble on an RIAA stage to work just fine.
 
Before I got a dedicated 78 pre-amp with various EQ curves, I just used the bass/treble controls on my C2300 with its RIAA stage. You can get pretty good results with that method IMO. If you've got a large 78 collection, you may want to look into a dedicated 78 pre, but for casual listening or smaller collections I find adjusting the bass/treble on an RIAA stage to work just fine.

I've been using a BSR 12 band graphic equalizer and manually building the sound but it's kind of a pain in the ass as you change from label to another or especially one period to another.

What dedicated pre-amp are you using? I was hoping there was something vintage that would work but apparently they don't exist.
 
There are some vintage ones, including a McIntosh mono pre (the C8), but I use the KAB VSP MK2. It's a little spendy, but well worth it. It offers the EQ curves, but also various filters so if you've got some beat up discs you can remove a lot of the noise and it's all done in analog. There's also a mono mix option which is a cool feature if you're using a stereo cart.

Esoteric Sound also has the Rek O Kut re-equalizer, which is purely an equalizer with different curves. It's cheaper, but for me the additional features of the VSP were worth the cost, though the Rek O Kut is more flexible with its curve settings. When I was doing research I ruled out the "audiophile" 78 equalizers due to cost and also the DIY versions because I wanted something professional looking.

Edit: There's also the vintage HH Scott 121-C from the 50s, but I'm not familiar with the cost, availability or restoration required. Looks like a nice piece, though.
 
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Awesome, thank you for the insight. I think for the money the route you went with the Kab vsp is the way to go.

While I have somebody who is obviously knows what they are talking about... For my main system I just ordered a Pro-ject rm-5 turntable with a sumiko blue point special evo III moving coil cart.... Will I be able to run this direct to my Mac 1700 or will I need a pre amp to boost the mc cart??
 
That's a HOMC, you should be fine feeding that into a regular MM phono input. Feel free to PM if you have any more 78 questions.
 
Great, thanks.

As far as your Kab goes, how often do you get a disk that you can't get the eq right on? Any time periods or labels perform better than others?
 
Awesome, thank you for the insight. I think for the money the route you went with the Kab vsp is the way to go.

While I have somebody who is obviously knows what they are talking about... For my main system I just ordered a Pro-ject rm-5 turntable with a sumiko blue point special evo III moving coil cart.... Will I be able to run this direct to my Mac 1700 or will I need a pre amp to boost the mc cart??

The Sumiko carts have enough voltage and will play though the MM input. They will play louder though a MC input thou.

What I have done and my preamp has an MC input already. I have a "SOTA Phono Head Amp" A head amp is diferint than a stage as you can plug it into your phono inputs, a stage has to go to a AUX input.

I run my head amp to my MC input and add about 30% gain this gives me a loud Phono input that will blow away CDs and digital sources (well equal to anyway) This is a big plus in my system IMO as I listen to mostly records and it increases the over all volume of the system when doing so.
 
I mostly collect 50's era 78s, so the NAB or RIAA settings are usually perfect for me. I also collect blues and have sides from the early 20s through the 50s, I can usually find a setting that suits me. I think some of it comes down to personal preference, I picked up a T-Bone Walker 78 yesterday and between trying different EQs and noise reduction, I was able to get a good sound out of it. There are "only" 8 curves on the KAB VSP vs 64 on the Rek O Kut, but I honestly can't envision me hearing a huge difference, let alone spending 2 minutes fiddling around with settings to listen to a 2:30 side.

Stylus size is another factor for getting proper sound, I use the Shure 78 stylus and its size is best suited to 50s era shellac. I plan on moving to another cart with a wider range of stylii so I can adjust based on the period of the record.
 
There are some vintage ones, including a McIntosh mono pre (the C8), but I use the KAB VSP MK2. It's a little spendy, but well worth it. It offers the EQ curves, but also various filters so if you've got some beat up discs you can remove a lot of the noise and it's all done in analog. There's also a mono mix option which is a cool feature if you're using a stereo cart.

Esoteric Sound also has the Rek O Kut re-equalizer, which is purely an equalizer with different curves. It's cheaper, but for me the additional features of the VSP were worth the cost, though the Rek O Kut is more flexible with its curve settings. When I was doing research I ruled out the "audiophile" 78 equalizers due to cost and also the DIY versions because I wanted something professional looking.

Edit: There's also the vintage HH Scott 121-C from the 50s, but I'm not familiar with the cost, availability or restoration required. Looks like a nice piece, though.

I think you just showed me a new toy to put a mono system together.
 
I think you just showed me a new toy to put a mono system together.
:thmbsp:

I don't want to sound like a commercial, but it's truly a great product and Kevin is very helpful if you have any questions. Likewise, if you have any questions about it, feel free to PM me and I'm happy to help.

I didn't realize that not all LPs were RIAA until I got this pre, explains why some of my early Decca mono LPs sounded a little off.
 
I mostly collect 50's era 78s, so the NAB or RIAA settings are usually perfect for me. I also collect blues and have sides from the early 20s through the 50s, I can usually find a setting that suits me. I think some of it comes down to personal preference, I picked up a T-Bone Walker 78 yesterday and between trying different EQs and noise reduction, I was able to get a good sound out of it. There are "only" 8 curves on the KAB VSP vs 64 on the Rek O Kut, but I honestly can't envision me hearing a huge difference, let alone spending 2 minutes fiddling around with settings to listen to a 2:30 side.

Stylus size is another factor for getting proper sound, I use the Shure 78 stylus and its size is best suited to 50s era shellac. I plan on moving to another cart with a wider range of stylii so I can adjust based on the period of the record.

I can't remember what cart I have now but it works on 80% of what I listen to! bounces down the groove on the others.

I was looking at an Ortofon 2m 78 cart online yesterday, heard anything about it?
 
I love the Ortofon products, I use a 2M Black, but the 2M 78 cart tracks at a pretty low force, which isn't ideal for 78s. I've heard much more positive things about the Grado 78 carts/stylii.
 
I love the Ortofon products, I use a 2M Black, but the 2M 78 cart tracks at a pretty low force, which isn't ideal for 78s. I've heard much more positive things about the Grado 78 carts/stylii.

Ok, thanks, I didn't even think about the low down force. I run a 2m red on my rig and it is pretty light.
 
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