Never heard of a MR510 until your post. Went to Berners Site, and there it was. Unusual looking tuner. How did it compare to the MR85 performance?
A McIntosh Tuner, Is There One In Your System?
- Thread starter jdandy
- Start date
Never heard of a MR510 until your post. Went to Berners Site, and there it was. Unusual looking tuner. How did it compare to the MR85 performance?
beans
Got arth-a-ritis
The MR510 is a slim-line design meant to match up with the C504 preamp and MC502 pwr amp (with the same size faceplate). I'd love to have one to go with my C504, but would much rather have the MR85 (obviously). My MR78 style-wise looks great with my C504 preamp but with a much bigger faceplate.
Gregory
Soundco Kid
The MR78 is a really fine tuner with excellent variable selectivity. This unit is best used for FM Dx'ing with an outdoor rotatable antenna. It is yet another classic and an example of McIntosh research and painstaking engineering... yada yada.
-Gregory
It would be interesting to see a tuner shootout between the vaulted MR78 and the current MR85 McIntosh tuner. The MR85 brochure literature states that it is a "Broadcast-Grade" monitor. I wonder how the MR85 would stack up to the MR78 head to head, same high quality outdoor antenna with rotor, with both tuners connected to the same preamplifier and power amplifier. I am curious as to whether the sound of the tuners would be different, and of course, their abilities to tune stations, both close and far. That would be a fun test to perform if I had both tuners. I wonder if the MR78 would still reign supreme?
Vintage Pete
Mixing classic & current
Stock or upgraded MR78?
In this hypothetical shootout, would this be a stock MR78, or one with the well known Modafferi mods? IMO it should be a stock MR78. What do you think?
Pete
In this hypothetical shootout, would this be a stock MR78, or one with the well known Modafferi mods? IMO it should be a stock MR78. What do you think?
Pete
LotusFool
Well-Known Member
My Mr77 and the local FM broadcast are the center of my life. My favorite broadcast happen on the weekends (Echoes, Hearts of Space) on our wonderful PBS (PRI) station here in Rochester NY. I record the shows on my music software (SONNAR) and burn them to CD's and listen to them over and over.
I believe the radio broadcast on my MR77 sound better than the CD's I burn because the receiver I use that is hooked up to my computer is a Yamaha.
I believe the radio broadcast on my MR77 sound better than the CD's I burn because the receiver I use that is hooked up to my computer is a Yamaha.
Although the Modafferi upgrade mod on the MR78 (a tuner he designed while working for McIntosh) is proposed to turn a good tuner into a spectacular tuner, a shootout between the MR78 and the MR85 tuners would seem lopsided, unless both tuners had benefitted from modifications to increase their performance limits. I would be interested in a head to head shootout of these two tuners, both properly aligned, but otherwise, factory stock.
Vintage Pete
Mixing classic & current
Did you have the Modafferi upgrade done to the MR78? If so, how did the tuner perform before and after the upgrade? What does the MR78 do now that it would not do before the upgrade?
Gregory
Soundco Kid
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Yes..The modification was done in '05 at my request.
I would have to say that the most important change has been to the quality of the audio.Due in large part to the replacement of all audio coupling and bypass capacitors in the feedback circuits with high quality metalized polypropylene capacitors,and the replacement of the stock RCA output connectors with ones sourced from Cardas.
It's more defined and open compared to stock... Not etched,or shrill, mind you... Soundstaging and separation of instruments has been greatly improved due to ugrades in the stereo decoding circuit. Although these qualities became very apparent after an extended break-in period.Probably on the order of 50-100hrs, if my memory serves me correctly.
I would have to say the mods are more of a "refinement" of an already excellent sounding tuner. Well worth the cost, IMO.
Hepcat
Well-Known Member
I have a Moderffari modded MR78, an MR85, and a big antenna with rotator etc.
I got into DX'ing a small community radio statio back in the late 70's and 80's. I had a big antenna for TV from Atlanta (50 miles away) and even put a big booster tube amp up on the antenna and power supply down in my den. (My boss was tossing it after he built a new house). I remember crawling up a ladder and putting in new tubes occasionally. The bottom had a wing nut which I could loosen and swing out the tube socket panel.
Of course I've replaced all of the antenna stuff but I still have the MR78 and the Carver TX-11B that I used back then. The Mac barely edged out the Carver on some tiny distant stations with a big local adjacent station.
There is no way the MR85 can compare with those two on the DX'ing problem but the sound quality on the strong stations is top notch. The MR85 is the winner there imo.
And the funny thing is the new little $99 Sony HD-FM tuner just about beats everything in the DX game. And yeah, I got that one too.
But I listen to XM radio a lot more than all the rest. I just hope they stay in business. :worried:
Hepcat........Absolutely amazing, really! Who would have thought a fellow AKer would have the exact combination of the two tuners and a big rotor driven antenna that I spoke of when wishing for a tuner shootout between the MR85 and the MR78. It is a small world indeed.
Your results are about how I expected the comparison to go, although your MR78 does have the Modafferi upgrade. I expected the MR78 to outperform the MR85 on DXing, even without modifications. I also expected the MR85 to sound better on strong signals, and your observations paralleled my thoughts.
Thank you for posting the answers on the MR78 verses MR85. Good information to know. AudioKarma brings us all together. It is great!
Gregory
Soundco Kid
If one lives in an urban area, then an antenna amplifier mounted at the antenna 'wing nuts' is not recommended since strong local signals can get in there and splatter (i.e. IM). It would be ok it you're out in the boonies tho. One way is to use 300 ohm flat parallel transmission line, twisted axially going down the wall, and into you Mc tuner. I use foam core (read mostly air) coax feed line in the urban areas.
My newly acquired speakers reveal detail in CDs, radio stations, and other components so well, that I think the speakers have coloration! For example, with one of the local country/western stations, all of the songs they play sound colored (in the midrange/vocals) through the MR80. WETA classical music sounds simply wonderful. Some female vocal CDs are heavenly while others are `honky´ sounding. I'm planning on re-capping some stuff, but have no plans to replace my beloved system.. at least not for a while..
-Gregory
MR80, MCD7007, C33, MC2205, Thiel CS3.5
I do not have a tuner per se but I listen to pandora and rhapsody which are internet radio stations and they are fantastic. My source ie tuner is my iphone plugged into cd2
Click on DeWick Repair banner at the bottom of this page, and go from there.
Here in Chicago we have a wonderful classical station so I use my tuner nearly every day. Over the years I tried many different tuners beginning with a tubed Fisher, Luxman, Sherwood, Marantz etc. but, ended up with McIntosh since all the others had multipath problems with WFMT.
In my main system, since I'm lazy, I run an MR 7082 controlled by a CR 7. My spare tuner is an MR 73. I also have a 1700 at the office for listening to FM, a 1700 waiting in the wings for use in the kitchen, after it has been renovated and an MX 113 waiting for restoration.
Clyde
In my main system, since I'm lazy, I run an MR 7082 controlled by a CR 7. My spare tuner is an MR 73. I also have a 1700 at the office for listening to FM, a 1700 waiting in the wings for use in the kitchen, after it has been renovated and an MX 113 waiting for restoration.
Clyde
rhom
ESL Lover
I've never owned a tuner, but just bought a MR-74 that is enroute to Terry DeWick for general maintenance, cap replacements and alignment.
I heard a great MR-74 at a Mac dealer several months ago when on business travel. Someday I'm going to own a MR-67 or MR-71 tube tuner, too. I love the sound of these vintage units.
Best,
Rick
I heard a great MR-74 at a Mac dealer several months ago when on business travel. Someday I'm going to own a MR-67 or MR-71 tube tuner, too. I love the sound of these vintage units.
Best,
Rick