jbailey930
AK Member
Didn’t know you were a local. Graduated HS in 79. WPGC, WAVA 105.9. WHFS and GTB were “progressive”. Did you see Mc gear at Myer Emco back then?
A McIntosh Tuner, Is There One In Your System?
- Thread starter jdandy
- Start date
damacman
Resident Psycho
Moved to the midwest in '78 ...
gizzyman47
Addicted Member
Bought a McIntosh MR78 last year to appease myself. Very nice tuner which unfortunately I rarely use. Love it still the same though!
Shortly after I acquired my MC2505 and C26, a local AKer was selling a MR73 for a decent price. I know it's not considered one of their better tuners, but it matches my other components chronologically, so I went for it. Here's what it looked like when I got it:
As you can see, it had been equipped with newer-style knobs and endcaps at some point, presumably to match with newer Mc gear. Of course, my MC2505 and C26 had original-style knobs and endcaps, so I'd rather it match the older gear. Fortunately, our own Mike G. had the opposite problem with his MR77, so we did a trade, and now my MR73 looked like this:
Halfway there, but still with the newer-style endcaps, since Mike preferred to keep his old-style ones. Fortunately, a local audio store was able to get me a set of the older-style pointed endcaps, which is nice. Also, I managed to find and repair a MI3 'maximum performance indicator' scope, which goes nicely with the MR73. Here's a photo of the cosmetically-correct MR73 with the now-working MI3 sitting atop it:
As you can see, it had been equipped with newer-style knobs and endcaps at some point, presumably to match with newer Mc gear. Of course, my MC2505 and C26 had original-style knobs and endcaps, so I'd rather it match the older gear. Fortunately, our own Mike G. had the opposite problem with his MR77, so we did a trade, and now my MR73 looked like this:
Halfway there, but still with the newer-style endcaps, since Mike preferred to keep his old-style ones. Fortunately, a local audio store was able to get me a set of the older-style pointed endcaps, which is nice. Also, I managed to find and repair a MI3 'maximum performance indicator' scope, which goes nicely with the MR73. Here's a photo of the cosmetically-correct MR73 with the now-working MI3 sitting atop it:
I purchased an MR73 new when they first came out, $550 in January of 1970. I was just out of school as an EE making a gross salary of $10,500. I owned it for about 25 years until I sold it to buy a used MR78. Why did I sell it? Mainly because I was enthralled by variable IF selectivity. Quite honestly, I don't think there was much difference to my ears between the 73 and the 78 in the wide and narrow positions if you live in a metro location.
. Put the mr80 in its place and sounds much better!I have a Richard Modafferi-modified SS MR78. I love it, though I don’t use it much in central Pennsylvania. My brother has a Richard Modafferi-modified tube MR71. My 78 gets more stations/has more features/flexibility. His tube 71 is silkier, simpler in looks and functions. I used to think my 78 was more beautiful, but now I’m leaning toward the classic minimalism of his 71, with its old-style, smooth silver knobs. Both are excellent. I’ll also mention that we visited Modafferi for an afternoon just before Covid. Richard had just taken down his enormous antenna tower. I guess he thinks FM is dying.
I once had an MR74 that was recapped and aligned by Terry DeWick. It's the only tuner I've ever regretted parting with: beautiful to look at, wonderful sound, incredibly deep and rich bass. Wow. The competitor was a Sansui TU-9900, which is also wonderful. But the low frequencies on the Mac were the best I've ever heard from a tuner.
I have an OCD personality. One thing I have never been able to get over with the MR71 is the terribly nonlinear dial spacing. It's cramped at the low end and so wide at the high that they snuck in a 107 to make it look linear from 5 ft away.
Never noticed that peculiarity before (but I don’t live with it). If I lived with the 71, that 107 might drive me bonkers, too. (I’ll do my a brother favor by not pointing that out to him.)
FM Tuners in the modern day:
FM has truly been mostly taken over by the likes of ClearChannel and other commercial interests. Gone are the days of 'Disk Jockeys' picking their favorite music to share along with some knowledge about the artist, the producer, recording studio, what happened after the show at the hotel, etc...
That said, there are still a few college stations worth a listen, and here in New Orleans there is a great listener supported station (WWOZ 90.7) that plays a lot of local artists, past and present, and has DJ's that know their music and care(they are volunteers). Tulane University still does the 'Cheese Music' show on Sunday morning which is mostly ambient synth music....Great for a rainy Sunday after a late Saturday night. There is also classical to be had from a few stations.
If I am looking to do some critical listening I spin vinyl. If I want uninterrupted good music I stream.
The tuner is more like an information gathering device for me these days. It provides news, weather, upcoming concerts/events, and most importantly, the discovery of new music that I would not know exists without the radio. Being a child of the 20th century, there are some times when I just need some noise in the house/ a random information stream. It keeps me from turning on the TV. It fills my need for passive listening. Even with the obvious cooperate capture of most stations today, I still need a tuner. I believe radio still has a role to play. I could not live without my MR-74 or the Dynaco FM-5 in my smaller system.
How does radio fit into your life?
FM has truly been mostly taken over by the likes of ClearChannel and other commercial interests. Gone are the days of 'Disk Jockeys' picking their favorite music to share along with some knowledge about the artist, the producer, recording studio, what happened after the show at the hotel, etc...
That said, there are still a few college stations worth a listen, and here in New Orleans there is a great listener supported station (WWOZ 90.7) that plays a lot of local artists, past and present, and has DJ's that know their music and care(they are volunteers). Tulane University still does the 'Cheese Music' show on Sunday morning which is mostly ambient synth music....Great for a rainy Sunday after a late Saturday night. There is also classical to be had from a few stations.
If I am looking to do some critical listening I spin vinyl. If I want uninterrupted good music I stream.
The tuner is more like an information gathering device for me these days. It provides news, weather, upcoming concerts/events, and most importantly, the discovery of new music that I would not know exists without the radio. Being a child of the 20th century, there are some times when I just need some noise in the house/ a random information stream. It keeps me from turning on the TV. It fills my need for passive listening. Even with the obvious cooperate capture of most stations today, I still need a tuner. I believe radio still has a role to play. I could not live without my MR-74 or the Dynaco FM-5 in my smaller system.
How does radio fit into your life?
Still use the tuner in my MX114, love the thing and the MC250
twiiii
Lunatic Member
The HT system has a 7084. The Stereo system a MR-80. My oldest has a my MR-78 for his system. The 78 and 80 have been restored in 2010 by the original designer. Audio classic say the pre-owned 7084 was also tuned up just before I purchased it 4 years go. Before the 78 was the MR-77 which was the first Mcintosh tuner I really liked that I was seriously involved with. I installed every tuner Mac Made from the middle 60;s to the middle 90's. I retired in 2003. I don't use the tuners that much as I stream most of the time now the same stations. Yes I use a Yagi antennae for the MR -80 and MR 7084. For AM I use a rhomboid antennae for best performance.
I listen to WWOZ on my MR-78 everyday. In New Orleans, we also have two newish low-power community stations (WHIV and WAMF) as well as an NPR station (and classical off-shoot) and the above mentioned college station (WTUL) and even a pirate station or two! No need to listen to commercial radio, and I haven't listened to a commercial station in years.
The McIntosh is a bit darker sounding to my also excellent Pioneer TX-9500II, but the MR-78 just exudes quality. I also have a Marantz 20B (my tech is trying to fix the scope) on deck, so my tuner collection will probably out last analog broadcasting.
Thanks for the new stations. I'll give them a try. Nice to see a local on the site!
I have recently moved and plan to do something about an antenna soon. I am now in Mandeville so hopefully I can drag these stations in with my temporary lamp chord antenna. I get OZ so I haven't worried about the antenna yet.
I doubt you will receive them in Mandeville. WWOZ has a high powered transmitter as does WWNO (NPR staton,) but the others are low powered. Even WTUL has changed their transmitter (and/or antenna) and now is rather hard to receive.