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Mcintosh mc2000 vs mc500

jmool

jmool

Member
Hi all,

I know this is a strange comparison but, I own a mc500 at this moment with a c2500.

I use my system to watch TV at evening maybe 2 hours(Netflix) and I also listen to vinyl on my Kenwood L07D. I can only afford one system and have only room for one system. I live in the Netherlands and houses here are not all that big as in the US.

I have to chance to buy a mc2000 and I know tubes are not ideal situation in terms of watching TV, but I like to uniqueness and rarety of the mc2000 that I'm willing to invest money in that amplifier.

What do you guys think about it? Would you do that? Sell the mc500 and buy the mc2000?
 
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That's a tough call. If it were me, I would go with the MC500. Cheaper to run due to being SS, so no tubes to replace. As long as a person is okay with burning tubes for TV watching, I say go for it....it's not out of the question for me personally. On the weekends, the living room AVR is routinely on for 12 or more hours as I don't believe in switching gear on and off repeatedly if there's a chance it will be used in a later time in the day. Some weekends, especially extended weekends, it will pull a 48+ hour shifts. So, that make me cautious on tubes with the duty cycle where 3,000 + hours are easily put on per year.
 
Yeah indeed, understand what you are saying. You watch a lot more TV than me. My routine is more like ...Monday to Friday watch TV for about 2 hours.

Weekends listen to music for about 10 ...15 hours
 
jmool said:
Yeah indeed, understand what you are saying. You watch a lot more TV than me. My routine is more like ...Monday to Friday watch TV for about 2 hours.

Weekends listen to music for about 10 ...15 hours
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Maybe not. I'm not a big movie person and don't watch many TV shows in comparison to a lot of people I know. There's also my wife and daughter in the house. We turn the living room AVR on once per day - it might be on for just 1 hour of 12 depending on the situation. In my opinion, I would rather let the unit idle for extra hours than turn it on and off a half a dozen times a day. At any rate if I had a tube unit in the living room running KT88/6550 tubes, I would need to be prepared to retube the unit twice per year.....once at a minimum.
 
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Well, those are both amplifiers which are quite revered. The MC2000 was Sidney Cordeman's final engineering effort. j-10 thought quite highly of it: https://www.stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/283/index.html

OTOH, the MC500 is a McIntosh SS Powerhouse. An amplifier for the ages. One of my all time favorites.

So, a bit like asking - Hey, I'm dating a voluptuous brunette but I've got the chance to date a petite blonde - what would you do? Me, I'd invite the blonde over and . . . well . . .
 
Hahah yes I understand. I read somewhere that the mc2000 is not a real tube amp? Does that mean it's not eating tubes that much?
What about switching the amp on for short periods (30min) of time, in terms of tube warm-up? Is that bad for the amp?
 
jmool said:
Hahah yes I understand. I read somewhere that the mc2000 is not a real tube amp? Does that mean it's not eating tubes that much?
What about switching the amp on for short periods (30min) of time, in terms of tube warm-up? Is that bad for the amp?
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It's a real tube amp and was used to celebrate the 50th anniversary of McIntosh.

No worries on short use periods. The amp will sound best after approximately 30 minutes. It's fine to use it straight away. Again, if it were my amp I wouldn't switch it on/off a zillion times a day. Power up is one of the most stressful aspects of a component's life - abuse removed of course.
 
My take: I watch TV a couple hours a night on routine weeknights and it bothers me to even use my C220 for TV. The C220 has only four tubes but they are Telefunken 12AX7s which are hard and expensive to get. Using that big MC2000 tube amp for TV would drive me nuts - and as mentioned, waste a lot of tubes.

But a two-amp solution might not be that bad. I've been doing that for years - switching in a solid state amp for most TV and background use. And I set things up so I can quickly plug in my tube amp (was an ARC D115 MK and MC275 iV) for critical or serious listening. Been doing this for 25 years no problem.

Keep in mind that for the TV and background listen, you don't need a McIntosh classic SS amp, any decent SS amp will do. E.g., a used Adcom or some such can be had for not too much money. So a two-amp solution is mostly a matter of available space in your room.
 
I use my primary McIntosh System with MC1000s and MX150 for 2 chann l preamp duties and HT duties with MC7106 and zone B out door pool system. You can always get a preamp with zone B. I love running One System for all duties and switch to 2 channel instantly.

Consider Pre Amp with zone B of tube costs bother you. Date the blonde, brunette and find a red head too. You only live once.
 
To me a MC 2000 would be worth more as a collectable, than for the sound it produces. Personally I'd upgrade to a MC 452 and be done with it if I just had to make a change. Now if we were talking about a pair of 2301's or MC3500's, I would jump at the chance for the 3500's.
 
damacman said:
Well, those are both amplifiers which are quite revered. The MC2000 was Sidney Cordeman's final engineering effort. j-10 thought quite highly of it: https://www.stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/283/index.html

OTOH, the MC500 is a McIntosh SS Powerhouse. An amplifier for the ages. One of my all time favorites.

So, a bit like asking - Hey, I'm dating a voluptuous brunette but I've got the chance to date a petite blonde - what would you do? Me, I'd invite the blonde over and . . . well . . .
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Bottles of Champagne in the 'fridge, always worked for me.. :-)
 
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