I'm interested in purchasing some Mcintosh tube gear, and am
particularly curious about the MX-110 tube tuner/preamp. I was
wondering if anyone here has heard one in person and can compare the
sound to a separate Mcintosh tuner and preamp.

Basically, I'm looking at either a C20 or C22 preamp with an
MR 65/67/71 tuner, or this MX110 combined unit. The MX110 is more
cost-effective, but I don't know if there's a big sound difference
either way.

Thanks,
Scott Gardner

Scott,

I can speak to 1/2 of your question.

This A.M. I was just listening to CDs using an MX110, amplified by an Audio
Research D-70 Mark III. I really like the sound - it's warm, full and
detailed, and typifies what I like about tubes. The FM section is pretty
good, although it's not as sensitive as some other tuners I've owned (a
Hafler DH-330 was tops) but the muting works nicely, especially in the
crowded Atlanta airwaves. After swapping around a bit, I think the MX110 is
a "keeper."

I've heard the MX110 with separate Mc monoblocks, although I haven't heard a
separate McIntosh tuner & preamplifier.

It might be useful to get copies of the schematics on all of the candidates
and see what the circuit differences are among them. If the circuit
differences are trivial, then the sound differences probably will be as
well.

- Jon


From: (Scott Gardner)
Organization: Cox Communications
Newsgroups: rec.audio.opinion,rec.audio.tubes
Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 14:57:53 GMT
Subject: Anyone heard the Mcintosh MX-110 tuner/preamp in person?

I'm interested in purchasing some Mcintosh tube gear, and am
particularly curious about the MX-110 tube tuner/preamp. I was
wondering if anyone here has heard one in person and can compare the
sound to a separate Mcintosh tuner and preamp.

Basically, I'm looking at either a C20 or C22 preamp with an
MR 65/67/71 tuner, or this MX110 combined unit. The MX110 is more
cost-effective, but I don't know if there's a big sound difference
either way.

Thanks,
Scott Gardner

"Jon Yaeger" wrote in message
...
Scott,

I can speak to 1/2 of your question.

This A.M. I was just listening to CDs using an MX110, amplified by an
Audio
Research D-70 Mark III. I really like the sound - it's warm, full and
detailed, and typifies what I like about tubes. The FM section is pretty
good, although it's not as sensitive as some other tuners I've owned (a
Hafler DH-330 was tops) but the muting works nicely, especially in the
crowded Atlanta airwaves. After swapping around a bit, I think the MX110
is
a "keeper."

That shows how much advance there's been in tuners.
I've had two DH-330 tuners, and neither was close to any of the following:
Onkyo TX-990mkII
Sony 730ES
Yamaha CX-930.

I would not buy a tube tuner today. The advantage of semiconductors for
detection of weak signals and demultiplexing is indisputable. If you buy the
Mac, there will be stations you want to hear that you can't.

"Robert Morein" wrote in message
...


I would not buy a tube tuner today. The advantage of semiconductors for
detection of weak signals and demultiplexing is indisputable. If you buy
the
Mac, there will be stations you want to hear that you can't.



I have several tube tuners and haven't listened to them in years.
Not because they can't pick up FM stations I want to hear,
but because there aren't any FM stations I want to hear.

I just bought a car a week ago, and installed a unit with Sirius
satellite radio where there are "ast least" some music stations
I want to hear "at least" some of the time.




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Guess we'll have to trash our Marantz 10Bs and get a new fangled
transistor thingee.
Mike


Sockpuppet Yustabe wrote:

"Robert Morein" wrote in message
...


I would not buy a tube tuner today. The advantage of semiconductors for
detection of weak signals and demultiplexing is indisputable. If you buy

the

Mac, there will be stations you want to hear that you can't.




I have several tube tuners and haven't listened to them in years.
Not because they can't pick up FM stations I want to hear,
but because there aren't any FM stations I want to hear.

I just bought a car a week ago, and installed a unit with Sirius
satellite radio where there are "ast least" some music stations
I want to hear "at least" some of the time.




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"Mike" wrote in message
...
Guess we'll have to trash our Marantz 10Bs and get a new fangled
transistor thingee.
Mike

We could hope for a ss satelite tuner with a tubed output.

BTW, my take on Sirius is that most of the channels sound pretty
good, but some of them sound God-awful. It seems they are making
qualitative judgements and devoting/sacrificing bandwith based upon
the type of channel and perceived quality of its source material.

Of course, this is based on listening done in an inferior environment, a
car.




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Hey Mike,

Drop me a line when you're ready to dump your 10B. I've always lusted for
one of those . . . . .

A good buddy of mine left a 10B on the curb, figuring that no one could work
on it. He told me that he cried after I sent him some e-bay completed
auction figures . . . .

I'm surprised that Mr. Morein stopped his perpetual duel with Mr. McCarty
even momentarily to opine on an audio-related matter. (I thought I'd never
say this, but we're probably better of when he sticks to "outing" Brian).

I don't quite agree with Bob. In general, my SS tuners had better
selectivity than the many tube receivers that I tried. My "gold standard"
was the ability to pick up WCLK, a wonderful local jazz station owned by a
Clark Atlanta U. Only a DH-330 could find and lock on it.

However, some of the tuners - especially the Sansuis - had a pair of
Nuvistors in their front ends and actually overloaded at times. Atlanta is
crowded as hell with mediocre (or worse) FM stations; there weren't so many
around when these things were originally sold.

Nonetheless, the Nuvistor equipped gear would pick up stations I never heard
before, and many that were apparently beyond the capability of the SS
DH-330.

I bought a ragged Sansui 1000 recently, and raided it for the trannies. I
am building a separate amplifier around Welbourne Lab's Dynaco ST-70 kit,
designed by Alan Kimmel.

If I have a bit of time I may try to reconstitute the Sansui's FM circuitry
and substitute a crystal filter IF stage that I've been saving for years.
And maybe I'll also add an RF attenuator to reduce the overload and see what
happens. But that's project #24.

- Jon




From: Mike
Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com
Newsgroups: rec.audio.opinion,rec.audio.tubes
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 04:10:43 GMT
Subject: Anyone heard the Mcintosh MX-110 tuner/preamp in person?

Guess we'll have to trash our Marantz 10Bs and get a new fangled
transistor thingee.
Mike


Sockpuppet Yustabe wrote:

"Robert Morein" wrote in message
...


I would not buy a tube tuner today. The advantage of semiconductors for
detection of weak signals and demultiplexing is indisputable. If you buy

the

Mac, there will be stations you want to hear that you can't.




I have several tube tuners and haven't listened to them in years.
Not because they can't pick up FM stations I want to hear,
but because there aren't any FM stations I want to hear.

I just bought a car a week ago, and installed a unit with Sirius
satellite radio where there are "ast least" some music stations
I want to hear "at least" some of the time.




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News==----
http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000
Newsgroups
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=---

"Scott Gardner" wrote in message


I'm interested in purchasing some Mcintosh tube gear, and am
particularly curious about the MX-110 tube tuner/preamp. I was
wondering if anyone here has heard one in person and can compare the
sound to a separate Mcintosh tuner and preamp.

Last I heard this product was in the day of, about 30 or more years ago.
However the issue you mention here was an issue back then. Regrettably the
listening tests we did in those day were totally inadequate to shed any
light on the matter.

Basically, I'm looking at either a C20 or C22 preamp with an
MR 65/67/71 tuner, or this MX110 combined unit. The MX110 is more
cost-effective, but I don't know if there's a big sound difference
either way.

I seem to recall that in the day of, there was more interest in differences
between the respective tuners.

Scott Gardner wrote:
I'm interested in purchasing some Mcintosh tube gear, and am
particularly curious about the MX-110 tube tuner/preamp. I was
wondering if anyone here has heard one in person and can compare the
sound to a separate Mcintosh tuner and preamp.

Basically, I'm looking at either a C20 or C22 preamp with an
MR 65/67/71 tuner, or this MX110 combined unit. The MX110 is more
cost-effective, but I don't know if there's a big sound difference
either way.

Something to factor into your decision is that separate components lend
themselves better to swapping for the purpose of comparison, until you
hit on a combination you like. On the other hand, the combined
tuner/preamp would probably be more convenient.

I'd also look at the specimens themselves: What condition are they in,
have they been recently serviced by a competent tech to assure
factory-spec operation, things like that.

Finally, do you have a try-before-you-buy option?

Cheers,
Fred
--
+--------------------------------------------+
| Music: http://www3.telus.net/dogstarmusic/ |
| Projects, Vacuum Tubes & other stuff: |
| http://www.dogstar.dantimax.dk |
+--------------------------------------------+

Hi Scott,

I have had an MX-110 for more than 25 years. It's an excellent unit and
sounds quite good to me. Unfortunately, I live in Radio Free East
Texas, so I don't have much use for a tuner here. The preamp and phono
section are both very good. As Fred suggests, maybe you should try
before you buy.

Best regards,

Raymond

Scott Gardner wrote:

I'm interested in purchasing some Mcintosh tube gear, and am
particularly curious about the MX-110 tube tuner/preamp. I was
wondering if anyone here has heard one in person and can compare the
sound to a separate Mcintosh tuner and preamp.

Basically, I'm looking at either a C20 or C22 preamp with an
MR 65/67/71 tuner, or this MX110 combined unit. The MX110 is more
cost-effective, but I don't know if there's a big sound difference
either way.

Thanks,
Scott Gardner

On Sat, 18 Oct 2003 14:57:53 GMT, (Scott Gardner)
wrote:

I'm interested in purchasing some Mcintosh tube gear, and am
particularly curious about the MX-110 tube tuner/preamp. I was
wondering if anyone here has heard one in person and can compare the
sound to a separate Mcintosh tuner and preamp.

Basically, I'm looking at either a C20 or C22 preamp with an
MR 65/67/71 tuner, or this MX110 combined unit. The MX110 is more
cost-effective, but I don't know if there's a big sound difference
either way.

Thanks,
Scott Gardner


First, I'd like to thank everyone for all the helpful posts so
far. The thread seems to have focused on the tuner aspect of the
MX-110. Since there aren't many good stations in my neck of the
woods, I was actually more concerned with how the MX-110 performs its
preamp duties than how it performs as a tuner.
It's been suggested to me off-line that the MX-110 is
basically equivalent to a C20 in the preamp department. If that's the
case, it would be a great bargain, since prices for the MX-110 seem
lower than the preamp-only C20. Are these two really comparable?
Several people also suggested auditioning the two and seeing
which I prefer. Alas, there is nowhere nearby (Norfolk, Virginia)
that I know of that stocks a selection of vintage Mac gear, and
considering that these are 40+ year old pieces, my sonic impression of
any pieces I audition might have more to do with the maintenance,
care, and choice of tube complement in the particular specimens I
audition than it would with the actual merits of the designs
themselves.

Thanks again,
Scott Gardner

(Scott Gardner) wrote in message ...
On Sat, 18 Oct 2003 14:57:53 GMT, (Scott Gardner)
wrote:

I'm interested in purchasing some Mcintosh tube gear, and am
particularly curious about the MX-110 tube tuner/preamp.

(snip)

Alas, there is nowhere nearby (Norfolk, Virginia)
that I know of that stocks a selection of vintage Mac gear,

Given the amount of money you're going to be spending, you might want
to consider a trip to a dealer with used Mc gear. I've never visited
or bought from the following, but I had a catalog from them years ago
and they had tons of Mc gear:

http://www.audioclassics.com

Here are their Mc preamps:

http://www.audioclassics.com/query.p...cintosh+preamp

You might also try searching the web and newsgroups via Google.com.

Also try:

rec.audio.tubes

rec.audio.high-end

http://groups.google.com/groups?num=...=Google+Search

(snip)