BadassBob
Digitally rendered
I missed the airing of the episode, but found it on Youtube. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HgS6gvokEI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HgS6gvokEI
How It's Made: McIntosh 275
- Thread starter BadassBob
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hrbballman
Equipment 1st, then food
Very cool! Thanks for sharing! Not to get political but I wonder how Mcintosh is to its employees? They certainly make some nice gear!
BadassBob
Digitally rendered
I'd like to think they are well compensated. Can you imagine having that tooling at your disposal? Sheesh!
hrbballman
Equipment 1st, then food
Just hope that you don't get the MC275 that the one person put together on their bad day...
kenwood1986
New Member
Very interesting ! Thanks for sharing !
Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Drumolator
Super Member
I saw it on TV last week, and it was quite interesting. They repeated it last night. Peace and goodwill.
so_ein_pech
Well-Known Member
I'm surprised to see SMD components on that PCB. Maybe nothing wrong with them sonically (I don't know) but they will certainly make servicing difficult if those components ever fail. You get a good look at 3:38 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HgS6gvokEI#t=218. Maybe its common practice these days. I haven't ever looked inside a high-end piece of equipment less than 20 years old.
fred soop
Super Member
Ditto for vacuum tubes with sockets on pc boards. I've always heard that was not good unless Mc has some really super quality boards.
That 'VU meter' is actually part of a MC2KW, a 2,000W mono SS power amp which is probably about the size of three or four MC275s stacked together. Truly an impressive piece of gear.
Rod Beauvex
Look at the tiny bunny...
Difficult yes, but not impossible, for some of the large sized SMD components. Dave on EEV-Blog has done some videos on it, I recommend you watch. I once had to fix a tiny resistor on an Nvidia 7600GT, and it was greatly frustrating, but I managed to do it.
I seem to rememeber reading, somewhere on this forum. that some of the PCB work is done in China.
That was a problem back in the old days, when phenolic boards were common, as those tend to deteriorate after awhile, as many Dynaco fans will tell you. This was why point to point wiring had its adherents for a long time. Even some manufacturers back in the day would brag about using point to point wiring. It's less of an issue with today's boards, as they can withstand heat a little better. Also, Note that Mac also put tubes on top and everything else on the bottom, to help shield the more sensitive components from most of the heat.
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kevzep
Its all about the Music
Standard these days, nothing sonically impeding or difficult about servicing......SMD is actually really easy......You jut need the right tools.....No problem.
Maybe 30 years ago, but not now......
Everything is made in the McIntosh factory at Binghampton, nothing for that amp or any McIntosh amp is made in China, just to be clear.
canuckaudiog
On a quest for high fidelity
Thanks for posting this, I've been looking for this for a while 
