Oh Happy Days

[Mike Gibson]

I was cleaning out a storage shed I made and on the floor under a bench in a plastic bag was something really heavy. Then I remembered It must be the old Mac tube amp that I thought had gotten lost in the flood. I pulled it out and it has a sticker that says it's last Mac clinic was in 1968. It's a MC-275 and a thing of beauty. I can't wait to try it out. A friend gave it to me years ago and since I had my MC-2505 I never fooled around with it. I think I'll wait until I can find a users manual. Now I can compare SS & tube on my old Altecs.

 

[Brian]

Oh, that's the 1 I misplaced. Would you pplease send it to me. I can't believe persons stick thinks like that in a corner and forget about them for years. I mean I am totally absent minded and ... what was the point I was tryin to make?

 

[Mike Gibson]

I've had it since 1974 and never hooked it up. I just downloaded the manual for the 275 but it must be for the reissue model. The back of mine doesn't look anything like the one in this manual.

 

[skippy_ps]

I don't get it.

Hopefully I'm not the only one that's a little confused. Wait, make that really confused.

Murray

 

[Mike Gibson]

I'll try again and see if this makes any sense. It was given to me in 1974 and I never hooked it up because I already had a setup to listen to. Then fast forward to 1995 and I thought all of my extra stereo equipment was stored in the basement. We had a flashflood that pushed almost 70 yards of mud into the basement. We emptied the basement with a backhoe. I thought it was lost then but evidently I had stored it out in the shed that the flood missed. So tonight I found it as I was cleaning out the shed. I was so elated I came into the house and made the first post. Then I downloaded the MC-275 manual from the McIntosh site. I soon discovered the manual is for a newer version of the MC-275 than the one I have. I assumed it was the reissue manual. So now I'm trying to find one with the correct details to copy or whatever. Sorry for the confusion. I didn't mean to confuse.

 

[dewickt]

E mail me and I will send you a PDF copy of the manual.
dewickt@esper.com
After all this time I would suggest a slow turn on with a variac, the main filter capacitors will need to be reformed.
Nice find, why can't I find things like that in my shed.

 

[Mike Gibson]

Thank you very much Terry. E-mail sent.

 

[WhiteSE]

E mail me and I will send you a PDF copy of the manual.
dewickt@esper.com
After all this time I would suggest a slow turn on with a variac, the main filter capacitors will need to be reformed.
Nice find, why can't I find things like that in my shed.

I dont even have a shed.

 

[dewickt]

Sent manual and a suggestion on bringing up the amp, there are threds on AK on this topic (somewhere), cheap way is using a light bulb in series with the AC line.

 

[skippy_ps]

That's a lot of mud!

Must have been a small backhoe. To get it down the basement stairs, that is.

 

[Mike Gibson]

The basement steps were 25" wide and the bucket was 24" . Old farm houses weren't built to any sort of code It took 9 days to get the mud out. We used a D-4 to pull a homemade Fresno to pull the mud to the stairwell. The last day was all hand shoveling into a wheelbarrow. I live in a narrow draw 800' above sea level and never figured on a flash flood. We got 2" of rain in 20 minutes and most of the wheat fiields up the canyon were in summer fallow so the rain just beat the dirt down and ran off rather than being absorbed into the ground. There was a 12' wall of water that came down the draw three times. Now, you know way more than you ever wanted to know about the flood of 95

 

[twintwelve1484]

 

[snapshotjc]

What a nice surprise!

I use to have two of those, but lost both in Hurricane Andrew back in '92 when I lived in Miami; sure wish I could afford to replace just one of them, but at today's ePay prices, I can only dream!
Hold on to that baby, and if I was you, I'd send it to Terry and have him go over before I did anything with it, but that's just me; I just love that amp! I guess that's why they came out with a re-issue model, which I can't afford that one either.

I'm just staying up listening to my new MR 74 that a friend finally let me purchase from him, and I'm just loving the sweet sound of it, even though I need to send it to Terry for an alignment and once over for caps. etc.
It has been in his family since it was new, and it is just mint as a candy.
Can hardly wait until I get it back from Terry after he puts his magic on it!

Gee, I wish I had a shed to check......

 

[Mike Gibson]

I was all hot to get a SS Mac tuner now if the amp works I don't know I envy you folks from the "other" coast Terry is a lot closer to you than to me. I'd have to ship that thing by truck and that scares me There is a place in Portland but I haven't heard anything good or bad about them. Just that they are an "authorized" repair facillity. Maybe somebody on here knows about "Inner Sound" in Portland Oregon? I live about 110 miles away and would rather cart it in to someone than ship it.

 

[EchoWars]

Where do you live? If that sucker has been in a shed, exposed to outdoor temps for years, then the electrolytic caps will be rotten to the core.

I've gotten a few old Pioneer's that someone decided to store in an outside shed (in Kansas City). They required a complete recapping.

 

[elling]

Mike,

I took a MR7082 tuner to Inner Sound for repair in 2003. The presets had not held their settings when the unit was turned off for a couple of years, and then the unit went totally dead. Inner Sound repaired it promptly and on time, and it has worked well ever since. So my experience (with a less challenging repair task) with InnerSound was positive.

Given the value of a MC275, I'd want to be sure whoever worked on it had experience with the MC275. If you need a shipping box, McIntosh is very good about providing them for vintage products (I ordered one for an MR78 about a year ago).

 

[CarlV]

That is so great you saved it without realizing it, Congratulations! :thmbsp:
It's nice for something like this to happen to somebody who will appreciate it
instead of selling it. At least nice if it isn't going to happen to me that is.

Carl

 

[VintageMac]

Magnolia

For "West coast" repairs you might want to consider Magnolia Audio/Video. You can take it to on of their two stores in Portland - no shipping (and no carton) required. They will deliver it to their McIntosh authorized repair facility in Seattle.

I’ve had them work on a few of my McIntosh pieces and they do excellent work.

VintageMac

 

[Mike Gibson]

Echo Wars , it was wrapped in a thick plastic bag and didn't even have any dust on it. I live in North Central Oregon and the average humidity around here is 25% or less. So I don't think moisture is a big issue. It's been in the shop for two days now and is all warmed up. I can't find a damned 25 watt lightbulb anywhere to use in my homemade Variac. Maybe the electrical supply house has one.
Elling, thanks for the feedback on Inner Sound. I used to use Vernon Miller but he has been gone for a long time now.
CarlV, Since it was a gift from my best friend I couldn't sell it. It wouldn't be right to do that.
Vintage Mac, thanks for the tip about Magnolia. I thought they went out of business along with all the outfits I used to deal with. I see my favorite place Hawthorne Stereo is down to one store and it's in Seattle. Fred's House of sound still exisits. Hawthorne Blvd used to be the stereo capital of Portland when I lived there. With only Stereotronics in Beaverton for competition.

 

[Mike Gibson]

Today I made the trip into town and found a 25 Watt bulb and started with that on my way to lighting off the MC 275. I went from 25 Watt to a 60 then 100 Watt bulb like suggested. I let it run on each bulb for nearly an hour just to be safe. Then hooked it up and WOW
The difference between the MC 275 and my MC 2505 is quite pronounced. There is something more going on than just my wanting it to sound better. The bass coming out of the Altecs is what I describe as effortless if that makes any sense. I'm sure glad I built those shelves. It takes most of the pain out of connecting things up after you rearrange things