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Mac MR-74

64.12.116.9

Posted on June 29, 2004 at 18:30:13
Frank P
Reviewer

Posts: 714
Joined: January 21, 2000
Hello,

I am thinking of getting back into FM. I formerly had a Magnum Dynalb MD-102 and enjoyed it on the 2 quality stations in my area (the others are the usual compressed crap). But, I still think that those 2 stations (both sonically and programming wise) as well as some new stations (solely for programming) may be worth getting back into FM.

I will state up front, my main concern is sonics, then sensitivity.

That said, my buddy has an old MAC MR-74 and I was wondering if any of you can give me you thoughts on the sonics of this tuner vis a vis say the MD 102 or any other modern higher priced tuner. Also, if you can, give me yor opinion on the MAC MR-74 (both Modaferi modded and not) versus the tubed Macs or other quality vintage tuners. I know I am asking a lot, but your input is greatly appreciated.

BTW, my budget is flexible. I don't mind spending the money to get another MD-102 or spending that on a modded vintage tuner - but if I can save some bucks by getting the MAC-74 and only losing a little bit versus the higher priced ones, I will do that.
Frank P

 

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Re: Mac MR-74, posted on July 1, 2004 at 16:47:58
Scholl


 
Look for a mint well built good working Fisher KM60 and add a very good antenna.

 

Someone Please Answer This............, posted on July 1, 2004 at 19:35:31
Bahr
Audiophile

Posts: 136
Location: Oregon/Wa
Joined: December 12, 2003
.....Cause I'm dying to know too !!

Bahr

 

Re: Someone Please Answer This............, posted on July 2, 2004 at 09:34:18
Frank P
Reviewer

Posts: 714
Joined: January 21, 2000
Thanks, it looks like this forum is pretty dead. Sadly.
Frank P

 

Re: Mac MR-74, posted on July 2, 2004 at 13:08:34
Vinyl Rules!
Reviewer

Posts: 357
Location: Primary home is deep in the mountains of NC. Also spend much time in Washington, DC working for . .
Joined: March 4, 2003
Read message #254 in the McIntosh Audio group in www.my.yahoo.com.

If you don't want to go there, here's a reprint from the group:

There's been considerable discussion in the group lately about the
merits of the MR77 tuner versus the MR78 tuner. Well, we'd like
to add "Don't overlook the MR74 tuner as it's a keeper
too." We happen to use one as our primary tuner and we did some
research on the history of this model and wanted to share what we
learned with you.

To begin, there has been some lively discussion in the Tuner
Information Group (http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/) over their relatively
low ranking of the McIntosh MR78 relative to other vintage tuners. We
happen to agree with their ranking of the MR78 and here's why: We
live in the boondocks (where the TN/NC/VA borders come together) and
*cannot* get any TV stations with an outdoor antenna, rotor and
antenna amp. So we're "DISH Network" people.

However, we *can* get about 10 public radio stations, four of which
are broadcast off translators/repeaters and six directly using a
dedicated outdoor FM antenna, rotor, and antenna amp.

When we moved here in 1995, we were using a Pioneer F-91 Elite digital
tuner (ranked much higher than the MR78 by the Tuner Information
Group) which worked fine, but about 18 months ago, we got to wondering
could we do better?

So we did out own little "shootout" at casa Britt/Weatherwax and
brought in a stock McIntosh MR74, a Modefferi-modded MR78, a stock
Sansui TU-919, and a stock Sony ST-730ES.

The MR74 won by a nose - The Sony ST-730ES was REALLY CLOSE to the
MR74, but the MR74 was slightly more sensitive and had slightly more
depth on live studio broadcasts by the NPR stations. This may have
been because the MR74 had been completely rebuilt and aligned by
McIntosh Labs AND also by an acquaintance who owns one of the
companies that rebuilds and refurbishes vintage McIntosh: We think he
did it (at no charge to us) to see if he could improve on what
McIntosh did, and he says he got 3 dB more separation and slightly
lower stereo distortion, but it might have been a testosterone thing
with him vis a vis McIntosh (He's also a really large McIntosh
dealer). Now, our friend happens to like the MR71 as the best
sounding of all the McIntosh tuners after it's been cleaned, aligned,
and checked out with all leaky caps, etc., replaced. We didn't try a
MR71 as we didn't want to deal with tubes.

As to how the other tuners did in our little test, we were surprised
at just how average the Sansui TU-919 was (it's considered to be a
very "hot" tuner): It was very "warm" sounding and it
sounded like there was a "loudness contour" control engaged when it
was playing. It *was* more sensitive and selective and quiet on weak
stations than our F-91 but it didn't sound as good as the F-91, at
least to us. And we thought the MR74 and Sony ST-730ES were better
than the TU-919.

The MR78 was borrowed from a friend and it was only six months old
from the Modafferi Mod. It was more "electronic" sounding than the
MR74 and the Sony, was no more sensitive than the MR 74 and the Sony,
and didn't have as much bass response as the MR74 and Sony. And the
MR78 highs seemed slightly rolled off. Adjacent channel selectivity
*was* better than the MR74 and Sony, but this is not an issue for us.

Picking between the MR78 and the F-91 would be a hard choice, but
ultimately, we'd pick the F-91 for it's sound quality unless we
absolutely needed the superior sensitivity and selectivity of the
MR78.

Our F-91 had replaced a stock Kenwood KT-815 and it was significantly
better sounding *and* more sensitive, particularly at in the public
radio range than the KT-815: The KT-815 was very "electronic,
"harsh," and "two-dimensional" sounding relative to the F-91, which
seems consistent with the Tuner Information Group's findings.
And we tried out a Magnum Dynalab (whatever their top model was) when
we bought the F-91. The Magnum was a teensy bit better sounding, but
the F-91 was much more sensitive and much more quiet on weak signals,
so we bought the F-91.

After living with and enjoying the MR74, we became curious about who
designed the MR74 and its development, etc. relative to the MR77,
MR78, and the MR75.

So we did some research, made some inquiries, and the following
information was kindly provided to us by Jeff Joseph and he got the
answers directly from Richard Modafferi who he works with at Joseph
Audio.

The design of the MR74 was group effort. Jean Filon designed the RF
front end and MPX decoder. Richard Modafferi did the FM IF. Ron
Evans did the AM circuitry. Mile Nestorovic did the Audio & Power
Supply. Some of you may remember that Mile Nestorovic designed many
of the early Macintosh tube amplifiers which may account for why we
happen to like the sound of our MR74 so much. We don't know if
Mile or someone else designed the Audio and Power Supply of the MR77
and the MR78, but we can only speculate that perhaps Richard Modafferi
did more of the total design work on these two tuners since they were
his "babies."

From a filter perspective, McIntosh literature states the MR74 has a
10 pole filter in the "Wide" setting and we incorrectly assumed this
meant the MR74 used a 10 Pole RIMO filter, but this is not the case:
The MR74 uses exactly the same 8 pole RIMO filter as found in the
MR77, but it is preceded by a 2 pole bandpass filter. They're two
separate filters and they are cascaded. This explains why the
specified distortion is slightly higher on the MR74 than on the MR77.

The MR74 in "Narrow" mode switches in a single ceramic filter. This
adds a little extra selectivity - not much. It is thought to be a \2
Pole interspersed between the 2 Poles in the RF and the 8 Poles in the
IF filter.

The original MR77 prototype used a 10 Pole RIMO – but there's
only one in existence – and Richard Modafferi has it. The
production MR77 used only an 8 Pole RIMO filter and Jeff advised us
the MR-77 does have slightly better phase linearity than the MR-78,
which may account for the slightly better sound quality associated
with the MR77 relative to the MR78.

We had also heard rumors of a tube front end MR78 and we learned that
Richard Modafferi did build a tube tuner (not an MR78) with RIMO
filters for his Master's thesis in 1965.

However, he *did* build an experimental MR-78 in 1991 with a tube
front end that he still has. Richard also made a battery-powered
MR78, which was actually the most sensitive and "hottest" of all the
MR78 tuners, but only one was manufactured.

We also asked Jeff a question about the MR75 (relative to the MR77,
MR74, and MR78) and he commented the MR75 is based on IC chips, and is
no match for the 74, 77 or 78 since it lacks the RIMO filters. And
the MR75 is also much more sensitive to front end overload. We were
left with the impression that he was somewhat underwhelmed by the
MR75.

After mulling all this over, we're left with the impression that the
MR77 is the best sounding of all the vintage McIntosh solid state
tuners, while the MR78 might the best one for use in impossible
reception conditions, with the MR74 kind of in-between the two. As
mentioned above, when we compared our MR74 to a Modafferi'd MR78 we
preferred the sound of the MR74 to the MR78 but recognized that the
MR78 was much more selective than the MR74, but we didn't need the
selectivity performance in our location. Now we're wondering if we
should have also included an MR77 in our little "shoot-out" since we
have some very good public radio station signals in our broadcast
area.

And finally, we're *really* curious what the final bid would be if
Richard Modafferi ever decided to auction his "one of" 10 Pole RIMO
MR77, or the experimental (and only) MR78 he built in 1991 with the
tube front end, or the battery-powered MR78 he owns?

Oh well, live and learn. Hope you found this interesting.

Tim & Ann

Copyright 2003 by Tim Britt & Ann Weatherwax

 

Thanks! (nt), posted on July 8, 2004 at 10:54:17
Frank P
Reviewer

Posts: 714
Joined: January 21, 2000
.
Frank P

 

Re: Mac MR-74, posted on July 23, 2004 at 14:27:49
doug s.
Audiophile

Posts: 1004
Joined: August 12, 2001
check out my recent post here:
http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/tuner/messages/521.html
i would choose *any* of these over *any* mac s/s tuna, if sonics was the #1 priority...

ymmv,

doug s.

 

Re: Mac MR-74, posted on July 27, 2004 at 20:31:25
I think the MR-74 is a good bet. I've lived with a 10B and an MR71 (my favorite, btw), and can easily go from either of them to the MR74 or Mr77. On the very best broadcasts, there is a difference, but the Mac solid-state tuners, at least up to the MR77, are pretty musical, and their rf sections are very good. (I ended up with an MR77, as a happy compromise -- keeping an old tube tuner alive is an expensive proposition, and one requiring more attention than I want to give.)

WW

 

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