George Roland Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Hi, There are currently on sale on e-bay a real nice looking pair of stock MC-30s for which the seller is asking $2,600.00. I have not followed this market at all, and I am wondering if this is a fair price for these or a bit steep? Also, I would like to hear from some of you who know these better than I do if the MC-30 is much better that the MC-40, MC-60 or other such McIntosh amps and if so, why is it so highly regarded? Thanks, George Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 IMHO that is a insane price to pay for a pair of MC-30's. I couldn't find the auction to see the condition but if your going to place them in service and expect good reliable and sonic performance they have to be rebuilt which would end up with over $3000 in them and they are just not worth that much in sonic performance IMHO. They are nice sounding amps but not that nice. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 3000 can buy a new in a sealed box MC-275IV. 3500 can buy a use MC-2102. So 2600 for MC-30's does not excite me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Songer Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 The MC-30 is the best of the vintage MAC tube hi-fi amps, but $2600 is nuts! You should be able to scare up a REALLY nice pair for half of that--easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Here's the auction.$2600 opening bid, $3100 BIN. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Do what I did and purchase directly from Terry Dewick. I contacted http://www.mcintoshaudio.com/ and Terry told me he had a pair available that he just went through and replaced important caps etc. They gurantee the amps for a year which you will not get from ebay. Then there is http://www.audioclassics.com/ and they have similar policies to McIntoshAudio.com. They both have impecable reputations. The reason I went with McIntosh Audio is because they were closer and Terry does work for them directly. I think the benefits of buying directly from Terry are huge peace of mind(warranty) and money saved on shipping amps back and forth are enough of a reson to buy from him. I haven't had my MC30s for even a month yet but I finally had a chance to sit down and listen for a good two hours last night. The MC30s totally live up to their reputation and are a match made in heaven for Klipsch speakers. If the MC40 and MC60 are anything like the MC30 you couldn't go worng picking any of them. I think you really need to hear a good pair of MC30s to know why they are so well regarded. It has been less than a year since I first heard MC30s and know I own a pair : ) Perhaps others will chime in and say why exactly but I couldn't put it into words well enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Here's the auction.$2600 opening bid, $3100 BIN. How thew heck did you search that? I input Mcintosh MC-30 and it didn't come up??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Not to step on anyones toes but I owned some very pretty 30's in addition to some other amps. They'd been gone through by Terry prior to me getting them. As glorious as they (in fact) are/were, I personally preferred the sound of the SE-OTL amps over them except for the very unfortunate reality that the SE-OTL amps only had 4 wpc available to me. That ended up doing them in but has made me very intrigued to hear their bigger brothers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Here's the auction.$2600 opening bid, $3100 BIN. How thew heck did you search that? I input Mcintosh MC-30 and it didn't come up??? It's not listed in Vintage Electronics, so I searched all of Consumer Electronics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dp1954 Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 The price on the ones on ebay are nuts... I purchased a pair in comparible condition less than 2 months ago for 1000 for the pair. For 1800 I got the 30's and a c-11 preamp to go along with them. Those on ebay are also all stock so a rebuild will be in order. Mine are currently boxed and ready to be sent to Terry.. I'm just waiting for him to finish a couple of other pieces of mine he is working on. If you are really interested in the 30's you might be better off purchasing them as singles. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Here's the auction.$2600 opening bid, $3100 BIN. How thew heck did you search that? I input Mcintosh MC-30 and it didn't come up??? It's not listed in Vintage Electronics, so I searched all of Consumer Electronics. My search was of all of eBay............crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago_Pete Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 The MC-30 is the best of the vintage MAC tube hi-fi amps, but $2600 is nuts! You should be able to scare up a REALLY nice pair for half of that--easily. Easily? In a world of $2000 Marantz 8B's I dont think $2600 is way out of line. Not sure where you guys are finding nice pairs of Mac 30's for $1000 to $1300? I certainly haven't seen them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dp1954 Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 the pair of 30's I have I picked up on audiogon a couple of months ago. The guy was asking 1300 to begin with but I talked him down to a 1000. I"ve seen singles going on ebay for 400 to 600 fairly regularly. It wouldn't be hard to end up with a pair for around a 1000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Buying singles, would there be any "matching" issues (aside from individual cosmetics, and the "electrical shape" each is in)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dp1954 Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Not provided they were both rebuilt the same. An mc30 is an Mc30.. The advantage gained by having matching serial numbers is for collection purposes. A good many of the 30's were sold as singles because mono was still big at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I've seen many 30's for mere "handfuls" of cash...however, they were not in fantastic visual shape. I'm not saying they were visually trashed (though some were). So, although the comments might be right on regarding price of "MC-30's" Are we still comparing apples to apples? Wouldn't you pay more for a cosmetically pristine '69 Chevelle than you would a fully functional, 100% mechanically correct rust bucket? Fixing the mechanics is easy...it's the (better condition) bodywork that you're paying the premium for. Maybe over dramatic in my analogy, but I think the point remains? The higher priced amps tend to have much better/prettier chassis on them. At least, that's how I've seen the listings on Ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Not provided they were both rebuilt the same. An mc30 is an Mc30.. The advantage gained by having matching serial numbers is for collection purposes. A good many of the 30's were sold as singles because mono was still big at the time. I spoke with McIntoshAudio.com and AudioClassics.com about this issue and there are four different MC30s. They know the serial number that go together and sell them at least matched with those four batches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago_Pete Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Seti, I'm pretty sure that you didn't get your pair for $1300 or less? Just guessing on my part. I think you did the wise thing. You have piece of mind knowing that they have been completely checked and ready for service. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago_Pete Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Coyote, you are dead on in expressing what I wanted to say. Dig the Chevelle reference. This past fall I sold an original numbers matching 67 big block SS Chevelle for $8500. It was literally held together with rust. It was on eBay for less than 4 hours before someone hit the "Buy it Now." Perfect ones sell for ten times that amount. Would I spend an extra $1000 for a mint pair of Mac 30's compared to some rusted out mutts? In a heartbeat. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Seti, I'm pretty sure that you didn't get your pair for $1300 or less? Just guessing on my part. I think you did the wise thing. You have piece of mind knowing that they have been completely checked and ready for service. Pete Nope... I paid $2,700 for them. They were according to Terry (DeWick) "some of the prettiest I've seen" or some paraphrase of that. I verified with him that he had rebuilt them as the seller contended. Terry not only vouched that he had redone them but that they were in fact as nice looking as the seller was contending. I ended up buying them sight/sound unseen. I took them to Hope and most everyone there saw them. I did that in case I ever tried to sell them there would be some independent opinions as to their condition & sound. (as well as to bring them in for a sound demo with the other amps) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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