I have an Mc240 the little brother of the 275, it's the 1962 model, and I'm happy with it, I see no reason to upgrade it. I got it in 1975, there was a McIntosh dealer in town, they had a workshop and clinic, they updated the caps and tubes. McIntosh used to have these clinics every so often and they were free.

So… what is it that McIntosh doesn’t want me to know?

A member of our radio club often brought home a large cardboard box that originally contained a very expensive set, full of odds and ends he would pick up at club meetings etc. His wife got use to this and ignored it. However, on the odd occasion, the writing on the box did match the contents, he just calmly walked past her with an expensive brand new amateur/ham radio and she never cottoned on.

1965, I was a flunky at a high end HiFi store in New Orleans: Lonigan's House of Sound. He sold Mcintosh, Marantz, Bozak, Crown, all the big names. My favorite was the Electro Voice Patrician in the corner-it shook the walls.

Fun video! Thanks for covering the MC275 Gordon Gow Commemorative Edition. In the mid 90’s (when they were $4000 each) I actually bought a pair, a matched pair with consecutive serial numbers. I used them wired as 150 watts into 2 ohms monoblocks driving just the electrostatic panels on my Martin-Logan Quest speakers. A Krell KST-100 was used to drive the 12” woofers. Talk about scale and impact with tube liquidity and solid state bass slam! Of course all that stuff had to be sold to pay for (part) of my wedding and honeymoon.. A few observations on the MC275 Gordon Gow edition: It was the only modern MC275 where McIntosh actually commissioned special KT88’s to be built by Richardson in LaFox, Illinois for use in that model. Later ones all use Russian KT88’s. The input level controls were extremely useful as I was able to perfectly balance the woofers and ‘stat panels since the Macs and the Krell had slightly different sensitivities. And that MC275 was a true balanced amplifier, never touted by Mac, but obvious in the schematic. Turns out the first tube, the 12AX7 in the shield, each of the twin triode section serve as the phase inverter for each channel. When the balanced connection is used, that tube is totally bypassed and the positive and negative legs of the balanced signal get their own separate path through the tubes all the way to the output transformer. That’s why there’s 11 tubes in a Mac MC275 rather than the usual 7 tubes like in comparable KT88 amps of the time, such as the Conrad Johnson Premier 11A (BTW, an excellent amp, too!). Also interesting is the MC275 runs rather cool for a tube amplifier of its size. Mac always ran their output tubes very conservatively for long life and consistent performance. Though the driver tubes, 12BH7’s in the earlier Mac’s, and 12AZ7’s or 12AT7’s in the later ones, were run very hard, and usually needed to be replaced long before the output tubes. But those tubes were, and still are, cheap compared to KT88s that’s for sure. Even today you can still buy a NOS 12AZ7 for just a couple few bucks. They were common in TVs and a gazillion were made 😆. The MC275 actually put out noticeably less heat than my Krell, though to be fair, that KST-100 was biased up to 50 watts in pure class A before it slid into class AB up to its 100 watt into 8 ohm rating. Cheers?

Every day, I love my divorce lawyer just a little bit more.

I used to work at a McIntosh dealership in Florida. Been to the factory in Binghampton (wow!). We would have on-site clinics where a McIntosh factory tech would repair/tune up customer's equipment at no charge. I don't know if they do that anymore, but it was pretty great when they did.

Sometime during this period Colgate radically upgraded its tubes from metal to plastic which also looked otherwise identical. Amazing coincidence.

As a poor retiree with better taste than budget, I had to go modern when my old system components eventually died. I replaced my old Technics turntable with an Audio-Technica direct drive unit. When my old amp and CD player bit the dust, I replaced them with a Cambridge Audio ARX-100, a matching CD player, and an iFi Zen 2 DAC. I've got Klipsch speakers and can make some noise. As I can't work on my own stuff and paying to have it done is out of my price range, I was aiming for something I could jam into my golden years.

They’re coming out with a chair for listening, in the works, $2500-3500

I love your Hi Fi history videos. I wish I had a audio secret to share but my wife often insists that I buy a new piece of gear if I really want it. Maybe that's why we have been married for 44 years. My oldest tube radio is a 1936 Silvertone Model 4585 that belonged to my grandparents. I put tung oil on, replaced the front glowing eye tube and grill cloth. Other than that it's all original and sounds great.

In 1987, the husband of the ambassador to Bulgaria during the Kennedy administration walked into our store with a pair of MC 275s to sell. I rebuilt both of them and they sounded better than any other tube amp that I've heard. We didn't know that they were selling for thousands of dollars in Japan so I think we sold them for $400.00 dollars each.

I have been sneaking guns past my wife and into my safe for 35 years. Handguns were easy I would just unbox them in the gun store parking lot and wear it into the house. Riffles on the other hand took some planning lol

I can't afford either one, but I have to believe that McIntosh has been taking the same approach to their products as Porsche has taken (and was essentially forced to take) for the 911. Once a design becomes an icon, you must be *very* careful about messing with it. A huge number of customers/fans will revolt if you change things too much. As it should be. 🙂

Even when McIntosh started delving into solid state amps, they kept the same basic layout with the MC 250 and MC 2100 transistor amps. The output transformers were switched to autoformers for the solid state driven outputs, and this kept the look almost identical to the none hi-fi nut. Now Mac has even preamps, integrated amps,and a double MC 275 with similar layouts. Why mess with a good thing?

Why in the hell did McIntosh put green lights under their tubes? I don’t want the orange glow of my tubes drowned out by Green lights under the tubes.

I used to machine some parts for McIntosh. Just some simple stainless steel standoffs and screws. They were ridiculous on the tolerance of such a parts that didn’t need it. I did things for MRI machines that were not so tight on tolerance. No wonder they are ridiculously priced. Trouble is they were cheap on paying our shop for their high tolerance parts. They want to claim high quality when they sell their product but want to pay low quality prices for stuff they outsource. I’d build my own power amp before I would pay their outrageous prices.

Just curious. How many people knew... Back in the seventies and eighties you could connect your fm antenna to the tv cable and get tons of crystal clear fm channels.

This video discusses the cosmetic differences between the version of the MC275, however there are three internal arrangements I've seen. The first version is all hand-wired, with the mode switch. The second version has a vertically-mounted printed circuit board, with leads to the tube sockets. The latest version I've seen has a large circuit board, with the tube sockets directly attached. Right now I'm working on a Gow commemorative version, one of the KT88s shorted and burned an area of the PCBA. At first, McIntosh said they have the board and at a surprisingly low price, now they say it's NLA. Hard to say how it will turn out.

I actually do the opposite...I buy cheaper hifi and "clean and flip" about 20 items a year. When I flip, I give her the cash. That way there is a completely honest relationship and when I buy "for me" items...it's not a problem. And she doesn't need to track my spending and she's coming along for the next flip.

There's a reason they chose green for their iconic color. $$$$$$.

After the recent Mo-Fi scandal I thought they'd found a vintage DAC in Brian Wilson's original 275... 😉😁

Well that’s 8 minute I’ll never get back.

I am quite used to sneaking stuff in. Whether it be a piece of guitar gear or hi-fi, it's a challenge I'm up for. My favorite was acquiring a beautiful teak subwoofer that is 24×24 square and 18 inches high and hiding it in plain sight for over a month before the wife noticed. Actually she noticed something else that I moved. The key is never use household money to finance your toys. A side hustle is the way or be willing to sell old toys to get new ones.😊

There were actually a few significant changes electronically that should be noted, namely the change from terminal board/point to point to point to point/pcb hybrid and eventually almost full pcb design in the current model.

Nice video and a lot of "truth" into it. Sometimes what the s.o. doesn't know, especially if listening to music via Alexa speakers, is a blessing to keep peace and harmony at home.

MCINTOSH HAD NO BIG SECRET. I have heard you say that McIntosh isn't really a favorite of yours. This video makes a quiet point of proving that to some extent, but be that what it may. Several excellent companies with high quality products in the 50's and 60's did the same as McIntosh continuing with a production run that would last well over a decade. Look at Collins Radio Company that produced their famous "Collins S-Line" (radio equipment) from the late 50's through the mid 70's. Not only all quite identical but using vacuum tubes into the 70's when most other manufactures had gone solid state. The RL Drake company is another example. All of these companies knew they had a winner and so did the people purchasing them. The McIntosh MC75 Mono Block amps are legendary. When they brought them back for special promotions in 2000 why would they decide to drastically change them. McIntosh's intentions I guarantee you had nothing to do with your speculative thoughts in this video. A lot of the HiFi equipment you sell is really not considered High End Audio which can run into thousands and thousands of dollars and then some. McIntosh is barely at the beginning of the really elite equipment. I own a near mint Kenwood Eleven GX Monster Receiver and it sounds great next to my MC75 Mono Blocks into a pair of Kilpsch tower speakers. So I do believe some of the best sounding HiFi was produced during the late 60's and 70's from companies like Kenwood and Pioneer. I do enjoy your videos and have purchased a few receivers from Just Audio. Carry on Mate

I am quite old by now, and my wife would probably be thrilled if I were to upgrade my equipment.

Bro the grinch part had me dying 😝. love the video so entertaining just what I needed when I get home from a long days of work. A little story behind it make it’s so much better too. Wife smh .. who needs one of those 😂 I’ll take two MC’s instead please!! Thank u

Hmmm.... I resemble your characterization of the deviousness of my fellow McIntosh owners 😆. This cannot go unnoticed!🍺

I don't know what's dumber, $1,500 for a light box (seriously???), or this guy saying, hey, if he had a McIntosh rack he'd probably get it! 🙄🙄

Apart from the yet mentioned change from PTP wiring to at least two different versions of PCB's, there's some much more important design change *imho*: The first output transformers featured trifilarly wound primary windings (plate, cathode, and driver/cathode follower bootstrap), while later versions had bifilarly windings. Do you know when this modification was done?

The competitive model for the original mc275 was the Marantz model 8’s. They were similar priced.

One of the biggest hifi secrets in my opinion is the b&w cdm NT series (mostly the 7's and the 9's). Why? They come very very close to the 804 Nautilus speakers. More neutral sounding also. But same details. I've listened the 7' nt's back to back with 804n's on a vintage accuphase setup iff you want to know.

It's all in the tubes, and there are plenty of super high-grade tube basic amps out there not to mention hybrids. McIntosh will last several lifetimes, but technology has a nasty little way of improving things, sometimes.

I had a MC275 with the LEDs and I was able to have the board modified and the LEDs became BLUE.....ahhhh much nicer, I also found I like the sound better when used with a transistor pre-amp. Present day, I have two MC75 60 anniversary additions that I fell sound even better!!!

Your "big secret" is based on a false premise. The various versions of this amp do not sound the same by any means.

I don't like the sound of most McIntosh amps but the MC275 sounds special and is on my " If I won the lottery" shortlist. It sounds just as good as it looks.

Commenting a year later! I've got a pair of MC30's with a MX110, Gordon Gow MC275 with its matching C22 preamp, MC2000 with matching C2200 preamp with gold trim. The C2200 came out later and you had to provide the serial number of the MC2000 to be able to order the preamp.

I was a salesman at Western Sound a McIntosh dealer then after University I worked at a well financed hi fi store for 12 year from 1973 to 1985 after which I went on the road as a full time musician.

Back in the 70's when I was a college student, I lived in a dorm. Guy down hallway had Phase Linear 750 amp, Phase Linear pre-amp, high end speakers that could handle the power, and odds and ends. When he turned volume up just half way, you could feel vibrations in the concrete floor and walls. He got a few reminders from the RA to keep it under Magnitude 7 on earthquake scale.

Astronomy guys do the same thing. Wives just keep Count of the number of cases going out to the vehicle for an observing/imaging session not what telescope/equipment is in the cases!

Very interesting, thank you!

Upgrading your stereo amp or any other part of your set up is not dictated by a wife or anyone else.

That’s funny but I’m sure true. I really enjoy listening to your stories and advice about stereo equipment. You keep going young man I’m sure you have a great future at what your are doing ! Good Luck ! At least you can tell your wife you just brought home from the shop !

Yet another reason I’m not getting married.

design language in hi-quality / hi-end consumer products is a foundation of long term success. form follows function & if the enterprise is wise (& lucky) that supports value (& price) as well as brand loyalty. McIntosh nailed that from the start & has kept at it - it's a big part of why it's still around today. I think sneaking new toys past the wife is an apocryphal story (physically swapping out same form-factor hardware easily would be as or more likely). it's actually about the second order consequences of great design (+ great engineering, obviously) = great loyalty = great resale value. consider the Porsche 911, Rolex "Daytona", Apple iPhones, etc. {btw, I really enjoy your enthusiasm (nuts about advertising brochures!), side-comments & all the deep-diving into classic / period audio... your honesty about aspects you are not certain about w/ some of the old fringe hw you stumble upon is notable... & somewhat rare on-line}

Yes I have to play those games too with the wife. I have six speakers rotating them out ever six months. She thinks I write reviews for you tubers. Might run in to a problem when they deliver my Wilson Audio master Chronosonic Magnum speakers. That will take 2 people and 2 days to set up. Oh the sh@t I have to deal with.

Sneak it in when the spouse wasn't home. That's what I've been doing with loudspeakers for years! 😅

as the story goes " Dear Lord , please do not let my wife sell my stereo ( or what ever my hobby is ) for what i told her i paid for it "

I dont have any secrets or stories, just love bad ass sound systems

Tube amps on full range ribbon speakers, are a match made in heaven.

An incredible marketing company. Like your stove at home. Impressing people you don’t like with the money you don’t have.

when i was a teen buying sansui integrateds at good will my mom got on my case for buying the same darn thing just heavier! said it was a total waste of time, then 1 day i put the space au317 and some big cerwin vega speakers in the living room, came home from school the next day to find both the dogs out on the porch and we are the champions slamming out the front door while mom knitted on the couch..guess she figured it out haha!

When an amplifier come so good doesn't need much change, it becomes a legend!! Thank you for the video

I was hoping for some product discussion, but the deceptive headline, unfairly implying that McIntosh prefers some level of customer deception when marketing product set the tone for this waste of time that actually devolved for the worse, to be about faulty relationships, not hi fi amplification. if you can't be honest about money, the relationship has more troubles than just buying hi fi .

when the wrx sti first came here my manager got one, I compliment him on the bbs wheels he said look closer dummy, I hadn't seen a sti outside of gran turismo in 2004 ,so I didn't think we could get them, I also had a coworker that went from a black 392 to a black hellcat, same thing, omg to see a hellcat stand on it in 2015 ,my poor 95 suburban was at a standstill

Easier to get a solid state amp which you say is your "summer" or "warm weather" amp, and set the "cold weather" tube amp aside for a few months. Then the swap can happen over the summer at your leisure. Diabolical, I know.

Amen, the journey never ends. Speaking of McIntosh, my MA5200 should be here tomorrow.

I'm a little late cause I just recently found your channel. You said you wanted some hi Fi stories. When I was young I had gotten a Nikko receiver from somewhere. Can't remember where or what model it was. It would power on but no sound. I had the top off with some speakers hooked up just messing around with it trying to get sound. Using a screwdriver I began tapping around on stuff inside. Suddenly it kicked in full blast and scared the hell out of me. Worked great for a long time after that

Interesting info, but you didn't say a word about the sound quality differences among these different versions of this amp :) Is there a GENUINE consensus among McIntosh owners which MC275 is the best sounding?

I own the mc60 mono blocks With complete upgrades new 5% Filter caps new resistors new cans. THESE ARE THE BEST SOUNDING With the altec lansing mono tube 1568 amp With a mixer an a luxman tube cl mk2 preamp upgraded with caps cans etc ..This is the system i,m using . All natural sound with the peerless transformers altec uses From the early 50s.

I am surprised that a manufacturer has not introduced a line of components with the livery WAF.

The latest version had it's sound drastically changed, so it is more modern: faster, tighter, cleaner in sound.

Great story! Do I believe it.. Mmmmm

I am not sure and can not prove this one. But back in 1999 I purchased a set of Totem Acoustic Forest Speakers. Fairport Sound works in Rochester NY. The main driver at that time so I was told and even shown. Was the Legendary Dynaudio 6.5 Driver with 3" voice coil. Those speakers sound awesome. But last year I was talking with someone who sells Totems and I was informed that was not the case but a china knockoff modified by Totem. Which would mean when the forest was released, I believe in 1998 I purchased mine in 1999, they even put the Dynaudio logo on the driver because I was shown the internals. Again I can prove it, it was way long ago. Let me know if anyone out there is aware of this. I only had those for a couple years and parted ways with em. This is my story. ether-way they sounded great.

9 decades ? I believe they started in 1949 which would make them 73.

Ill tell you what Mcintosh doesnt want you to know.... You may spend 5 grand on a piece of their equipment and it may be defective out of the box. Then It may sit on their test bench for 7 months waiting in line. I had to hire a lawyer to get my issue resolved. Mcintosh is a dream turned nightmare. Run from it.

MC give you this beautiful mid-range rich sound but never even once gave me a small illusion of real life musical event. I suspect this is due to the weakness in their preamp sections. Audio research’s preamps are vastly superior than MC especially in Macro and micro dynamics.

Is there any sound quality differences on the different MC275 models?

Picking up two MC30s today, sweet.

Haha, sneaky sneaky McIntosh.

I actually asked my wife for her blessing to buy my MA5200. What! You asked permission? Yep, I said that this was my early adulthood dream (80s). Kind of like the young guy that says, I’ll own this or that someday. She gave me the thumbs-up emoji. Here’s the funny part. She knows that whether thumbs up, or down from her, carries no weight if I’ve already decided that I’m going to buy it. I don’t recommend that any married man, ask for permission. It's far easier to just buy what you want, and catch some shit, versus asking permission, to be told no. You catch a little hell, but you have the new gear.

Not an “optical” output socket on the original 275. It was an octal socket!

would you consider reviewing the McIntosh option in the 06 Ford gt,?

Trade in, not me I just got whatever I wanted and compared them side by side. I now have enough McIntosh equipment to put one in every room in the house including the closets. 😁

Hope our wives don’t sell all our stuff for what we told them we paid for it.

This is a theory only ….

I have an old Fisher 400.....wow🎶

You really missed the point. If you want to do a service to your channel, take an original, turn it upside-down, and show the guts of a point-to-point wired Mac compared to PCB and slide-on connectors they use today. I thought THAT was your "Secret". The amps as time went on became cheaper to manufacture. An early MC275 is a far cry better built than anything made since. What a letdown.

If you have to hide your purchases from your spouse, then you shouldn't be in a relationship. That's pathetic and generally sad.

I married someone who supports everything I do so I don't need McIntosh 😂

Oh, my spouse hasn’t seen a hifi bill in ten years, and I’ve swapped hundreds of components 😂

I had McIntosh 8in,w passive radiator as a kid, they were 500$ in 1998 at a used store, blown and unimpressive soon after I got them, I grew to prefer my 3way pioneer optimus 12s

Tried this and it became grounds for my divorce.

You know what’ better than an MC275? Having TWO in your system! 😊

Would you guys ever review the clone of the MC275?

Oh no, I just pressed play. Has it been digital all along?

When I was 18 I stayed at a guys house who had a pair of Mac XR-22t speakers.

MCINTOSH started in Silver Springs MD wish they would of stayed would of been close to my home.

I am able to get the ma6500 for cheap is that amp worth it? 2500usd

It's actually a Ming Da from China 😢

Many couples have separate “mad money” accounts for this purpose. The biggest problem is the wife hating the aesthetics.

Lol, I upgraded speaker cables one day and my wife right away asked what I changed to make the music sound better.

hilarious discussion of spouse sneakiness....that's all I'm saying bout that.

How about the McIntosh MC250 that seems to fly under the radar I'm baffled I own it and its beautiful sounding please remark its from 1971....

Adding pcb instead p2p is all but sonic improvement. It is also clear more modern revisions have lesser quality sound and sonic against previous one

American made, high quality amps ... but go with other brands like DCS, Accuphase and such for CD players, DAC's and such....

Tenho um 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🔝

Maybe move the terminals to the back and your wife will want you to get a new one?