A story with a happy ending......................
At the request of the board's attorney (Mr. Negotiableterms, Esq), am starting this thread on having an MR80 completely 'gone through' by Terry. As a little background, over the past ~20 years I've owned, at one time or another, the MR7083, MR78, MR80, MR67, MR77 MR74/73 (inside the MX114) and MR75 (inside my current MX117), in that order. The first three were underwhelming in their sonics. The MR67 was very nice, but someone offered me the proverbial 'too good to be true' price for it. The MR77 was the best all around performer, but it was gone for another 'too good to be true' price (buy low - sell high, I guess). As part of that deal I took a cosmetically nice MX114 on trade. Needed an alignment so off to Terry and got back what was easily the best sounding McIntosh tuner I've owned. It was simply terrific. But, wanted to try the MX117, which is also very good, but not up to the standards of the MX114 (should have kept). However, it is the cosmetic match to the MC2125 and will soon be going through Terry's hands, as well. Had planned to find an MR74 or MR88 until reading Terry's posts concerning the MR80 and his ability to make it sing and do so reliably. Picked up an MR80 in good cosmetic condition and have sent off to Terry for what I am calling the 'full monty'. That is, am asking Terry to do everything reasonable to the MR80 to make it not only reliable, but sonically the best it can be. Recap and alignment, as a minimum. As I am a 'listener' and not a DXer (have the Yamaha TX-1000 for that), don't anticipate filter changes, unless Terry recommends. Do want a full recap with Nichicon Muse everywhere they will go that Terry thinks makes sense. No 'turn left unstoned' to achieve the best sonics the MR80 is able to provide. If Terry will go along, perhaps he will post a few pic's occasionally and keep everyone up-to-date on the progress of his efforts with some description of what work he is performing. And, once the MR80 is back in my system I'll post my listening impressions as compared to the MX117, Yamaha TX-1000 and the recapped and aligned Sony ST-J75, which is also a wonderful tuner that provides not only excellent reception and sonics, but the blackest background of any tuner I've owned. With Terry's queue being what it is, the MR80 work will likely take a few months. Stay tuned.
At the request of the board's attorney (Mr. Negotiableterms, Esq), am starting this thread on having an MR80 completely 'gone through' by Terry. As a little background, over the past ~20 years I've owned, at one time or another, the MR7083, MR78, MR80, MR67, MR77 MR74/73 (inside the MX114) and MR75 (inside my current MX117), in that order. The first three were underwhelming in their sonics. The MR67 was very nice, but someone offered me the proverbial 'too good to be true' price for it. The MR77 was the best all around performer, but it was gone for another 'too good to be true' price (buy low - sell high, I guess). As part of that deal I took a cosmetically nice MX114 on trade. Needed an alignment so off to Terry and got back what was easily the best sounding McIntosh tuner I've owned. It was simply terrific. But, wanted to try the MX117, which is also very good, but not up to the standards of the MX114 (should have kept). However, it is the cosmetic match to the MC2125 and will soon be going through Terry's hands, as well. Had planned to find an MR74 or MR88 until reading Terry's posts concerning the MR80 and his ability to make it sing and do so reliably. Picked up an MR80 in good cosmetic condition and have sent off to Terry for what I am calling the 'full monty'. That is, am asking Terry to do everything reasonable to the MR80 to make it not only reliable, but sonically the best it can be. Recap and alignment, as a minimum. As I am a 'listener' and not a DXer (have the Yamaha TX-1000 for that), don't anticipate filter changes, unless Terry recommends. Do want a full recap with Nichicon Muse everywhere they will go that Terry thinks makes sense. No 'turn left unstoned' to achieve the best sonics the MR80 is able to provide. If Terry will go along, perhaps he will post a few pic's occasionally and keep everyone up-to-date on the progress of his efforts with some description of what work he is performing. And, once the MR80 is back in my system I'll post my listening impressions as compared to the MX117, Yamaha TX-1000 and the recapped and aligned Sony ST-J75, which is also a wonderful tuner that provides not only excellent reception and sonics, but the blackest background of any tuner I've owned. With Terry's queue being what it is, the MR80 work will likely take a few months. Stay tuned.
