"Elegant" solution to MX120 Menu and Tuner

[smartin53]

So I use quotes as I doubt I fit into most fancy Mc setups...and it's not actually elegant at all.

Basically, since I only use my MX120 as a preamp to my stereo, the TV in the basement is far away from the setup and the one RCA cable I have that reaches it is crap and introduces noise to the unit on all inputs when connected. It makes it a pain to make adjustments to the settings I can only access from the setup menu.

Luckily, I recently happened to get an old Sony Watchman Color to toy around with and it dawned on me that I could kill two birds with one stone. Instead of trying to run a long cable, I just scrounged my boxes of tangled cords and found a compatible mini jack to RCA video cable so I can access the menu as needed.



In addition, as I fiddled I remembered that I could just as easily run a cable from the output to the tuner input. Bam, now I have menu access and a tuner. It's not super high end but I don't need it for the menu and radio stations.

 

[Capt.Willard]

That's actually a cool idea. I like it. I like the stand-alone vu meters on the top of the mc275 as well. I plan to do this also, been wondering about an enclosure for one of those.

 

[smartin53]

That's actually a cool idea. I like it. I like the stand-alone vu meters on the top of the mc275 as well. I plan to do this also, been wondering about an enclosure for one of those.

Same. I might just build something simple using some thin wood finished nicely. I have some for another project I got from Home Depot. The unit never gets hot since it's designed to be in an enclosed car stereo space. I just gotta figure out the feet and how to enclose the rear and the cables. Also I need to rig up a power switch so I can leave it plugged in. Thinking I might rig a standard 2 prong power cord to the wall wart, enclose the wart in the wood enclosure, and wire a flip switch between the two. Figuring out tiny slant legs would be fun.

 

[Capt.Willard]

That sounds good. I was also thinking about some acrylic box with LEDs in the back throwing some green glow around the whole thing. Lot's of measuring...hopefully not too long for that project.

 

[jlovda]

I believe the meter box was used in an old McIntosh/Clarion car stereo. I assume it uses 12-13 volts. I don't recall what the meter is calibrated to but did you have to attenuate the input to read 75 watts at full scale?

 

[smartin53]

I believe the meter box was used in an old McIntosh/Clarion car stereo. I assume it uses 12-13 volts. I don't recall what the meter is calibrated to but did you have to attenuate the input to read 75 watts at full scale?

So yea its just a simple 12V 1A adapter wired in. Likely some random wall wart I found and stripped the ends off of. I was just trying to match 12V as I don't expect a few lamps and meters need much amp wise. Manual says it needs .5A. Calibration is a bit harder as I don't have the equipment. Manual simply states that it responds to car amp wattages up to 200W. It does respond (per visual observation) to the MC275 but from experience but I can't say if that is a perfect reading.

 

[techguy0192]

Sony Watchman...there's a Sony in that pic....all I see is a MC275.

Seriously, just tuck it away in your rack and enjoy. You have a nice setup that is better than 95% of what the common man owns.