gssound
New Member
Well, the thrifts aren't totally dead: today, I couldn't believe my eyes when I found an MR 78. Plugged it in at the store, and was glad to find it turned on, all the lights seemed to work.
To be honest, I had no idea what kind of unit it was, only that it was McIntosh. I have a small collection of vintage integrated amps, and know a little bit about them, but not too much about this. Certainly nothing about this unit. Serial # AD3 831
Overall, its in VG+ physical shape with wood case. A few marks on the case, but the unit inside it beautiful. The front panel is okay, but it is missing the silver rectangle that around the dial. There is some crackling (crazing?) look along the bottom of the front panel. Not cracks, just perhaps its beginning to seperate from whatever its attached to.
I don't have a variac, but I just plugged it in and let it sit for a while when I got home while as I tried to see if it would give some sound. I went to look for speakers and an antenna, and when I returned - WHOOPS - quite a burning smell. More like old burnt wood/wet cardboard, rather than an acrid electric burn smell. Anyway, I unplugged it immediately. It didn't feel overly hot, and the smell seemed to emanate mostly from the top rear left hand area.
So, what do you experts think? Perhaps it was just dust burning off as it heated up for the first time in who knows how long, or maybe its worse? In any case, I'm still very satisfied considering what I paid.
Not to be completely green, but I don't really get how this works: do I just plug speakers into this, or does it need to go into a power amp? What can I do with this beast? Shall I pop the top and dust this sucker out?
I'll see if I can get some pics.
Thank you for reading! I look forward to discussing my unit more.
To be honest, I had no idea what kind of unit it was, only that it was McIntosh. I have a small collection of vintage integrated amps, and know a little bit about them, but not too much about this. Certainly nothing about this unit. Serial # AD3 831
Overall, its in VG+ physical shape with wood case. A few marks on the case, but the unit inside it beautiful. The front panel is okay, but it is missing the silver rectangle that around the dial. There is some crackling (crazing?) look along the bottom of the front panel. Not cracks, just perhaps its beginning to seperate from whatever its attached to.
I don't have a variac, but I just plugged it in and let it sit for a while when I got home while as I tried to see if it would give some sound. I went to look for speakers and an antenna, and when I returned - WHOOPS - quite a burning smell. More like old burnt wood/wet cardboard, rather than an acrid electric burn smell. Anyway, I unplugged it immediately. It didn't feel overly hot, and the smell seemed to emanate mostly from the top rear left hand area.
So, what do you experts think? Perhaps it was just dust burning off as it heated up for the first time in who knows how long, or maybe its worse? In any case, I'm still very satisfied considering what I paid.
Not to be completely green, but I don't really get how this works: do I just plug speakers into this, or does it need to go into a power amp? What can I do with this beast? Shall I pop the top and dust this sucker out?
I'll see if I can get some pics.
Thank you for reading! I look forward to discussing my unit more.