vintage McIntosh Receiver Headphone Jack Question

monsterzero

Member
Quick question:

I spoke to a McIntosh employee recently and he crushed my dreams of owning a vintage McIntosh receiver to use to drive speakers and drive 600 ohm headphones..He said the HP out was "not a priority" during manufacturing of the 1700,1900 and 4100.

I own several 1970s Japanese receivers and they all drive HPs remarkably well.Can anyone confirm or deny that the Macs can make excellent HP amps,or are they pretty crappy vs Japanese gear of the same era
 
A McIntosh Laboratory Inc employee told you this or someone who simply works for a McIntosh dealer?
 
I phoned the HQ in New York. I dunno if he was blissfully ignorant to what theyre capable of or trying to sell me a 4500.00 new dedicated HP amp...

Thoughts?
 
If the amplifier section of any of those models has difficulty driving a 600 ohm load presented by a pair of headphones, I'd hate to think what would happen if you used speakers. :crazy:
 
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I get that the old Macs can physically drive 600 ohm headphones,and I get that a modern 4500.00 HP amp will do it better,but the conversation left me under the impression that the vintage Macs were inferior to Sansui/Kenwood/Concept in the HP driving department....and that would suck if true.

I really want a 4100 :(
 
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I love Mac, but there's a reason why I have a separate headphone amp(s). The C34V I owned had a decent headphone output though. I see at lot of the guys over on headfi using vintage receivers for headphone out.
 
I haven't had a pair of HP since ('80?)
It seem unlikely that's the case but I have no first hand experience :lurk:
 
I see at lot of the guys over on headfi using vintage receivers for headphone out.

I would be one of those Head-Fiers.I own six vintage Japanese receivers,14 pairs of headphones and two dedicated HP amps(one tube and one SS)

My Japanese receivers get the job done vs. my dedicated HP amps,and in some cases out perform the HP amps,especially with planars and low sensitivity/high ohm stuff.I lose a bit of staging and imaging,but all in all its damn close.

All im trying to find out is if vintage McIntosh(looking at 4100 primarily) can keep up with the likes of a Kenwood Eleven GX or Sansui 881 or Onkyo TX6500 MK ll etc. in its ability to drive HPs. When the Mac employee told me they wouldnt I was shocked,and very disappointed.If a member who has some hard -to-drive HPs,some Japanese gear and a MAC can do an a/b and report back I'd be grateful.
 
Salesmanship is all well and good but the key is to do it without damaging credibility. I have as much respect for McIntosh as anybody but the information proffered by this individual is misleading at best and completely lacking context. All is relative and the law of diminishing returns could not be more applicable than it is to hi fi.

Bottom line - if the McIntosh employee thinks a $4,500 50 wpc McIntosh so-called headphone amplifier is going to provide night/day results to headphone listening enjoyment as opposed to those to be gotten from a MAC4100 I would dismiss this person's views henceforth and seek advice elsewhere.
 
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In the case of the MAC4100, after the speaker speaker relay the 75 watt output of the amp section is split off to the spk selectors and 4 individual 330 ohm 2 watt resistors that supplies the two headphone jacks.....I would worry about the headphone volume causing ear damage more than anything else.
 
In the case of the MAC4100, after the speaker speaker relay the 75 watt output of the amp section is split off to the spk selectors and 4 individual 330 ohm 2 watt resistors that supplies the two headphone jacks.....I would worry about the headphone volume causing ear damage more than anything else.

Thats good to hear.Isnt that essentially how the Japanese vintage gear I own operate?...The Mac guy said it was a separate small amp doing the HP work equivalent to a modern CD player...Im beginning to think I spoke to the valet parking attendant at Mac HQ o_O
 
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