"Buster Mudd" wrote in message
...
Circa 1979 my roommate, an EE @ MIT, happened into a half dozen old
used McIntosh tube monoblock amps (I think the model was MC30...little
chrome 30 watt jobbers) that needed some TLC. After retubing & biasing
these amps, we brought them into the recording studio for extensive
listening & testing.

The results of both were elucidating:

- These amps measured between 8 & 10% 2nd harmonic distortion!

- And everyone who heard them loved the sound! So much so that my
roommate was able to sell off 4 of the amps for an order of magnitude
more money than he'd bought all 6 for.

No one ever accused these amps of being "broken". Everyone who bought
them considered them an "improvement" over whatever they previously
owned (my roommate kept 2 of the amps to replace his Dynaco 70, & we
both certainly agreed it was a major "improvement").

Was it "high fidelity"? Who cares?

1979 amps, OK. Tell us when happened in following years when those buyers
wanted to drive the new breeds of 2 to 4 ohm resistive speakers that came
along and were to their liking. Wait, I know... they refurbished their old
outdated and antiquated speakers.