The “marriage of audio and video” would come much later and over a period of many years gradually expand the capabilities of the receiver into what we know today as the A/V receiver, a super sophisticated control center that would have been unimaginable to a kid sitting in his room or college dorm listening to Dark Side of the Moon in 1973.Ī number of big-name brands dominated the scene - Pioneer, Kenwood, Fisher, Onkyo, Sansui to name a few and the likes of Marantz and Harman Kardon at the higher end of the scale. Simple by today’s standards, the receiver of 40 years ago combined two channels of solid-state power (Class AB amplifiers with outputs for additional speakers), a preamp section with switching for a turntable and tape deck or two, and an AM/FM tuner in an impressive looking component, often with wood (or faux wood) side panels and a gleaming silver or gold faceplate featuring a prominent tuner display and a row of knobs, switches, and buttons. At the heart of every “stereo” was an indispensable predecessor to the modern day AVR - the receiver. The XRT-28's are good too, but not as good as the XR-290's.Mainstream audio came into its own in the 1960s-70s. The XR-7, 14, and 16's are all very good and are still to this day infinitely repairable and a great value for their price. I'm happy every time I see them in my living room and they're staying for good. just an iota harsh.Ī little bit more on their speakers: I have owned the gambit of their speakers, (ML-1C, XR-7, XR-14, XR-16, XR-270, XR-290, XRT-28), and the XR-290's are by a huge margin the best speakers I've ever listened to. The newest speakers have sacrificed significantly on the altar of aesthetics and marginally better specs for a sound I find. The record players are very similar to their OEM cousins in the $2k-3k range. The music servers can easily be beat by a good DAC and a dedicated computer. The CD players have always disappointed me on a reliability level and are nearly identical inside to most quality cd players. If you want to talk about their cd players, multi channel amps, (record players, headphones, speakers.), then you're spot on.
Mcintosh 1700 receiver specs mac#
I don't even consider a Mac amp without them. When I look for value for money with mcintosh, I look for build quality, discrete circuits, and autoformers! They only have been putting autoformers in their top models recently, so I tend to go older to be able to afford them. They are repairable, excellent, and build to last for-ev-er. Their tube models are fantastic for many of the same reasons. I'd jump on a good MC 2125 or a C-26-32 in a heartbeat. Of course you're going to miss some of the diminishing returns of new, but you might not even notice the. They have been consistently good for decades, so an older mac will have most of the performance of a new one. Very few other brands have anywhere near the same level of support, even for products that came out 50 years ago. And not just the sound, you're also paying for repairability and product support. If you get a Mac mono or two channel amp with autoformers coupled with a mac preamp, you're going to get unbeatable sound.
I would say that their core products don't suffer from what you're describing.