Mcintosh 4100 FM volume question

[JjR]

I like to listen to the FM at night. The 4100 has a stepped volume dial. I find that at the lowest setting of the volume the radio is still too loud.

Actually the lowest setting you hear nothing the next click up on the volume dial is when you hear the sound and its a little too loud.

Also I notice that there is quite a difference in sound volume bettween the CD player and FM.

Would there be some type of adjustment that I could make to adjust this?

The FM is not really loud so to speak of!

Any suggestions?

[Cleve]

Which is louder? CD or FM? They're roughly equivalent for me, but then it probably depends on the brand of CD player.

With my 4100, with the volume control at lowest position, the sound is "OFF" And yes, the first step on the volume control when listening to FM isn't really a "sleeping" level - it's fairly loud.

I don't know if there's really any solution. McIntosh speakers, for which the 4100 is designed, are fairly inefficient - if you think about it - your Heresies are probably 6-8 db more efficient than the typical Mac speaker. That would make for a significant volume difference between speakers.

You might ask that question also over at Audiokarma's McIntosh forum. I don't know if there's any easily adjustable trimpots to rectify the problem. I didn't see anything under the FM alignment in the service manual that could be adjusted.

Jim

[JjR]

I have talked to Mcintosh and there is not really a fix as that is a special volume control. The unit sounds so damn perfct I would not even think with screwing around with it.

My Cd player is much softer and works perfectly with it. About the simplest solution is just to get a tuner with a varible output on it.

So it will be FM days and the CD player nights ;-)

[Cleve]

I concur - it's a beautiful receiver. Don't mess with it unless you have to. It wouldn't surprise me if the Mac will dance on the graves of most "department store" receivers sold today.

Try this as a pain-free FM volume fix - (I didn't think of it until just now) The 4100 has a 5 band tone control - rotate all 5 downwards. Try 1/3, 1/2, and full counterclockwise to see if it has the desired effect. Turning all 5 of them down on my receiver effectively cuts the volume at least in half.

At such low sound levels, I don't think you'll notice the resulting humps and dips in the frequency response.

[CaptnBob]

You could try putting something like a tape deck or equalizer (or stereo pre-amp) with a volume control on it in between the preamp and poweramp sections. I had a similar problem and solved it with a Dynaco box which was designed to convert two mono preamps into a single poweramp. Unit was passive, and so it didn't do much violence to the signal.

Come to think about it, almost any decent electronics repair place should be able to whip up an attenuator box for you.

Or you could just buy a Tivoli radio and be done with it.

[JjR]

**

Try this as a pain-free FM volume fix - (I didn't think of it until just now) The 4100 has a 5 band tone control - rotate all 5 downwards. Try 1/3, 1/2, and full counterclockwise to see if it has the desired effect. Turning all 5 of them down on my receiver effectively cuts the volume at least in half.

**

WOW that did it! Not only did it bring the sound level down to where it should be. But not I can now fine tune it to the soft volume I listen at.

Boy I called Mcintosh support and they did not even have a fix.

Thanks!

BTW about putting a different volume pot in te unit may be a very bad idea as the original one looks to be part of a circuit board and is designed to be used with it.

Once again this by far has been the nicest receiver I have yet to hear with the Herseys!

[Cleve]

Awesome! Glad my suggestion worked. Every once in a while I have a good idea - trouble is I usually get about 50 bad ideas for every good one.

I'm not surprised you're impressed with the sound quality of the McIntosh. I was amazed at the sonic difference I could hear with my speakers in swapping out a 2001 vintage Dynaco(actually, Proton made and private labeled) solid state amp for the 4100.

I expected sound differences between amps would require painstaking A/B blind comparisons and hours of critical listening. And I was also skeptical that there was ANY sound difference in amps - especially with tone controls defeated. I didn't expect to hear anything - the chief reason I bought the Mac was it had about twice the power of the Dynaco, and I wanted the Power Guard/Sentry Monitor speaker protection for my now almost irreplacable CF-4's.

But I instantly could tell the Mac was richer, fuller, warmer, I dunno. I was astonished, and raved about it to anyone who would listen to my nonsense. As I type this, I'm enjoying some PBS classical music in the background, courtesy of the 4100.

[JjR]

YES that receiver was a real sleeper. It still amazes me the sound that it produces.

I looked at one some time ago and posted some questions about on another site. Never got any replies!

Then I ran across this one and did some more searching on it and I believe I ran across your review on it in another site.

Now I'm very happy that I took the chance plus the unit I bought was perfect except on of the dial lamps was dead. So I have to by a new one from Mcintosh.

On another note I ordered a set of dial lamps for a Fisher 400 about a month and a half ago from the Fisher Doctor and still have not got them. I have called many times, emailed. On one occassion I was told if the bulbs were not there the next day to send them and note and thet would be resent.

These people suck, I do not care what kind of problems they have. The sure enough cashed out my Pay PAl payment minutes after I sent it and now just BS after BS.

What got me going on this was the Festoon lamps for the Mac4100 are part# 05803200. They are $5.00

each.With a $10.00 minimum order.

Those Mcintosh lamps look damn close to the Fisher ones and are Painted white on one side.