McIntosh MC-250 question?

[Johnny dB]

Hey guys, haven't posted much lately. Haven't had much to say, just been doing alot of listening/enjoying my Scott299.

I was online at work last week when I found a MC250 on ebay. The auction was about to end and was still pretty cheap. I was able to snipe it at the last second. (manually even) $234. I figured at that price I'll take it for a spin, if I didn't like it I could sell it w/o a loss. It arrived last night and much to my surprise it looks awesome. Shiny chrome, all the lettering intact except most of the seriel#s are missing.

My question is this: How would you have this setup? ie. I have a Dynaco CDV1 with a volume knob; so the 250 is hooked up directly to the CD player no preamp. Is it best to crank the gains on the amp all the way up and just control the volume via the vol. on the CDV? Or the other way w/ the volume cranked on the CD and control the volume on the amp? The only problem with that is there is R/L gains, so it's a little tricky getting it balanced. Also, how can you tell what year this was made? Let me guess the serial#s, right?

Thanks

[j-malotky]

Hi Johnny

You can set them up without a preamp pretty easy.

If you put the gain all the way up, you will get a low hiss. I start mine in the middle (12 oclock) and use my rat shack spl to ballence them.

Nice Price - The 250 is a nice amp and usually sells in the $300 - 400 range.

Let me know how you like it.

JM

[Johnny dB]

Thanks, JM. I need to go get an SPL meter. It has a nice sound, but I miss the bass I had with the 299 via the center output.

[jt1stcav]

My AMC CD player has no gain control, so I only use the MC250's gain controls for volume/balance...never a problem for me, and no hiss (although I'm not cranking the gains up to max either...)