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My Second MAC: A 4100

SoCal Sam said:
Yes. Use "large bubble" wrap. Cut a piece of cardboard, shape to fit the face and tape to the bubble wrap. Then use flat styrofoam pieces on all six sides. Padding must be four inches minimum all the way around. And, the item must fit snugly inside so it does not bounce around.
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Sam - Thanks for the advice...but I'm going to insist that the Seller get a MAC Box and I'll pay him additional for it. It would be absurd to cut corners on shipping costs on this unit. :yes:
 
My 4100 made the trip safely to and from Terry DeWick in the new Mac box. It went FedEx Ground both ways; the box and the receiver arrived safe and sound with the beating that I would expect FedEx to dish out. The Mac boxes are wonderful.

John
 
Nice grab on the Mac 4100. I had one, but had to sell it. It's a great all around unit. The best of all worlds. The only thing I didn't care for was the cabinet. It needs real veneer.:yes: Brad
 
Gongrats on the mac.I am moving up the stereo food chain and that is on my list.Unfortunatly due to limited resouces I will have to wait until one shows up at a thrift or cheap locally. With the way things have been going i feel I may come across one in the near future hopefully at $300 or less .
 
Brad Muller said:
Nice grab on the Mac 4100. I had one, but had to sell it. It's a great all around unit. The best of all worlds. The only thing I didn't care for was the cabinet. It needs real veneer.:yes: Brad
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Chris,

Audio Classics has the fix for the 4100's homely original cabinet, a Cherry wood finish replacement. It seems to me they used to have one or two additional finishes, guess those are sold out (not on AC site for the moment). You can see the Cherry wood 4100 cab here:

http://audioclassics.com/detail.php3?detail=L4100C&nav=cat


Someday I hope to replace the original cabinet on my 4100, but meantime I enjoy this receiver daily, hell I enjoy it hourly. The 4100 has an excellent tuner. I'm out in Claremont, i.e., LA & San Bernardino county line territory, and my 4100 pulls in all of the LA and coastal communities FM stations I have ever sought, it pulls in the CSU Long Beach (88.1) signal like its next door, I get clearly all of the stations transmitting from the surrounding inland & desert communities (including all of the low-power college stations), and it even pulls in several stations from San Diego. All this using a single 4-foot in-house plastic dipole antenna. I think the tuner that's in the 4100 works about as well as my MR-78 tuner that has been serviced by Terry D.

I'll be curious to know what speakers you end up using with the 4100; I use a couple of KEF 104/2s and thus far it seems to be an excellent pairing (at least until the T-33 tweets crap out - an inevitability according to everything I've read about the 104/2 series)

~edwin
 
My 4100 is just a delight. Pretty much whatever I feed it through sounds good (see WAF Question on speakers forum). The tuner does a great job.

I usually run mine through AR-3a's, and they take to each other quite well. My Frazier Black Box Model 12s sound damn good too driven by the 4100.

I agree about getting new real wood case panels. I like mine better with the vinyl-covered panels removed. Makes it look more "mil-spec" (the handles don't look quite so goofy if it looks like a rack pull).

And thanks all for the reminder that McIntosh sells boxes! I need to ship my MA-6100 to Terry this spring, but have been REALLY fretting over shipment. I lost my original box years ago, and will now happily pay for a new one!
 
My 4100 drives a pair of Polk Monitor 5's. It is located in our TV room so I had to go with smaller speakers. The sources are a SACD/DVD/CD player, an automatic turntable, a Roku Soundbridge 500, and the two local college radio stations.
 
Johncan said:
My 4100 made the trip safely to and from Terry DeWick in the new Mac box. It went FedEx Ground both ways; the box and the receiver arrived safe and sound with the beating that I would expect FedEx to dish out. The Mac boxes are wonderful.

John
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Johncan -- My Seller just wrote to tell me that he's going to get the Mac box and ship it in that!!!! AWESOME!!!!

Shoot me a PM with your PayPal ID and I'll shoot 'cha some beer money!! :D

-- Chris
 
vintagestereo said:
Sam - Thanks for the advice...but I'm going to insist that the Seller get a MAC Box and I'll pay him additional for it. It would be absurd to cut corners on shipping costs on this unit. :yes:
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Lucky you've got a seller willing to work with you. I usually get the canned response "I pack good" which translates to newpaper and no bubble wrap.
 
vintagestereo said:
Johncan -- My Seller just wrote to tell me that he's going to get the Mac box and ship it in that!!!! AWESOME!!!!

Shoot me a PM with your PayPal ID and I'll shoot 'cha some beer money!! :D

-- Chris
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Thanks for the offer, but that is not necessary. Enjoy your 4100!

John
 
SoCal Sam said:
Lucky you've got a seller willing to work with you. I usually get the canned response "I pack good" which translates to newpaper and no bubble wrap.
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Sam -- "We shall see what we shall see......."

-- Chris
 
I've had my 4100 back and forth to Terry's place for a tuneup - packed with foam and well sealed. It went both ways without issue. Chris, I know you have a lot of receivers, but the 4100 has a special sound. I hate to use mine, because once I do all the others sit on the sidelines. Enjoy it!
Larry
 
Larry said:
I've had my 4100 back and forth to Terry's place for a tuneup - packed with foam and well sealed. It went both ways without issue. Chris, I know you have a lot of receivers, but the 4100 has a special sound. I hate to use mine, because once I do all the others sit on the sidelines. Enjoy it!
Larry
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Thanks, Larry. Really looking forward to it.

Now, the question is what to get next? A 4200 or 4300V? :scratch2:
 
I also have a 1900, but I don't think you'll like it as well as the 4100. I haven't heard the 4200 or 4300, but I'm told that the 4100 is the one. Next, you'll go the separate route????
Larry
 
superdog said:
Gongrats on the mac.I am moving up the stereo food chain and that is on my list.Unfortunatly due to limited resouces I will have to wait until one shows up at a thrift or cheap locally. With the way things have been going i feel I may come across one in the near future hopefully at $300 or less .
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Superdog -- I've had the $300.00 MAC Receiver fantasy for years. But, let me tell you....."it ain't gonna happen". :no:

Just pay the price of admission and get it over with! :yes:

-- Chris
 
Larry said:
I also have a 1900, but I don't think you'll like it as well as the 4100. I haven't heard the 4200 or 4300, but I'm told that the 4100 is the one. Next, you'll go the separate route????
Larry
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Larry -- I'm sure I'll get some separates at some point. But, my focus for the time-being is to get a collection of ALL MAC TOTL Receivers. So, the seperates will have to wait. I also plan on getting some Accuphase first.

-- Chris
 
vintagestereo said:
Superdog -- I've had the $300.00 MAC Receiver fantasy for years. But, let me tell you....."it ain't gonna happen". :no:

Just pay the price of admission and get it over with! :yes:

-- Chris
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You should've shared in your fantasy.

I don't know awhole lot about MACs but I'm pretty sure there were a couple of 1700s for $250-300 floating around here. Is that a good model?
 
onepixel said:
You should've shared in your fantasy.

I don't know awhole lot about MACs but I'm pretty sure there were a couple of 1700s for $250-300 floating around here. Is that a good model?
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I thought he was talking about getting a 4100 for $300 or less. THAT'S A FANTASY!!!

I have a 1700 and paid around $300.00 for it, so, that's NO FANTASY. Nice Receiver, although its 40 wpc. Mine needs some work so I haven't listened to it yet. But, I like the fact that it's a Tube/SS Hybrid. Pretty unique in my collection.
 
I guess then $300 for 1700 is good/reasonable?

And the 4100 be a desirable vintage MAC too?

I guess I'm gonna have to go visit the MAC forum.
 
onepixel said:
I guess then $300 for 1700 is good/reasonable?

And the 4100 be a desirable vintage MAC too?

I guess I'm gonna have to go visit the MAC forum.
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From what I've read, the 4100 is the most coveted of the MAC Receivers. It had the longest production run, from 1978 to 1985. To be competitive during that time, when audio technology was advancing by leaps and bounds, it had to be great!

Happily, this one is from 1984, toward the end of the production run by which time I figure Mac really had it perfected. Eager to hear it compared to the 1700. of just a few years earlier (1973).

Let us know what you find out!
 
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