Just Acquired a McIntosh MHT200

[MrBoat]

As I mentioned, I use an old Denon AVR. In spite of it having 120WPC which s more power than I need, it is bi-amp-able, IIRC. While I haven't looked into doing it myself, I recall reading reviews of earlier receivers being able to be rigged to use unused amps in the receiver to boost the front (or something like that) channels, providing the power supply is robust enough? Just a curiosity if say, someone came across this thread and perhaps wanting to use old receivers for 2 channel use, or what have you.

 

[CozmoCramer]

I've owned 2 MHT100's & two MHT200's. Absolutely love this model of McIntosh recievers. The curse of this unit was the power supply. I've replaced 3 power supplies in 2 of the units. The voltage adjustment on the power supply is extremely touchy. As in don't turn me too much or I'll break. Well worth the repairs. Just like all McIntosh equipment the watts are way under rated. MHT200 more likely puts out around 130wpc. At least when I bench tested mine. The sound processor on the MHT200 will smoke your Yamaha no question. Same goes for the amplifier section. This is a late response to your original post so I'm sure you've already found that out,.....I hope. Plenty of power in my opinion to run comfortably most demanding speakers(b&w, kef, psb, Martin logan's, yes even electrostat's). When I had big ML Request electrostat's & Dali Helicon towers I did pick up MC2205, MC7270, MC2255, MC7300 along my MHT200 journey for a couple years. Sounded outstanding! I'm actually waiting for my fifth MHT200 in the mail as I've since got rid of my old MHT's and miss the wide versatility of this piece so much. Its not too tough at all to fix the glass yourself. I've owned about 20 pieces of McIntosh equipment and this is one of my favorites. Preamplifier sounds amazing and easy to add a bigger power amplifier to it.

 

[mphCO]

Good to hear from someone with experience owning and love for the MHT200! Sounds like you got rid of the ones you had because of power supply issues and/or to try other things? It does seem pretty versatile. I'll admit I have limited experience on different receivers/amps and this is my first high end piece. I did do a quick comparison by hooking the Yamaha back up and could definitely tell the difference in two channel. And since then have addressed some speaker issues, hooked up a B&W subwoofer (just the small one, but it seems to integrate well), adjusted levels. And it's definitely a fuller sound for HT and 2 channel music sounds great.
Also picked up a Schiit Mani 2 Phone Pre amp and that sounds great.

The sound quality has really made it such a more enjoyable experience to listen to music again. And it's gotten me curious about possibly adding other amps in the future.... Macs possibly. But not really sure if I need them, but they do look cool. I've also considered getting Pre processor to connect to it, though I don't really have a pressing need since I run HDMI to the TV and digital the MHT.

Glad to hear the glass replacement is not too bad. I really want to fix that up and get the front panel lights working. All of the lights except for the red selector and audio processing mode lights are out. Have you done the glass yourself? I may pick your brain when I get to that point.

I have a couple of other questions maybe you could answer. Does it have an internal battery of some kind for the memory functions? For instance if I have preset trim and other setup and I save it, it's no problem as long as I keep it in standby, but if I turn off main power it all zeros out and I need to go back in and resave; though the settings are still in setup and just need to save again, not go thru and adjust settings. Not a big deal, but to do it I have to drag an old tv upstairs and connect with composite video. I've ordered a composite video to HDMI converter so I can just hopefully connect to the TV above it.

Is it normal for the trim settings to reset if you cycle through the surround modes with the remote and pass the external mode?

 

[MDAnn]

I've owned 2 MHT100's & two MHT200's. Absolutely love this model of McIntosh recievers. The curse of this unit was the power supply. I've replaced 3 power supplies in 2 of the units. The voltage adjustment on the power supply is extremely touchy. As in don't turn me too much or I'll break. Well worth the repairs. Just like all McIntosh equipment the watts are way under rated. MHT200 more likely puts out around 130wpc. At least when I bench tested mine. The sound processor on the MHT200 will smoke your Yamaha no question. Same goes for the amplifier section. This is a late response to your original post so I'm sure you've already found that out,.....I hope. Plenty of power in my opinion to run comfortably most demanding speakers(b&w, kef, psb, Martin logan's, yes even electrostat's). When I had big ML Request electrostat's & Dali Helicon towers I did pick up MC2205, MC7270, MC2255, MC7300 along my MHT200 journey for a couple years. Sounded outstanding! I'm actually waiting for my fifth MHT200 in the mail as I've since got rid of my old MHT's and miss the wide versatility of this piece so much. Its not too tough at all to fix the glass yourself. I've owned about 20 pieces of McIntosh equipment and this is one of my favorites. Preamplifier sounds amazing and easy to add a bigger power amplifier to it.

Hi CozmoCramer,
Apologize for jumping in here regarding a separate question from what’s being discussed but with your vast experience with McIntosh I was wondering if you might be able to help me. I recently purchased a MHT200 and I can’t make zone B work. The manual describes needing a sensor or a keypad to utilize this zone. I don’t have either of these. But can obviously order one or both if needed. I do have a remote coming soon incase that is a solution. Have you used zone B successfully and would mind sharing how? Thank you in advance!!!

 

[CozmoCramer]

Good to hear from someone with experience owning and love for the MHT200! Sounds like you got rid of the ones you had because of power supply issues and/or to try other things? It does seem pretty versatile. I'll admit I have limited experience on different receivers/amps and this is my first high end piece. I did do a quick comparison by hooking the Yamaha back up and could definitely tell the difference in two channel. And since then have addressed some speaker issues, hooked up a B&W subwoofer (just the small one, but it seems to integrate well), adjusted levels. And it's definitely a fuller sound for HT and 2 channel music sounds great.
Also picked up a Schiit Mani 2 Phone Pre amp and that sounds great.

The sound quality has really made it such a more enjoyable experience to listen to music again. And it's gotten me curious about possibly adding other amps in the future.... Macs possibly. But not really sure if I need them, but they do look cool. I've also considered getting Pre processor to connect to it, though I don't really have a pressing need since I run HDMI to the TV and digital the MHT.

Glad to hear the glass replacement is not too bad. I really want to fix that up and get the front panel lights working. All of the lights except for the red selector and audio processing mode lights are out. Have you done the glass yourself? I may pick your brain when I get to that point.

I have a couple of other questions maybe you could answer. Does it have an internal battery of some kind for the memory functions? For instance if I have preset trim and other setup and I save it, it's no problem as long as I keep it in standby, but if I turn off main power it all zeros out and I need to go back in and resave; though the settings are still in setup and just need to save again, not go thru and adjust settings. Not a big deal, but to do it I have to drag an old tv upstairs and connect with composite video. I've ordered a composite video to HDMI converter so I can just hopefully connect to the TV above it.

Is it normal for the trim settings to reset if you cycle through the surround modes with the remote and pass the external mode?

Sorry for the late response. I'm hardly on here. I don't believe there is an internal battery for settings. Yes the draw back on this piece is the fact trim settings reset if main switch is powered down. I honestly use this unit 98% of the time for stereo music listening. The internal sound processor is pretty much a Mcintosh MX134 I believe. Wish it had XLR connections but with a really nice set of rca interconnect cables, or rca's in general, you can open up an advanced stereo mode for better quality sound. Depends on if the source your playing or streaming music from produces hi-res quality playback.

Also I do remember my MHT200 saving my setting for each sound mode but may reset if main power switch is shut down.

 

[CozmoCramer]

Hi CozmoCramer,
Apologize for jumping in here regarding a separate question from what’s being discussed but with your vast experience with McIntosh I was wondering if you might be able to help me. I recently purchased a MHT200 and I can’t make zone B work. The manual describes needing a sensor or a keypad to utilize this zone. I don’t have either of these. But can obviously order one or both if needed. I do have a remote coming soon incase that is a solution. Have you used zone B successfully and would mind sharing how? Thank you in advance!!!

Good question. I haven't ever tried to use Zone B except the amplifier channels from a separate sound processor. I do remember trying to figure it out at one time shortly and finding out what you mentioned. I was never going to use it so stopped there .