wrote in news:1102715558.140792.295430
@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:


Last I heard McIntosh IS a Japanese owned company. That has been
some time
ago and they may have changed hands since then. They make both tubed
and SS
amps AFAIK.

They were owned by Clarion and it's my understanding they were sold to
another Asian firm. Nonetheless, I'm sure they had no desire ever to do
another tube box and it was only a corporate mandate from on high that
got Binghamton going in that direction.

Mc is owned by DM holdings. The 'D' stands for Denon and the 'M' stands
for Marantz. One big happy family.


My "beef" is simply that the reissue 275 is a cheapened and
Kornblumized copy of the old one with reduced build cost and less
functionality at a ridiculous price. Marantz outsourced their reissue
boxes and in my opinion did a lot better job of it-they're just like
the old ones warts and all. At what Mac is charging there would have
been no problem exactly duplicating the original, with a
better-rustproofed top cover and modern caps and resistors.

Actually the current 275 is better than the original.

Reduced functionality? Are you possibly referring to the withdrawl of
support for impedances other than 16, 8 and 4 ohms? It certainly looks
like it has the same functionality. Volume controls, power switch, output
power strip. Certainly produces the same power and has all the same
capabilities. The transformers are still wound in Binghamton, it is still
assembled there too. Tubes are selected by hand.

Modern caps and resistors? I think if you look under that stainless
chassis you will find modern parts. The ceramic sockets will not
deteriorate due to age.


Many other High End companies do a better job of physical construction
than does Mac today, although not exactly to Vollum Tek standards. How
much extra does this kind of construction cost? Forget chassis hogged
from stainless billet, Tek never did that. The cool ceramic terminal
strips? Silver is cheaper today than it has been, in inflation adjusted
dollars, in a long long time-a roll of 2% silver Kester cored solder
costs $16 a pound roll vis-a-vis $13 for 63/36 eutectic.



What do see that other companies do that Mc does not?

Silver may be cheaper but IIRC the solder used at Tek was 3% silver, not
2%. Tek used inexpensive aluminum frames to keep the weight down. I have
not seen any new ceramic strips in quite some time.

McIntosh is always looking for feedback on their products. I suggest you
call the product Manager Ron Cornelius at (650) 328-1490 and tell him what
you think. Ron knows the current units as well as their legacy units.
Tell him that I said "Hi!".

BTW I am not an employee of McIntosh, DM Holdings or any other company even
remotely assoociated with the electronics industry. I have some Mc gear
for obvious reasons and I have a number of years experience servicing and
designing electronics.

My advice is that if you don't like a particular manufacturers product, you
should not buy it, but there is no point in expressing your thoughts
regarding "sour grapes".

r

Rich.Andrews wrote: snip

Mc is owned by DM holdings. The 'D' stands for Denon and the 'M'
stands
for Marantz. One big happy family.


My "beef" is simply that the reissue 275 is a cheapened and
Kornblumized copy of the old one with reduced build cost and less
functionality at a ridiculous price. Marantz outsourced their
reissue
boxes and in my opinion did a lot better job of it-they're just
like
the old ones warts and all. At what Mac is charging there would
have
been no problem exactly duplicating the original, with a
better-rustproofed top cover and modern caps and resistors.

Actually the current 275 is better than the original.

Reduced functionality? Are you possibly referring to the withdrawl
sic ;-)
of
support for impedances other than 16, 8 and 4 ohms?


Yep. You may not need it. Sombody did-many were sold for that reason in
fact.

It certainly looks
like it has the same functionality. Volume controls, power switch,
output
power strip. Certainly produces the same power and has all the same
capabilities. The transformers are still wound in Binghamton, it is
still
assembled there too.
They are a very different xfmr. Indeed Mac will not sell them for rpl
use in vintage amps although being point to point wired the circuit
could be altered to take them. They are 'missing' several windings.
Since suitable C-cores are still available and Mac has all the tooling,
prints, and indeed some of the people are the same ...it comes down to
cost. 'Probably' it's a matter of $50 vs. $150 or thereabouts-don't ask
where I got those numbers-saving $200 on a $4000 box.

Tubes are selected by hand.

Modern caps and resistors? I think if you look under that stainless
chassis you will find modern parts. The ceramic sockets will not
deteriorate due to age.


Many other High End companies do a better job of physical
construction
than does Mac today, although not exactly to Vollum Tek standards.
How
much extra does this kind of construction cost? Forget chassis
hogged
from stainless billet, Tek never did that. The cool ceramic
terminal
strips? Silver is cheaper today than it has been, in inflation
adjusted
dollars, in a long long time-a roll of 2% silver Kester cored
solder
costs $16 a pound roll vis-a-vis $13 for 63/36 eutectic.



What do see that other companies do that Mc does not?

Silver may be cheaper but IIRC the solder used at Tek was 3% silver,
not
2%. Tek used inexpensive aluminum frames to keep the weight down. I
have
not seen any new ceramic strips in quite some time.

I'm just going by the Kester catalog. Other companies offer silver
electronic solders ("silver solder" being a high temperature product
with a melt point similar to brazing) including lead free cored wire
solderable at normal temperatures. Silver being cheap today it's not
freakish, but personally I'm fine with regular old 63/36 especially for
tube projects-it'd be solid state power amps and regulated LV supplies
that benefit most from silver bearing solders.

McIntosh is always looking for feedback on their products. I suggest
you
call the product Manager Ron Cornelius at (650) 328-1490 and tell him
what
you think. Ron knows the current units as well as their legacy
units.
Tell him that I said "Hi!".

I have discussed all this and more, in a friendly way, with Ron and
Larry and a few others...I have to agree they're nice guys and all, but
I'm sure they thought I was nuts. And maybe I am. But it's a kind of
nuts I rather enjoy.


BTW I am not an employee of McIntosh, DM Holdings or any other
company even
remotely assoociated with the electronics industry. I have some Mc
gear
for obvious reasons and I have a number of years experience servicing
and
designing electronics.

My advice is that if you don't like a particular manufacturers
product, you
should not buy it, but there is no point in expressing your thoughts
regarding "sour grapes".

No you should build one yourself to your specs and indeed that's on my
to do list. I really don't want to have to go into the magnetics
business myself, if I could buy a set of opt's off the rack I would.

There are a lot of other ironies of course, such as the fact that the
75/275 was the "least good sounding" of the chrometop tube Macs (in the
opinion of most gullible subjective tweaks,er, tube buffs), and that
the KT88 is probably a poor choice of tube if you are buying an amp for
serious long term use (most new ones suck).

I think in doing _reissues_ 'warts and all' is the way to go. If I
were designing a new model I'd have designed one around the tubes you
can get today.

Hopefully DM will reflect on the favorable experience with the Marantz
reissues and if they do say a 240 or a 3500, or even a MI200 (boy would
the single ended Svetlana 811 variants have been great there...)