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I certainly would recommend against this. The way that picture looks, it may actually be doing more harm than good. For a heat sink to work properly, it needs good thermal contact with the underlying surface. You can't just bolt it on, the other side should be designed to transfer the heat to...

In fairness - and it's worth noting for everyone - if you own a piece of McIntosh equipment you already quality as having 'more [value in audio equipment/electronics] than most would have'. By being part of this community, you are well outside the norm, and should have this discussion with your...

What I was implying is that the selenium diode and essentially all the caps need to go, and smart money is to replace all the resistors while you're at it. The carbon comps can't easily be tested and there are much better resistors available today. Partial work retaining some caps or...

My refurbished MC60s are daily drivers, and after refurbishment they are functionally new units. Not everyone does a full refurb, but when you do, you're good for another half-century or more. I do think we are close to or have recently passed an inflection point in the market for these amps...

Desoldering gun is about the only way to fly when you encounter through-hole component leads were bent before soldering. Wick never gets the last of this by itself, you need heat and suction. While not cheap, if you want to continue, a Hakko FR300 series would serve you well.

Almost no 'kits', including those from McShane, come with true instructions like you'd expect from e.g. Bottlehead. You'll get a bunch of parts, possibly a service manual (may or may not cover your specific circuit variant), and from there you are expected to do the rest. Help from forums like...

Out of curiosity, @robert_kc, have all of your amps been restored the same way? The most I've heard is that there is something different in the 225, and a bit of magic in the 30s, but the 60s, 40s/240, and 75s/275 have more variation between samples than between model lines. Thus, I ascribe...

Just to be clear - is it that socket (V8) that measures lower temp regardless of tube arrangement, or a particular tube that the lower temp follows around? Does the tube appear different while in operation, as far as what is glowing and how brightly (assuming you have a matched set)? If it...

This is worth speaking with your agent about. Most standard reimbursements are, as stated above, against modern replacement value - often "modern equivalent," which can be fraught with creative interpretations - but you usually have the ability to do an appraised value as line-item addons. I...

I've done this myself, though I started with a near-stock, excellent condition pair. Here's my main caution for you: Even if the tech is your brother and will do work for free, the parts cost to properly refurbish these is significant. By the time I was done, I had about $700-1000 in it...

Speaking about the older tube equipment, the actual wiring was sourced from Western Electric if memory serves and is essentially higher quality than anything you'd likely be able to replace it with. However, as Teflon was yet to be invented, the insulation is plastic and rather foul-smelling...

There's no kit, it's full service. Once he knows what you've got, you get a complete bill of materials / quote. Pay and it shows up, you bring the soldering iron. Doesn't get much better than that.

Almost nobody has controlled A/B testing experience on these amps with different resistor flavors. You see certain phrases bandied about like "carbon comp magic" and "vintage tone" - every time you see this, there's no robust evidence behind it. McIntosh used the best components they could...

If you're in this to do a quality restoration once (and only once), I'll save you some time. Get a schematic, verify you are looking at the right variant, take lots and lots of pictures, and get busy on your parts supplier of choice: Replace every Bumblebee cap. All of them. They're...

McIntosh has always maintained that tube brand is entirely irrelevant in the unity-coupled circuit. Any four tubes (2x per mono amp) which test strong will meet spec, and should do so interchangeably. So more than anything else, I'd say - do you have the ability to test these tubes?

My take: Blue Jeans Cable for interconnects. They don't break the bank, do use quality materials. These are equivalent to what the recording studios are sporting. I've looked into building my own, but can't beat BJC by any significant amount. Anything beyond this is wasting money. "Digital...

Not sure about the MC30s, but for the MC60s I bought a drop-in which had only two sections instead of 4, but they were larger in capacitance; used them to add a little to the power supply. One of the sections was dedicated to power the C8 preamp, and I never will need that ability, so I left it...

I do not think a 70C rated part would be wise. I'm not exactly sure how hot these run inside, at steady state while operating, but just from waving your hand over the chassis I think it could well be close to 100C (boiling point of water). When I did my MC60 restoration, I used a 3D printed...

Truth be told, especially if you aren't an very well versed expert, I would not concern myself over which specific version of the circuit you have. I was in a similar place with my MC60s; my particular variation wasn't exactly represented by any circuit diagram I could find. My amps had a...

There is the possibility that the original stickers went missing, and someone replaced them with the MC40 decals.

This is actually not true, and it's because of the autoformers. The autoformers match the perceived impedance of the speaker load to the rest of the amp, allowing it to deliver the exact same performance and power at multiple different impedance loads. 2 Ohm speakers connected to 2 Ohm taps...

A simple and very effective cosmetic restoration on McIntosh tube gear is to use microfiber towels to apply Wenol metal polish to the chrome (not the black paint), followed by an application of Carnauba wax, again applied and buffed in with microfiber towels. The Wenol (red tube) does NOT...

I've had anecdotal reports that the MC60s can handle KT90s/KT120s because the power supply was overbuilt to supply the C8 pre as well as the amp. Haven't done this myself, but have been curious.to experiment with my pair of MC60s. They sound far too good to justify it at the moment, and I have...

+1 on clear shrinkwrap on K40s, which also applies to Russian Teflon caps and Sprague Vitamin Q's. Use the clear stuff so you or the next tech to service your amp can still see the values/voltages down the line. You need the resistor along with a new silicone diode to replace the selenium one...

Lots of chatter based on no real data and precious few anecdotes. The main reason people don't do a top-to-bottom replacement including all the resistors, I'm convinced, is because it's harder and takes longer. I heard my amps when they had all original resistors. They sounded OK; I didn't...