McIntosh MC275-V
A tube amplifier so heavy for its size that one owner described it as "совершенно крохотный... и при этом достаточно неподъёмный" - tiny, and yet nearly impossible to lift.
Overview
The first problem with the MC275-V is the name. Every source that documents this amplifier writes it differently. Craigslist sellers list it as "McIntosh MC275 (V)." Audiophile Style members call it the "MC 275 V." A Russian owner on SoundEX logs it as "McIntosh MC275V." Audiocircle posters refer to an "MC275 version 6," Pinterest pins a French-language "MC275 V6," and Equipboard catalogs an "MC275 MKVI." No source available to this archive says whether the "V" is one product or a family of reissues with different driver stages and different version numbers. That ambiguity is the central fact about this amplifier in the secondhand record, and a buyer should sort it out before wiring money.
Here is what can be said with confidence. The MC275-V is a McIntosh tube power amplifier rated at 75 watts per channel. An Audiophile Style member who owns one notes that "while rated only 75watts the output is more like 90wpc." That is an owner's impression, not a measurement. A French-language Pinterest entry describing the "MC275 V6" gives the same rating: 2x75 watts into 4, 8, or 16 ohms, via a push-pull pair of KT88 tubes.
Owners describe it as physically small and surprisingly heavy - "very small in size yet quite heavy," per the SoundEX owner. He also reports that his unit arrived packed in three separate boxes, and that the build quality exceeded anything he had previously encountered in audio gear. He confirms a McIntosh power transformer and a stainless-steel top panel. It is not a light amplifier.
The unit is a stereo amplifier with mono switching. It has balanced XLR inputs in addition to RCA, along with a sensitivity adjustment and an XLR/RCA selector. The owner who documented his unit in detail confirms there is no tetrode/ultralinear/triode mode switch. He was asked directly and answered "Переключения режимов нет." The circuit uses fairly deep negative feedback, including global feedback, and has a selenium rectifier stack. The power transformer in at least one unit is designated M215. That detail surfaced only because a user on Amp/Preamp Asylum was hunting for its electrical specifications. The post is a question, not a confirmation, and no values were ever supplied.
Key Features
75 Watts Per Channel from Push-Pull KT88s
The rated output is 75 watts per channel, from a push-pull KT88 output stage. The V6 documentation specifies 4, 8, and 16 ohm taps. The owner reports stereo-mono switching, so the amplifier can be bridged or paralleled for higher output into a single load. At least one dealer reportedly preferred it that way, having "originally suggested monoblocking them." No source available here documents whether the power doubles cleanly in mono, so treat any mono-power claim as unverified. The Audiophile Style owner's estimate of roughly 90 watts per channel in practice suggests the rating is conservative.
Balanced XLR and RCA Inputs with Sensitivity Adjustment
The amplifier accepts both balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA connections, with a switch to select between them and a sensitivity control to match source levels. That is a flexible input arrangement for a tube power amplifier, and it lets the MC275-V go into a modern balanced system without a transformer or adapter. The owner notes that even running unbalanced - "небалансное подключение" - the amplifier "умеет играть Музыку" (knows how to play Music).
Stainless Steel Top Panel and Deep Negative Feedback
The top panel is stainless steel, confirmed by the owner, and the circuit runs fairly deep negative feedback including a global loop. Heavy feedback in a tube amplifier trades some of the loose, romantic tube character for lower distortion and tighter control. It is also the reason the amplifier reportedly stays composed across a wide range of speakers. The power supply has a selenium rectifier stack, which will need attention eventually.
No Output-Stage Mode Switching
Owners who have asked whether the amplifier runs in tetrode, ultralinear, or triode have been told plainly that there is no mode switching. The amplifier runs one configuration. For some that is a limitation. For others it is one less switch to second-guess.
Build Quality and Packaging
The SoundEX owner's assessment is emphatic: build quality "better than any audio product I have ever seen," and the best packaging he had encountered. His unit shipped in three boxes. For anyone buying used, original packaging is part of a complete example. Craigslist listings for the MC275-V routinely emphasize "all original packing materials, original shipping boxes, original manual, and tube cage."
Historical Context
McIntosh debuted the original MC275 tube power amplifier in 1961, and according to one account, "the world had never heard anything like it before." The original Woodstock festival used McIntosh amplifiers. That history belongs to the 1961 MC275, not to the MC275-V specifically, but the MC275 name comes from it, and so does the modern production MC275-V.
There are, as one Amp/Preamp Asylum poster put it, "two different mc275s, one is vintage and one is new production but basically similar to the vintage in the later ones other than a driver and phase splitter." Keep that in mind when shopping. The MC275-V documented here is a new-production amplifier. The SoundEX owner's unit was "built half a year before March 2007" in what he describes as "a small quiet town," then shipped to a dealer, then across the country to Oregon, then to him. Along the way the unit "lost a quarter of its original price," though no actual figure is recorded. The amplifier is often paired with McIntosh tube preamps. Owners report using it with the C220, the C2200, and the C22 MkV, and the pairing with the C22 MkV is described as delivering "that classic 1960s sound."
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