Quote:
Originally Posted by Chula Vista
Love the McIntosh tube amp. I worked along side of Ron Fone for a few years back east. He was the president of McIntosh back in their glory days. Very cool guy.
|
Thanks Chula! Great to see love for the MAC on MB. In January I published a short entry about my last few McIntosh amps. This one's for you!
...
The Merits of Nostalgia and a Cozy Placebo Effect
Originally published 1/12/15
And so it came to pass that my beloved McIntosh C39 pre-amp was not made happy by replacing the volume pot. I'd decided in advance that if that didn't fix it, I would cut my losses and consider, for the first time in my 30+ years, to explore the possibility of a brand new pre-amp/power amp combo.
My first McIntosh - a MAC 4280. RIP 2013.
I am fully aware of the tried-and-true code of the audiophile - quality vintage gear will generally out-perform and out-last newer contemporaries dollar-for-dollar. But after repeatedly battling oxidation, bad resistors, and a few bad volume pots for the better part of three decades, I was ready to consider something new.
The Next Generation: My McIntosh C39
My life-long trusted audio adviser and best friend tossed a few suggestions my way, namely the emotiva xsp-1, some newer Rotel models, and the most alluring of his suggestions - the Parasound Halo p3. But for the interim, I had a local hi-fi shop tune up my Yamaha CR-840 - the first real amp I ever had. Years ago channel A stopped working, and oxidation built up rending the amp nearly-unusable, but I'd never given it up, as it was a very special gift. Thankfully the shop returned it to me the next day in PERFECT working condition!
I'd forgotten how great it sounded. Please understand - I know it's not remotely in the same class as some of the finer amps I've used, but the warm and familiar tone of this amp transports me back to college and all the memories attached to those years. I completely acknowledge that this nostalgia trip is in no way a measure of the amp's technical performance. It is of no quantifiable measure an amp comparable to my MACs or, likely, to the Parasound amp. But I will fully-embrace the head-trip it brings and am more than satisfied to use it until the right upgrade comes along.
Next up - Perhaps the Parasound Halo P3
To make the amp-swap official, I chucked the eyesore of a component rack that I'd picked up from a thrift shop. 30-seconds of Craigslist searching produced a nifty 60s record shelf for only a few bucks to serve as both a surface for the amp and as additional record storage. Better still - the funky elderly couple selling it were ridiculously adorable and had mirrored-and-velvet-patterned wallpaper with matching decor all about their home.
Not kidding. This... with mirrored panels.
The shelf has a very "college" feel to accompany the amp, and the space was PERFECT to relocate all my LPs pressed between 1995 and the present. All my favorites are in here - DJ Food, Boards of Canada, Lemon Jelly, DJ Shadow, The Orb, Underworld, Stereolab, Spiritualized, The KLF, St Germain, Bonobo, Aphex Twin, Cinematic Orchestra, Sigur Ros, Pantha Du Prince, Low, Beck, The FLips, with just enough room to sneak in nearly all of Brian Eno and Tom Waits' albums.
The Nostalgia Corner
This is as good a time as any to resolve to listen to more of my records in 2015 - to enjoy what I have instead of always searching for the next grail.
And there you have it - an objective and meticulous audiophile reduced to a nostalgic dolt by his trust old amp. Think what you will, but I'll be happy here, spinning some great tunes.
Eno & Hyde Postcards from their first two LPs