It was another mighty fine Vintage Sunday at Jeff's Place, with Ron (back), Pete (middle), and Leo (front) stopping by.
The reason Leo has such a big smile is because he just bought a pair of beautifully restored vintage McIntosh MC30 mono amplifiers from Yves Beauvais at Vintage Vacuum Audio and they were sounding absolutely stunning on the big Westminster Royal DSE (Duelund Special Edition) loudspeakers.
Vintage Vacuum Audio did an absolutely fantastic job of restoring Leo's MC30s inside and out. They probably didn't look that nice when they were new!
The chassis was completely re-chromed ... the tubes were deluxe vintage too ... the trannie covers were beautifully repainted ...
... we sipped some superb vintages while listening to some great jazz on 45 RPM ...
All of the vintage Macs are highly desirable, and run circles around most modern amplifiers. The 'holy trinity' of vintage Mac-dom is arguably the MC30 (below), the MC225, and the MC240 (below).
What did I think of the vintage McIntosh MC30 mono amplifiers? After hearing Leo's restored MC30s I contacted Yves and ordered a pair of MC30s for myself to keep my MC240 company. I don't know who the lucky person will be to get them, but Yves has one more pair of MC30s for sale. How much are they? $15,000? $10,000? Nope, they are around $3000.
Certainly vintage Macs are one of the biggest bargains in audio and their value will only continue to rise. When was the last time you heard of the value of an amplifier rising? Well, with vintage audio that's what happens. There were only so many built, and they are incredibly musical, so they're only going up in value over time.
Another closeup of the MC30 ...
Another view ...
When I make discoveries of wonderful vintage products ... the Garrard 301 comes to mind ... and I write articles about them, the price goes through the roof. You used to be able to buy Garrard 301s for a pittance but now nice ones are really expensive, and in fact they're generally out of the price range I can afford. So I am giving you a heads up ... vintage Macs are the next Garrard 301s.
You better buy them while you can, because before long when people realize how really good they are the price will go through the roof and they'll become unaffordable and the purview of collectors.
Another ...
There was a time when you could buy a Picasso for a reasonable price, or a Monet. Not anymore. Ok ... I am making too much of the investment value of these McIntosh amplifiers, when in fact I should be talking about how well these amplifiers play music. They play music remarkably well, much better than just about any current production amplifier at any price.
I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse into the vintage McIntosh world ... and I'll have much more to say about them in the future.
From my home to yours, may the music be playing sweetly!
Thanks for stopping by!
