Skip Ribbon Commands Skip to main content

​STEREOPHILE.COM: MCINTOSH LABORATORY'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY AMPLIFER


It was good to visit McIntosh Laboratory's 35th floor suite at the Venetian Hotel and spend a few minutes with Ron Cornelius, the product manager, discussing our shared experiences with the legendary McIntosh MR78 FM tuner. Ron showed me the latest iteration of the company's MC275 tube amplifier. Now released as version 6, 50th-Anniversary 275, priced at $6500, it reminded me that the amplifier was first shipped in 1961.

The latest model includes patented floating barrel speaker connectors. Now if one bumps one of the speaker wires, it doesn't loosen the tensioning screw because the wire will stay on the amplifier's speaker terminal. Ron showed me how the outer three small tubes can be used to determine which pair of KT-88 output tubes need to be replaced as one set, either right or left three tubes, will flash if there is a fault in the right or left pair of push-pull KT-88s. The center tube of the 7 small tubes is the single 12AX7 input tube.

For those of us who have the McIntosh MC275 on our bucket list, act now. Version 6 will only be made in a limited run of 275 pieces.

(By Larry Greenhill / Stereophile.com • Posted: Jan 16, 2012)

To view the Web page, click here​

​