McIntosh MC2102
The MC2102 is a vacuum tube stereo power amplifier from McIntosh's 2000-series. It was the second entry in what the company described as a line of limited-edition tube components, all designed and engineered by co-founder and former president Sidney Corderman. The manufacturer's own service manual gives the numbers: 100 watts per channel into 2, 4, or 8 ohms, both channels driven, with a rated power band of 20Hz to 20,000Hz. It also runs mono, at 200 watts into 1, 2, or 4 ohms in parallel, or 4, 8, or 16 ohms in bridge.
Some write-ups circulate a figure of 210 watts per channel. McIntosh doesn't specify that. The manual says 100.
Each channel runs eight tubes: a pair of 12AX7s (one for the balanced input, one for voltage amplification and phase splitting), a pair of 12AT7s, and four KT88/6550 beam power tubes. The KT88s were supplied to McIntosh by Svetlana in St. Petersburg. The output stage uses McIntosh's unity-coupled transformer with two bifilar-wound primaries, which the brochure credits for the wide bandwidth and low distortion. Distortion is held to 0.5% max from 250mW to full rated output across the power band. Frequency response is +0, -0.25dB from 20Hz to 20kHz and +0, -3dB from 10Hz to 70,000Hz. Signal-to-noise is 100dB A-weighted, input impedance is 20kΩ unbalanced / 40kΩ balanced, and the wideband damping factor is greater than 18. Manufacturer documents conflict on sensitivity. One states 0.8V, another states 2.5V unbalanced / 5V balanced.
It's a big amp: 17-3/4 inches wide, 10-1/8 inches high, 16 inches deep behind the front panel, 88 pounds net and 121 pounds boxed. Power requirements span 100-240V at 50/60Hz depending on the rear-panel configuration. The manual also documents gold-plated input and output jacks and remote power control. The tube pack and shipping skid are listed as separate repacking items, so a complete original example should include those.
Production years and original retail price aren't documented in the material available. The brochure calls it "at once a tribute to the past and present McIntosh."
eBay Listings
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.