i currently own a 3275 and have a 3125 on the way thats supposedly in good condition with its only flaw being a small amount of dust apparently.
the 3275 is incredible i gotta say. i personally love the look of it as well as the exoskeletal look of the 3125 with its dual exposed heat sinks... its like a MAC 6700 haha
i bought the 3275 about a month ago for my dad after we were talking about the realistic sta-2080 i had just purchased. he kept talking about how mcs made some of the best stuff back in the day that no one really knew about.. he kept saying he had heard the people behind the "quality" mcs receivers were some skunkworks experts, he just didnt know who (turns out NEC for some receivers and a couple other things).
though i didnt believe him as to their apparent unknown superstar status i knew i couldnt go wrong buying him what appeared to me at the time as simply mcs's second best receiver next to the 3125 which doesnt offer quite the classic aesthetic appeal the 3275 does, so im very glad it was the 3275 on ebay at the time because its still 70's if you know what i mean. after a quick search of it i learned of 75 watts rms and 5 band equalizers.
i also really wanted the closest mcs had to offer to my sta-2080 (short of the 3285, i didnt look into it despite knowing of it and dont mind because i believe the 3275 was the best receiver i could have bought him) so we could have equal receivers from respective manufacturers to see just how good the mcs was... at the time i didnt think it was going to be as good as the sta-2080 which since it was such a leap in quality from anything ive ever had, sounded overly confidently good through merely a pair of bose 201's (i have since upgraded, and my father currently uses BR-1's).
i got both receivers set up on a table, swapping speaker wire back and forth between the two to see how they do with certain songs. i had the 201's away from the wall enough to offer at least some bass, still too midrangy with the 2080 but i digress.. to note, the sta-2080 has never made a noise/hum/pop/static/abnormality in MANY hours of use now, this thing seems like the kind of receiver that stays on for 30 years straight in a shop...
needless to say i and the sta-2080 was humbled by that 3275. it actually pissed me off at the time, i couldnt believe the severe and significant difference between the two. the bose 201's are a terrible speaker for the sta-2080, but the 3275 didnt seem to care about the problems the 2080 had with the bose, it sounded incredible through the bose speakers, it didnt make sense to me. i had to have switched the two for "specific song listen sessions" around 20 times hoping i could come up with a reason the realistic did better but i knew every time the huge difference between the two. i dont know if its the fact that the 3275 is rated for a frequency response of 10hz-40khz vs the 2080's 20hz-20khz, or if the mcs is just producing more actual watts rms, or if the magic is in the five band equalizers... at that point in time i was certain it was mainly the frequency response.
after hearing both through a set of dayton BR-1's it was quite notable what a good crossover/ speaker design would do for the 2080 in terms of bringing the "tone" out of it, but the mcs was always able to be adjusted to produce numbingly intense noises.. it just seemed to hit harder with every instrument. it was such a difference that it actually played songs for me unlike i have EVER heard them before. notes were coming from places the realistic was just flat out missing them. dont get me wrong either, the sta-2080 is a quality sound, its bass is so instrumental vs boomy, you can hear/feel every rise/fall of the rhythm in such a nice way.. ive said it before and ill say it again, its hard to say where the realistic does better or even as good as the 3275 but its bass lines are really nice.
i still very much enjoy my sta-2080 and firmly believe i havent seen quite what its capable of without getting the right set of speakers. im currently listening to it through a pair of mcs 683-8295 40" tall 3 way floor speakers. they are a nice step above the bose 201's and for 55 bucks i had to have em. they are missing some wood trim but they sound great and the speakers are all dentless/appear nice and the grills/fabric are in one piece. they are having the excessive midrange problems the bose speakers had, but i think that might end up going away with the 3125. i think the 5 band equalizers were a nice way to compensate for wide varieties of speaker crossovers, and could make good use out of any crossover design, and could make not so great speakers sound incredible.
needless to say im not here just to write stories, id really appreciate the help/insight/guidance of those/someone/anyone who really knows the mcs units. while according to the seller, the 3125 shouldnt have any issues id really like a service manual for one of these along with possibly a list of things to watch out for.
i also really need a service manual for the 3275 as it occasionally drops the left channel. ive read this is almost certainly due to dirty switches and i really dont think my dad sprayed all of them, only the speaker selector switches. i read you really need to get them all but that was after he had it apart and back together. it seemed to fix it but it still occasionally goes out. i figure at minimum it needs all the switches cleaned and worked but the volume pot is also sealed.. i heard you can open it enough to spray deoxit in there but ive heard of these being trashed? the volume isnt scratchy or anything, no popping.. though id almost swear that the knob seemed to get ever so slightly "hung up" the very first movement after sitting for a bit after use.
if theres still anyone that knows these mcs units well, i could really use some help and id greatly appreciate it.
the 3275 is incredible i gotta say. i personally love the look of it as well as the exoskeletal look of the 3125 with its dual exposed heat sinks... its like a MAC 6700 haha
i bought the 3275 about a month ago for my dad after we were talking about the realistic sta-2080 i had just purchased. he kept talking about how mcs made some of the best stuff back in the day that no one really knew about.. he kept saying he had heard the people behind the "quality" mcs receivers were some skunkworks experts, he just didnt know who (turns out NEC for some receivers and a couple other things).
though i didnt believe him as to their apparent unknown superstar status i knew i couldnt go wrong buying him what appeared to me at the time as simply mcs's second best receiver next to the 3125 which doesnt offer quite the classic aesthetic appeal the 3275 does, so im very glad it was the 3275 on ebay at the time because its still 70's if you know what i mean. after a quick search of it i learned of 75 watts rms and 5 band equalizers.
i also really wanted the closest mcs had to offer to my sta-2080 (short of the 3285, i didnt look into it despite knowing of it and dont mind because i believe the 3275 was the best receiver i could have bought him) so we could have equal receivers from respective manufacturers to see just how good the mcs was... at the time i didnt think it was going to be as good as the sta-2080 which since it was such a leap in quality from anything ive ever had, sounded overly confidently good through merely a pair of bose 201's (i have since upgraded, and my father currently uses BR-1's).
i got both receivers set up on a table, swapping speaker wire back and forth between the two to see how they do with certain songs. i had the 201's away from the wall enough to offer at least some bass, still too midrangy with the 2080 but i digress.. to note, the sta-2080 has never made a noise/hum/pop/static/abnormality in MANY hours of use now, this thing seems like the kind of receiver that stays on for 30 years straight in a shop...
needless to say i and the sta-2080 was humbled by that 3275. it actually pissed me off at the time, i couldnt believe the severe and significant difference between the two. the bose 201's are a terrible speaker for the sta-2080, but the 3275 didnt seem to care about the problems the 2080 had with the bose, it sounded incredible through the bose speakers, it didnt make sense to me. i had to have switched the two for "specific song listen sessions" around 20 times hoping i could come up with a reason the realistic did better but i knew every time the huge difference between the two. i dont know if its the fact that the 3275 is rated for a frequency response of 10hz-40khz vs the 2080's 20hz-20khz, or if the mcs is just producing more actual watts rms, or if the magic is in the five band equalizers... at that point in time i was certain it was mainly the frequency response.
after hearing both through a set of dayton BR-1's it was quite notable what a good crossover/ speaker design would do for the 2080 in terms of bringing the "tone" out of it, but the mcs was always able to be adjusted to produce numbingly intense noises.. it just seemed to hit harder with every instrument. it was such a difference that it actually played songs for me unlike i have EVER heard them before. notes were coming from places the realistic was just flat out missing them. dont get me wrong either, the sta-2080 is a quality sound, its bass is so instrumental vs boomy, you can hear/feel every rise/fall of the rhythm in such a nice way.. ive said it before and ill say it again, its hard to say where the realistic does better or even as good as the 3275 but its bass lines are really nice.
i still very much enjoy my sta-2080 and firmly believe i havent seen quite what its capable of without getting the right set of speakers. im currently listening to it through a pair of mcs 683-8295 40" tall 3 way floor speakers. they are a nice step above the bose 201's and for 55 bucks i had to have em. they are missing some wood trim but they sound great and the speakers are all dentless/appear nice and the grills/fabric are in one piece. they are having the excessive midrange problems the bose speakers had, but i think that might end up going away with the 3125. i think the 5 band equalizers were a nice way to compensate for wide varieties of speaker crossovers, and could make good use out of any crossover design, and could make not so great speakers sound incredible.
needless to say im not here just to write stories, id really appreciate the help/insight/guidance of those/someone/anyone who really knows the mcs units. while according to the seller, the 3125 shouldnt have any issues id really like a service manual for one of these along with possibly a list of things to watch out for.
i also really need a service manual for the 3275 as it occasionally drops the left channel. ive read this is almost certainly due to dirty switches and i really dont think my dad sprayed all of them, only the speaker selector switches. i read you really need to get them all but that was after he had it apart and back together. it seemed to fix it but it still occasionally goes out. i figure at minimum it needs all the switches cleaned and worked but the volume pot is also sealed.. i heard you can open it enough to spray deoxit in there but ive heard of these being trashed? the volume isnt scratchy or anything, no popping.. though id almost swear that the knob seemed to get ever so slightly "hung up" the very first movement after sitting for a bit after use.
if theres still anyone that knows these mcs units well, i could really use some help and id greatly appreciate it.
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