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McIntosh MC240, MC30 etc Remanufactured Chassis


BE36

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Wow!! I'm kind of shocked that the units with remanufactured chassis went that high!! Good to hear maybe in the future I need to develop a McIntosh rebuild and new chassis package.... I really love rebuilding and owrking on McIntosh gear. It's a real joy to work with...

Of course the "Audio Classics" name and reputation was a good portion of the reason why... The same effect if my name or say Terry Dewicks name was used in the auction. I'd be curious as to what Audio Classics charge since there normal rebuild price on MC-30 is nearly double my price (and they do less work and use cheaper price).

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Hey it's a small world!!! That seller is a member of this forum and had the MC-240 done before we knew each other. He had me give one of his MC-30's sets the same treatement about 2 years ago. He also owns one of my stereo amps and is the guy that produced the MC-30 reproduction chassis that were for sale on eBay a while back. He works at a tool and die shop in Canton, Ohio. He also produced all the metal work for a 20 VRD stereo amps I built. Many folks here know Scott well.

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In reference to the turn on/off. When I am done listening to my system, I unplug the whole mess. MC275, C-29, MC7007 that way I will be sure. The area where I live is prone to a lot of lightning strikes. When powering up, CD first, pre second and then the amp, each for about 1 minute before the next. Shut down is the reverse.

CB

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Craig is right on. 10,000 hours on output tubes with a MC-30 is pretty normal, actually . . . .

MC-30 uses 6L6's...

I have a few amps with 6L6's in them and have never changed the tubes....I use the russian versions without the skirts on the bases...

Have done well with EL-34's and EL-84's also...

KT-88's on the other hand, don't seem to last long..

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Hey, long time no see. There is no doubt a true vintage collector wants EVERYTHING original. They aren't going to use it, they just want to collect it. If they do, it's going to sound average at best. Also likely to be very unreliable. In addition, most McIntosh Chrome pitted and rusted over the years so who wants to look at that? So the top value would be a pristine looking, totally original condition McIntosh amp. But forget about using it. Those are to be looked at and babied.

Now as the auctions show, an average looking original condition MC240 didn't get as much as a properly rebuilt, pretty one. So unless you're sitting on a pristine cosmetic, totally original Mac amp, go ahead and rebuild the damn thing so you can use it and look at it without cringing.

I wanted mine to look good AND work reliably. I used this MC240 for many years if only for an hour or two on the weekends. It worked everytime and sounded tremendous. Incidentally, Audio Classics rebuilt the electronics but I did the chassis transfer myself. Not an easy task to do nicely that's for sure.

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I'm pretty sure Gilbert has been logging many hours on his MC-60 using NOS tungsol 6550's for the last 3 or 4 years... I think one of two things are skewing your results or both 1) your using the wrong modern KT-88 if you only get 1500 hours out of them....or McIntosh is running them too hard in the MC-275....SS rectification doesn't help matters.... It takes some abuse to break the 60 watt threshold with a pair of KT-88's..

This isn't a tube type related problem...

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Incidentally, Audio Classics rebuilt the electronics but I did the chassis transfer myself. Not an easy task to do nicely that's for sure.

From the photos it looks like a beautiful job on the chassis transfer, Scott. Must have been a fair number of hours to make that change!

triceratops

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This is a phenomenal looking amp, Scott. Excellent work.

I considered the idea of having this done early on in my MC-30 ownership, but decided that I prefer the original chassis, since they are in good enough shape to leave them. They aren't "Scott rechassis" perfect by any means, but good enough to keep, with all original stencils and so forth. Granted, the internals are refurbished (so the "collectors" wouldn't "bite" anyway"), but there's certainly a satisfaction with seeing the consecutive serial number stamps on the spec end of the amp[:D]

I think Scott explains the "vintage dillemma" perfectly.

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Sounds as Good as it looks!

$1500 - 1,800 for a decent looking orginal $600 plus for a refurb, shipping for the refurb, plus new tubes and then even though the chassis would be original the insides would not. Thanks Scott! - Feeling like it stole it.

Looking for a MC30 or MC40 for the Center Channel.

Signed,

Another Tube Convert.

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