Jump to content

djk

Heritage Members
  • Posts

    6342
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    2

Posts posted by djk

  1. " They beat the crap out of all of the old units.  Just no comparison in clarity and crispness.   "

     

    Well spoken for someone that has never heard a 2120 with my cap mods.

     

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/McIntosh-MC-2120-Stereo-Power-Amplifier-Vintage-Classic-Audio-Made-in-USA-/351998136859?hash=item51f4b9521b:g:mGsAAOSwhlZYvMOB

     

    Typical price for a working 2120, non-working would go for half.

     

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/mcintosh-mc2120-amplifier-for-repair-/322373930603?hash=item4b0efbce6b:g:y44AAOSwnHZYZXQB

     

    The MC-252 has a lot of room for improvement, it used polarized electrolytics with no bypass in the direct signal path, and NE4558 opamps (gag me on both).

     

    https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/mcintosh/mc252.shtml

    • Like 1
  2. I would replace all the small electrolytics on both amps, and check the ripple voltage on the main filter caps at half power into a dummy load.

     

    There are some hard-to-find high-voltage multi-section caps in the 2100.

     

    If you do my simple capacitor upgrade in the 2120 (while replacing all the old electrolytics) it will sound better than 99% of all amps, period.

     


     

    Caps

    • Posted by djk (M) on August 13, 2007 at 19:10:35

      In Reply to: RE: Sell it to me ! posted by joeychitwood on August 13, 2007 at 16:38:07:

       

    MC2125 caps


    Add one 47µF across each ±42V rail at the main filter caps

    Add a 0.01µF~0.1µF film cap in parallel with C239, 240 (little board on the input jacks, very tight for space)

    Add a 0.1µF film in parallel with C203, 204 (input coupling cap to impedance buffer)

    Add a 0.1µF film in parallel with C207, 208 (output coupling cap from impedance buffer)

    Add a 0.1µF film in parallel with C219, 220 (feedback cap)

    Add a 0.1µF film in parallel with Q215, 216 (bias transistor)

    Add a 0.1µF film in parallel with C305, 306 (±15V regulator outputs)

    Add a 0.1µF film in parallel with D304, 305 (reference diodes for regulators)

    I cut off all the push on connectors in the power supply and speaker relay and soldered them direct. I soldered a pair of 0.1µF film across the speaker relay contacts and cleaned the relay contacts with a sheet of paper and applied De-oxit.

    I sprayed De-oxit on the RCA jacks, cleaned the input sensitivity selector switch (very important), and the edge connectors for the L and R amp boards.

    I removed the 10-32 screws on the main filter caps and used De-oxit before replacing.

    Do not move the chassis with the bottom off, the glass could crack. Put it on a small piece of carpet to help turn at different angles.

    The 47µF are under a lot of stress, I used 100V caps even though they only run at 42V.

    Even though this changes no measurable performance specification, it will change the sound more than you can believe.

    Jackhammer bass from an amp with a DF of only 14?
    • Like 3
  3. If you use an electronic crossover and bi-amp a speaker like a Klipsch Cornwall with a 50W amp on the bass and a 10W amp on the mid and hf it will play as loud as a 400W amp through the passive crossover.

     

    The 4:1 benefit for bi-amping is only there when the spectrum is divided ahead of the power amps and when the division point is near the mid point of the spectral distribution of energy.On a voltage basis the division occurs around 250hz.This must be weighted by the peak to average ratio so that the equal energy point for above and below the crossover is about 500hz.This is also affected by the slope of the crossover.For the example of the Klipsch Cornwall it has a 600hz crossover point.If the drivers were the same efficency then 50W + 50W would = 200W through the passive crossover.In reality the HF is 10dB more efficent than the LF so we only need 50W + 5W to = 200W.If the HF remains undistorted it will mask distortion from the LF amp driven slightly into clipping.

    • Like 1
×
×
  • Create New...