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first Mcintosh amp ... 6100 or 6200?

albireo13

albireo13

Active Member
OK, I've decided to go with an intamp instead of a receiver for my 1st Mac gear. (4100 rcvr possible exception) I have some nice Marantz receivers, and a Sony HD tuner right now.
I am selling off a Naim Nait 5i and am thinking to replace it with a Mac intamp.

My budget is < $1500 and used is fine. I'd like VG cosmetic condition as this will be my living room system. I've heard good things about the 6100 or 6200 and I think I could find one in my budget. I really like the blue meter amps ... they look so sweet! Something like a 6300 would be nice. However, they seem to be outside my budget.

What do folks think? Any other recommendations? I suppose I could wait and save pennies a bit more.
Would 4100 give me similar sound quality?

Thx,
Rob
 
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I have a 4100 and a 6100 (6100 since new in 1973). I love them both. The 4100 has the pre-amp/amp section from the 6200. I prefer my 6100 on looks alone, but nostalgia plays a part for me I admit.

The 4100 sounds great, but the vinyl-clad cabinet it comes in is offensive. For $200, Audio Classic sells a very nice selection of wood cabinets.

The MA-6100 in the Mac cabinet is a thing of beauty, exceptionally well laid out, with great versatility. Look for chassis rust.

Bottom line: you can't go wrong with a good, clean, restored unit of either one. Don't pay more than $500 (6100) $650 (4100) for a clean un-restored example.

You should check with Classic Audio and DeWick Repairs (ads at bottom of AK pages) for clean used units.
 
I would go with a MA6200. I find newer usually sounds better especially in the preamp section. The MA6100 was made from 1972-1979 and the MA6200 was made from 1978-1991.

I have not heard a MA6100 yet but I have recently heard a MA6200 in great condition and it sounded fantastic. The MA6200 had a beautiful, detailed, musical sound that you can listen to all day long.
 
6200. It's a complete re-design over the 6100 and a more modern design with a separate power switch. 6100 has a cool, more retro look, though.

Murray
 
Another vote for the MA6200. Buy the one with the nicest cosmetics you can find and send to Terry DeWick (or Audio Classics) for a full restoration, including a recap with modern devices. The expense of redoing one cosmetically is much higher than redoing one electonically. Same would be true for an MA6100 or MAC4100 (though the MAC4100 would also need an alignment).
 
I never loved the 6100. The parts seemed more than their some. The preamp alone sounds decent, the power amp alone sounds decent but hook them together and it seems to suffer appreciable. The 6200 would be preferable in my opinion. In fact I'd take a 5100 before a 6100 unless I was using it for doing a later upgrade such as restricting it to for preamp use and adding an amp. The 5100 can not be separated.
 
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