our current mcintosh rig

[highfihoney]

our family's mcintosh system currently constist's of the following gear.

mcintosh xrt 22 4 pc line array speaker's.

mcintosh xl1 monitor speaker's.

mcintosh xl1-w bass module.

jm labs centris center channel speaker.

mcintosh c-39 control center preamp.(subject to change soon)

mcintosh mvp-841 dvd/cd player.

mcintosh mc 1201, 1200 watt monoblock amp's(running xrt 22's)

mcintosh mc 7270, 270 wpc amplifier (running the xl1's & xl1-w)

mcintosh mc 60,60 watt vintage tube monoblock(running jm lab's center)

tributarie's interconnect's.

home made speaker wire's.

well i finally figured out how to post real pic's,this is my system.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Nice system.

Go to www.photobucket.com and load in your photos - it's free and no spam. Then you can post them right to your threads. You can even load GIF files with movement. Use "Img" to post here.

Pretty good quality - here's one from my album.

 

[highfihoney]

thanks

thanks for the link,im updating pic's now.

thanx again.

 

[sjdgpt]

Most deserving of :


Oh, wow

 

[highfihoney]

Most deserving of :


Oh, wow

thank you for your kind words,we love how great all the mac gear performs.

 

[Cygnus]

Wow...i loooovveee that! it looks so...wow!! can i come over and play with it?



cyggie

 

[The Chukker]

Wicked. It answers the question: how can something so futuristic looking be so retro at the same time? I mean that in the most flattering way. In fact your setup is so cool looking (and even better sounding I bet) it belongs in a noir film like Sin City or Dark City or something.

 

[Sheep]

Very nice! I can't beleive I missed this!

One thing, do you have any shots of the whole system? I'm trying to picture it in a room, but its not going smoothly.

Again, WoW!

SheepStar

 

[highfihoney]

thanks for the kind words guys,its nice to know.

sheep,first off my pictures suck real bad & my camera sucks too(very old) so the pics are only 1 mega pixel,the AH system will only allow me to post 10 pic's at one time so i posted pic's more to show the gear as oposed to set up.

another thing that may not be helping is that the 2nd to the last pic (9th pic) is a scaled down version of another rig that i built that im extremely proud of because the MCINTOSH LABORATORY MUSEUM picked my rig to post on their web site in the GALLERY SECTION,the pic they used in the gallery also shows my jm labs center channel that the pics in this thread dont show & few other peices of gear that im not using right now.

after i buy a wall mount plasma tv i will post new pics showing the entire room & the total set up.

http://mcintoshlaboratory.tripod.com/index.htm

btw,i love the country music slam my wife listens to country until i come home then off it goes

 

[Sheep]

btw,i love the country music slam my wife listens to country until i come home then off it goes

Thanks! I came up with it in an AIM convo with Jaxvon. I'm still surprised at how awesome it is.

SheepStar

 

[The Dukester]

Gotta love those blue lights

Man, that is SWEEEEET!!! I am a Mac fan, myself. Say, were those two MC352 amps I saw in one of those pics? Want to sell one?!?!? I have one myself and I love it! I use it to drive a pair of XRT20s, which were the predecessors to the 22s. How do you like them? Have you heard any of the new Mac speakers?
If you are using the 1201s to drive the 22s have you ever blown the fuse on the speakers? My 20s are only rated to 300 and the 352 will definately get the yellow warning light glowing. I won't push it till the fuse blows.
Great system!!!
Duke

 

[highfihoney]

Man, that is SWEEEEET!!! I am a Mac fan, myself. Say, were those two MC352 amps I saw in one of those pics? Want to sell one?!?!? I have one myself and I love it! I use it to drive a pair of XRT20s, which were the predecessors to the 22s. How do you like them? Have you heard any of the new Mac speakers?
If you are using the 1201s to drive the 22s have you ever blown the fuse on the speakers? My 20s are only rated to 300 and the 352 will definately get the yellow warning light glowing. I won't push it till the fuse blows.
Great system!!!
Duke

hi duke,the amps in the pics are mc252's, mc402 & a mc500,i totaly love everything about the xrt 22's,im not a fan of the newer line of 4 ohm plastic woofer speakers from mcintosh,ive auditioned the xrt 30's & xrt 28's & neither of them remotely compare to the xrt 20's or xrt 22's,i briefly listened to some of the speakers in the LS line but they sounded so bad to me that i lost interest in them fast,i prefer the vintage roger russell designs over the new stuff any day.

are your xrt 20's the early version or the last version with the updated crossovers ? i think you must have the early version if the yellow warning light comes on running the mc352,if you plan on getting another mc352 & running them in bridged mono you might want to contact audio classics & see if they still have any NOS crossovers for the xrt 20's,the updated version is able to handle much more power & will add a 3rd crossover point to the speakers instead of 2.

i have blown the protection fuses while i was running some pro amps,i had a crown k2 amp running them for a while & that amp would blow the protection fuses all the time but ive never blown a fuse with the mc 1201's,with most music i can push around 900 watts continuous through the 22's before a power gaurd light begins to flicker,with some music i can take the power up to around 1,100 watts but i get nervous so i try to keep the power to around 900 watts continuous so i wont blow a fuse.

right now im searching for a mint pair of xr 19's to replace the little 3 peice xl1 & xl1w combo that im running for rears,i'd really like to use a pair of 20's or 22's for the rears but i just dont have the floor space for 4 more cabinets.

i need a bigger house

 

[surveyor]

Speaking of Roger

Here's Rogers website.

http://www.roger-russell.com/

You may already know this?

By the way you have a very nice system!

Cheers

 

[MacManNM]

Very nice. There is nothing quite like that McIntosh sound, or the look for that matter. Nothing I enjoy more than coming home grabbing a glass of spanish reserve, turning down the lights, and listen to some smooth jazz or acoustic blues, as I gaze at the blue glow coming from my C-28. I love the 20's but I just don't have the space in my little listening room. My 16's do a nice job though. You're right, the new stuff is total garbage. Too bad Roger didn't go out on his own.

 

[highfihoney]

Very nice. There is nothing quite like that McIntosh sound, or the look for that matter. Nothing I enjoy more than coming home grabbing a glass of spanish reserve, turning down the lights, and listen to some smooth jazz or acoustic blues, as I gaze at the blue glow coming from my C-28. I love the 20's but I just don't have the space in my little listening room. My 16's do a nice job though. You're right, the new stuff is total garbage. Too bad Roger didn't go out on his own.

hi macman & thank you for the compliment,i too wish roger had struck out on his own,the gear he created is amazing sounding stuff, your xr16's sound very much like my xrt 22's,i love how well roger voice matched that entire line of speakers & they are hard to beat at any price point.

i agree about the looks too,no matter the era of the gear there is nothing like kicking back with the lights out & poppin a cold one with some bb king on the system,the meters & the lighting are very soothing.

have a great evening.

 

[highfihoney]

Here's Rogers website.

http://www.roger-russell.com/

You may already know this?

By the way you have a very nice system!

Cheers

hello surveyor & thank you for the link to the best mcintosh info site on the internet,lots of good truthfull info can be found on his site,roger is a super nice guy & has helped me several times,im always amazed that he will take the time to respond to questions & help people like us.

the link he provides to DAVE O'BRIEN'S email is also a very helpfull link,dave helped me with my very first peice of mcintosh gear years back & still helps others to keep their vintage gear up & running.

thanks again for the compliment & the link,have a great evening.

 

[Bluesmoke]

If I can make a suggestion, those Sovtek 6550s are about some of the worst quality 6550s made today. Look into SED 6550s, or better yet, the JJ KT88s. The JJ is IMO top class tube for the money. It has exceptional headroom and a smooth delivery.

 

[highfihoney]

If I can make a suggestion, those Sovtek 6550s are about some of the worst quality 6550s made today. Look into SED 6550s, or better yet, the JJ KT88s. The JJ is IMO top class tube for the money. It has exceptional headroom and a smooth delivery.

hi bluesmoke,thanks for the tip on the tubes,i keep the cheapies in the amp because when i bought it the owner had just taken the amp in for new caps & had it retubed & biased so when i got it the tubes had no hours on them,im actually a tight wad so i'll end up running them until they cant hold a bias any longer then replace them with better ones.

have a great evening.

 

[The Dukester]

Thanks for the heads up on the crossovers! I have not heard of that. I feel sure my 20s are the older ones. I got them in about '85 or early '86. I just had the surrounds replaced on all the bass drivers by a local guy. He supposedly bought Mac correct material. They still sound good, so it's all good!

I auditioned the new 28s and was not all that impressed, either. The shop owner stated the room they were in is terrible, acoustically and was pretty high on the speakers. He claims they far surpass the old 20s. He is over two hours from my house and told me he would bring them up one Saturday or early evening to set them up for a home audition if I was really serious about buying them. Can't beat that! I thought the highs sounded really sweet, but the bass stunk. It could have been the room, but I don't know! I suggested that he move them or do some treatments so folks that were interested in that high priced of a speaker system might get a better idea what they could do.

I was looking pretty hard for another 352 and run them both in mono if I bought the 30s or 28s as they will handle a lot more power than the 20s. I got a good deal on my 352 from a dealer that was going OB. I really love that amp!

I had a chance to buy a set of the 30s at about 40-45% off from a dealer but really have a hard time even at that discount spending that much on a set of speakers I have never heard. It's not like I have two money trees in the back yard! One, maybe, but not two. Plus it's winter, so the one I have isn't putting out much fruit. Come on tax refund!

 

[highfihoney]

Thanks for the heads up on the crossovers! I have not heard of that. I feel sure my 20s are the older ones. I got them in about '85 or early '86. I just had the surrounds replaced on all the bass drivers by a local guy. He supposedly bought Mac correct material. They still sound good, so it's all good!

I auditioned the new 28s and was not all that impressed, either. The shop owner stated the room they were in is terrible, acoustically and was pretty high on the speakers. He claims they far surpass the old 20s. He is over two hours from my house and told me he would bring them up one Saturday or early evening to set them up for a home audition if I was really serious about buying them. Can't beat that! I thought the highs sounded really sweet, but the bass stunk. It could have been the room, but I don't know! I suggested that he move them or do some treatments so folks that were interested in that high priced of a speaker system might get a better idea what they could do.

I was looking pretty hard for another 352 and run them both in mono if I bought the 30s or 28s as they will handle a lot more power than the 20s. I got a good deal on my 352 from a dealer that was going OB. I really love that amp!

I had a chance to buy a set of the 30s at about 40-45% off from a dealer but really have a hard time even at that discount spending that much on a set of speakers I have never heard. It's not like I have two money trees in the back yard! One, maybe, but not two. Plus it's winter, so the one I have isn't putting out much fruit. Come on tax refund!

hi duke,the early xrt 20's are crossed over at 250hz & 1500hz & the later version's are crossed over at 150hz & 250hz & 1500hz, the later version crossovers would bring them more in line with the xrt 22's which are crossed over at 100hz & 250hz & 1500hz.

i remember seeing that audio classics had atleast one NOS pair of crossovers for the xrt 22's for about $400,i would thing that the xrt 22 crossovers would work fine if they were out of stock for the xrt 20's.

what the dealer said about the xrt 28's & 30's being far superior to your 20's dont suprise me at all,i was told the same thing about my 22's,mcintosh has not made an audiophile grade speaker since roger russell retired,i too could have got a smoking deal on either pair & i had the cash to spare at the time but both sounded weak in the bass & had harsh highs.

i will never understand what mcintosh was thinking with their new 4 ohm speaker designs that do not compliment any mcintosh amplifier currently being made,i might be able to understand a little better if mac amps would gain wattage in 4 ohms but that isnt the case & makes powering them very costly.

if i may offer some advice on powering your xrt 20's,instead of buying another mc352 & running them as monoblocks have you thought about selling your current mc352 & putting the cash planned for a 2nd mc352 with the proceeds & getting a pair of mc1,000 monoblocks you can buy a pair of mc1,000's for the same as 2 mc352's

i did not try 2 mc352's in mono with my xrt 22's but i did try a mc500 & 2 mc300's in mono with them & it couldnt compare at all to the mc1201's im running now,the mc1,000's also have a damping factor of 200 which will give you killer bass from those dual 12" woofers

your xrt 20's would love a pair of big monoblocks powering them,here is a link to a friend of mines systems where it shows his xrt 20's running with a pair of mc1,000's & he loved the combo.

http://hometown.aol.com/velo6/myhomepage/profile.html