McIntosh XR7 speakers w/MQ104 EQ

[Jenkster]

https://chico.craigslist.org/ele/5491147768.html

I have a hankering to get some different speakers. The criteria, they have to sound good, be unique and/or rare, a reputable brand and something I have never had or heard before. The McIntosh XR7's fit that criteria except, I have no idea how they sound. Looks to me to be a very busy front baffle. It's over an hour drive to audition them which is doable. Just looking for some help from members who know this speaker and can give an idea of value and sound. Oh, I assume the MQ104 room equalizer is a very nice feature. Any help would be greatly appreciated. FYI, they would be driven by a restored Marantz 2330, thanks!

 

[jberger]

The MQ104 environmental EQ comes with the necessary box of plug-in capacitors to set the frequencies of the EQ. It's not used as a graphic EQ would be; it's strictly for better matching the speaker to the resonances of the room.

The sound is what you would expect from McIntosh; solid, almost 'bottomless' bass, without being 'one-note', broad midrange, and a tinge of softness on the highs (in spite of all of those tweeters in the array). They will want lots and lots of clean power, but will handle just about everything that you give them without strain. They're not a speaker that will immediately 'wow' you, but are more like one that you slowly realize is doing many things right. The tweeter array gives them wide dispersion.

If they were a person, I would describe them as a well-sculpted body-builder in a suit, with good manners and intelligent tastes. One of those where you don't notice how strong he is until you shake his hand.

 

[sKiZo]

Good deal that the package includes the caps ... those have a way of getting lost over time.

One thing that always surprised me about the XR7 ... they didn't come mirrored. Isoplanar implies that for best balance in the stage ... My XR16's have all the drivers vertically centered, so no problems there.

PS ... the original prototypes WERE set up vertically ... never hit the streets though for whatever reason ...

Oh. Fun fact. The tops and bottoms of the XR7's can be detached, allowing you to join/stack TWO sets ... nudge nudge. <G>

 

[Jenkster]

Thanks for the information guys, I appreciate it! It looks like I will not be able to audition them until Wed. Sounds like he has quite a few other audio goodies that may be available. I am going there. With an open mind. Sounds like it will be difficult to determine how they would sound in my room vs his. If it doesn't pan out it's OK. He lives in Chico CA, home of The Sierra Nevada Brewery and Tap Room Resturant.

 

[sKiZo]

Keep in mind the MQ104's primary purpose is to match the bass response to the room. That's easy enough with just a twist of the wrist to one of five settings on the switch. One for each channel, and they don't have to match if you have different surfaces to deal with on each side of the room.

The four tuneable filters on each channel are basically a parametric eq that uses specific caps to adjust the bandwidth and center frequency of each filter. You really need to do some frequency sweeps to have a prayer of getting those right. I use Room EQ Wizard with a laptop and calibrated mike to get those. If you don't want to deal with those, you can just leave those filters empty - you CAN set the bass compensation controls without the sweeps. You WILL need the manual for the EQ for the cap chart if you do want to build filters. Pretty sure you can download that direct from Roger Russell's website.

PS ... I'd assUme he's done some voicing if he's serious about his music. If so, you may be in for a treat when you audition the speakers.

 

[Jenkster]

Thanks sKiZo, very helpful information.