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Model: | MA 6100 |
Category: | Integrated Amplifier (SS) |
Suggested Retail Price: | $$699.00 |
Description: | Preamp-Amplifier 70-watts per side at 4 or 8 ohms, 40-watts per side at 16 ohms |
Manufacturer URL: | McIntosh |
Model Picture: | View |
Review by Surascent on June 07, 2012 at 16:04:38 IP Address: 109.163.233.200 | Add Your Review for the MA 6100 |
McIntosh builds dull boring, high power, low distortion amplifiers which has been the laboratory-standard for performance since the middle of the last century. Whatever you put in, is what you get out. McIntosh built its reputation on the audible purity of sound reproduction. They probably made amps for the phone company. The equipment is strong enough to be handled by a Bear, and is still in use after 35 years. The MA 6100 has all kinds of inputs and outputs that I did not need back in the seventies, and I sure do not need a bunch of input and output jacks for tape recorders now. You can hook up your DAC to play your high-resolution digital tracks on your hard drive. But in by thousands of days I never needed to hook up two tuners, two phonos and a tape head whatever that was, to get great sound.
Two things listener fatigue and the McIntosh sound are why I stay. If you are contemplating a move to Mac, search for and read the McIntosh "Lost Instruments Brochure," from 1952 http://www.hifilit.com/hifilit/McIntosh/mac.htm McIntosh sound does not add anything or subtract anything from the message in the waves. The result is freedom from listening fatigue, full dynamic range at all volumes if you want, and complete music realism.
The MA 6100 is a 70-watt Vintage Pre/amp -Amplifier sold during the seventies. It replaced the 45-watt MA 5100 ($449.00) from 1966 and was itself replaced by the 75-watt MA 6200 ($1,899.00) which went until 1991. The 6200 was pretty much the same except it had an equalizer and anti-clipping added in response to the then new digital sources. I lived with the MA 6100 for over fifteen years, then had a MA 6200 for over ten years. I did not use the equalizer, and I can do not need Power Guard to keep from blowing out my speakers. Now I am back with the MA 6100. Both have Headphone amps and no meters.
The 6100 has dual concentric tone controls. They decrease turned to the left, flat straight up, boosted turned to the right. They function, but really they are just decoration and will never wear out from turning. The balance control reduces the signal to the opposite side it is turned, to give equal sound pressure to the listeners ears. The on/off switch, volume control has an audio taper curve. It is a modified logarithmic curve starting with a dead zone. When you turn the knob, you can hear the volume change.
I did not know much about the compensation switch except that it made the music sound better and I left it on for over twenty years. It converts the volume control to a loudness compensated control switch. The effect is to give a flat frequency response across changing volume levels by keeping the low and high frequencies volumes up as the main mid-section volume is reduced. The effect increases as the volume is lowered so that we still hear the full-frequency range at lower volume levels and flat response is obtained at full volume. The presence position boosts mid-frequencies.
McIntosh:> The compensation switch automatically provides the correct amount of bass required to compensate for the change in response of the human ear at low loudness levels. When the volume is reduced, the music will seem to lose much of its bass and some of its treble. This effect is due to the sensitivity characteristic of human hearing. The response of the human ear to bass and treble pitch decreases more rapidly than its response to pitch centered in the mid-tonal range.
One of the great things about the 6100 is the multitude of controls it has for trouble shooting just about everything. It has controls for putting each side separately to both speakers, mono to both speakers, or mono separately to each side, as well as stereo, and stereo rev.
For example. If one of your sides is silent you can quickly check if its the amp, by running a mono signal to both speakers. If one is out check your speaker wires. If the both work switch one channel to both sides, you will know in an instant if one side is out. Using the pre-amp/ amp jumpers you can find if the source is before or after leaving the pre-amp. These controls just make it easy to trouble shoot. Once you have them if is a pain to go without.
The 6100 was always easy to set up quickly to give great sound whether it was for a few months or over a decade. It has easy to reach switches for two sets of speakers. After about eight years in one location it picked up a hum I don't remember if it was the 6100 or the 6200. But it was handled by running from the ground binding post on the back, outside to a copper rod in the yard.
The back has outlets up the yin-yang. Once I got the speakers hooked on I never gave any of them any thought at all. The Preamp is really separate from the Amplifier even though they are in the same case connected by solid wire jumpers. The "U" jumpers can easily be replaced with "Y" jumpers to install a subwoofer. These Jumpers are very handy for trouble shooting, or modifying the sound.
Some very ill advised reviewers have suggested changing the jumpers for cables. I am not in a position to say if you can or can not hear a difference using aftermarket jumpers with your McIntosh. In my mind, to assume that you do, you also have to assume that the stock jumpers are in some way degrading and that McIntosh knowingly provides jumpers with their integrated amps that sound inferior. I do not have any basis or reason to substantiate these assumptions and they are not consistent with my conversations with the engineers at McIntosh.
My Mac's always had vented Walnut wood cabinets that looked good, balanced and protected the unit, and never gave any kind of trouble. If you leave it on all of the time, it uses about as much juice as a 50 watt light bulb. Size 5-7/16"H, 16"W and 13"D. Weight 34 lbs. Sells now for about twice what it did then.
Most of the features offers by Mac I do not need. I just need it to take the digital output from the DAC, and put it to the speakers without changing the sound at any volume. The true function of an amp is very simple, but we get confused with all the stuff wrapped around it. Newer is not always better, a lot of the esculating costs is for some new invention that you may never need or to solve some problem that you never had.
Just like with sports cars, it takes time for newcomers to realize the affordable way in to high end audio, is the pre-owned market. If the goal is to have it sound like it did in the studio, vintage studio quality audio is at least one way to go. What I find audiophile's are doing today is putting together systems so that they can change the original sound as if the stereo is one giant musical instrument, and they are doing the final mix. No two are the same, no-one agrees what it should sound like. Except they all agree that with two ears the surround sound debacle do not lend themselves to great audio. It has been dismissed, and the consensus is two channels, or two channels with a subwoofer is an efficient way to great sound.
The plan is to get a vintage McIntosh fully serviced, restored, brought back to spec, and keep it until you die. The trinity of McDom is McIntosh Labs www.mcintoshlabs.com, Audio Classics http://www.audioclassics.com, and master technician Terry DeWick http://www.mcintoshaudio.com.
Product Weakness: | Shipping and packing costs |
Product Strengths: | The lack of listener fatigue in the McIntosh sound, and the %22variable loudness logarithmic volume control.%22 |
Amplifier: | McIntosh MA-6100 |
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): | none |
Sources (CDP/Turntable): | digital, tape, TV, |
Speakers: | JBL-100, JBL-4310, JBL-4311 |
Cables/Interconnects: | Speaker wire 14 gauge |
Music Used (Genre/Selections): | All sounds |
Room Size (LxWxH): | n/a x n/a x n/a |
Room Comments/Treatments: | Many rooms, many places |
Time Period/Length of Audition: | Thirty five years |
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): | none |
Type of Audition/Review: | Product Owner |
This was the only McIntosh equipment I ever owned. After all these years I have it in my head to own another.
... had a $1000 every time they make that claim, they all could just retire filthy rich - would be no need to build those wonderful amps anymore.
The only question is - who really believes that? In case of vintage McIntosh, in particular?
by carcass93:> Who really believes that? <
If it was not true fifty years ago they would not be around now selling the same amp for $6,500.00
~~~Our lunacies may be infringed.
One little know problem with those amps are speaker impedance. If you use a speaker with low impedance, or one that dips low you will blow out the amp. It seems there is a particular Zener diode that always blows when your speaker load hits "fiveish".
I don't know the exact number but it is there!
charles
I can attest to that as I have the higher model of this line the MCintosh MC 6200 Integrated Amplifier with 75wpc and it does some funny things when being used to drive low sensitivity/impedance speakers.
Otherwise, they do sound good but not as good as what the OP claimed compared to other amps that I have in my stable.
If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing well
(Proverb)
It was sixty years ago that Mac wrote that:McIntosh "Lost Instruments Brochure," http://www.hifilit.com/hifilit/McIntosh/mac.htm
If that is what McIntosh claimed to do back then they would not be around now if they had not delivered. I believe it is the key to the thing.
**All audible sounds, played at all volumes with frequencies unchanged from the original music source.***
Do you see Corvette putting out a fifty year old car much like they did then, or Porsche with a fifty year anniversary 911? That is the old car with new gold plated bumpers?
carcass93:> who really believes that .. In case of vintage McIntosh, in particular?
kootenay: > .. they do sound good but not as good as what the OP claimed.
~~~Our lunacies may be indulged
Edits: 06/08/12 06/08/12 06/08/12 06/08/12 06/08/12 06/08/12
Sorry but I couldn't resist having some fun at the expense of your review.......
"...the laboratory-standard for performance since the middle of the last century."
What laboratory and who blessed it as being THE standard?
"They probably made amps for the phone company. "
So that classic non-fatiguing Mac sound is based on the hard work and experience they gained making amps for the phone company? Hmmm? Were you talking about Bell Labs as THE laboratory-standard? In fairness to the phone company (and McIntosh), they do sound better than my cellphone.
"One of the great things about the 6100 is the multitude of controls it has for trouble shooting just about everything."
But this is all you really need, and maybe a Digital Multimeter and scope.
"The back has outlets up the yin-yang."
Huh? Yin-yang omelettes? What?
"After about eight years in one location it picked up a hum..."
Did your Mac reside in Bangkok? Was it wearing it's Walnut protection?
Yeah-- I had one of these driving AR3a's--sublime!
Great review
Des
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