McIntosh MC240 Stereo Power Amplifier
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:7020741 | Model: MC240 |
| Type: Power Amplifier | Country/Region of Manufacture: United States |
| Brand: McIntosh |
McIntosh MC240Stereo Power Amplifier I restore andrepair vintage vacuum tube and solid state audio and communications equipment. Irecently obtained this classic McIntosh MC240 while visiting a long-timeaudiophile friend of mine who has owned it for more than forty years. If you arelooking at this add you no doubt are very aware of the lineage and uniquetechnical feature of these high performance power amplifiers. If you are not then I would invite you toresearch these ...bit and you should find many references on the web. Basicallythese are 40 watt per channel RMS power amplifiers which easily attain 100 peakpower for short periods. Theseamplifiers feature outstanding and uncompromising linearity and consequentlyvery low distortion at all power level. If you are unfamiliar with tube amp sound but have heard they offer aunique, buttery rich sonic experience, then this is a where it comes from. I haveto admit that I'm pretty much a skeptic about nebulous audiophilia soundimpressions being and engineer and scientist myself. I have alwaysbeen of the mind that if you can't measure it then it doesn't exist. I will say there something about these tubesamps that does sound sweet. I think itmay be that solid state power amplifiers have near zero output impedance whilethese McIntosh amplifiers have a low but finite output impedance around 2 ohmsor so. It is my hypothesis that thisimpedance reacts with the speakers by absorbing much of the back EMF from thespeakers during music transients and as result tends to dampen the speakerresponse more than the solid state amps. Now thisamplifier is purported to be once owned by David Crosby (singersongwriter). The story goes that Bob (myaudiophile friend) purchased this amplifier from Crosby sometime in '60s. Many years later, Crosby was playing at theClub Fox and Redwood City, and Bob brought the amplifier down to have Crosbysign it(all 55lbs of it). Crosby, aftersome convincing, apparently recognized the amplifier and agreed to sign it. Ifyou look at the middle transformer you'll see what is claimed to be his signature. Full disclaimer: I don't know, makes a good story though. This isdefinitely an example of an outstanding tube power amp that was neglected. My buddy Bob improperlystored this unit in a garden shed for probably more than half of those yearsand sadly shows signs of pitting in the otherwise beautiful chrome chassis. I think the pictures show the general state ofthe condition. This is definitely not an appearance 10, its barely at 3. There are no dents or big scratches but thereis that pitting. Maybe its not so bad if your not purest.
Now normally Iwould have completely restored this one but that chrome chassis is more than Iwant to get into right now. And even if it was completely disassembled andre-chromed, how would you deal with the silk-screening? Electrically, it is essentially performing atfactory specifications as if it were new. I thought I would at least have to replace the electrolytic capacitorsbut they are all in good shape despite the age. I measure the 1 kHz total harmonicdistortion and noise at 10W and 40W and found it to be less than0.3%. I was expecting some hum at leastbut it was not measurable. So I'm just goingto let this one go without doing any work on it. It's missing a couple of knobsbut otherwise it is all original as far as I can tell has never beentouched. Looking under the chassis showsno evidence of ever being repaired or reworked in any way. This could be justthe project for you to restore, or you might just put it in your audio rack andstart listening right away. I would expect it to play faithfully for many moreyears.
Includes a copy of Owner's Manual.
About 65lbsshipped. We ship with 2" closedcell foam and double boxed. The amplifier will be shipped in a separate container fromthe tubes. The tubes will be repackagedand shipped in a separate shipment. You will get two charges for shipping. Expectto pay around $80 shipping for the amplifier and $20 for the tubes depending onUS location. Shipping is actual shipping cost to you plus $30 packaging. Note: If you arethe winning bidder, do not pay until you receive an invoice with the actual UPSGround shipping costs added. Stuart
Now normally Iwould have completely restored this one but that chrome chassis is more than Iwant to get into right now. And even if it was completely disassembled andre-chromed, how would you deal with the silk-screening? Electrically, it is essentially performing atfactory specifications as if it were new. I thought I would at least have to replace the electrolytic capacitorsbut they are all in good shape despite the age. I measure the 1 kHz total harmonicdistortion and noise at 10W and 40W and found it to be less than0.3%. I was expecting some hum at leastbut it was not measurable. So I'm just goingto let this one go without doing any work on it. It's missing a couple of knobsbut otherwise it is all original as far as I can tell has never beentouched. Looking under the chassis showsno evidence of ever being repaired or reworked in any way. This could be justthe project for you to restore, or you might just put it in your audio rack andstart listening right away. I would expect it to play faithfully for many moreyears.
Includes a copy of Owner's Manual.
About 65lbsshipped. We ship with 2" closedcell foam and double boxed. The amplifier will be shipped in a separate container fromthe tubes. The tubes will be repackagedand shipped in a separate shipment. You will get two charges for shipping. Expectto pay around $80 shipping for the amplifier and $20 for the tubes depending onUS location. Shipping is actual shipping cost to you plus $30 packaging. Note: If you arethe winning bidder, do not pay until you receive an invoice with the actual UPSGround shipping costs added. Stuart
