McIntosh XR-290 (Introduced 1984)
The McIntosh XR-290 is a floorstanding loudspeaker that McIntosh itself called the finest speaker it had ever made, at the time of its design. It was introduced in 1984 and appears in the McIntosh catalog of that year. McIntosh built it to put a great loudspeaker next to its celebrated electronics.
Documentation on the XR-290 is thinner than you'd expect for a flagship of its era, and some of what survives is contradictory. The speaker is described as a 4-way design with two 12-inch woofers, four 8-inch midrange drivers, and a single 2-inch tweeter. At least one source counts it as a seven-driver system, and another lists five. The enclosure came with real wood panels in natural cherry or black oak, and had a distinctive "curtain" grille cloth. A 1993 supplement in Audio (January 1993, p.116) noted that McIntosh had added twelve new products to its legend in 1992. The XR-290 was already an established design by then.
What is known about the engineering: the XR-290 used McIntosh's LD/HP (Low Distortion/High Power) drivers, which combined four patented technologies aimed at minimizing distortion. Phase correction was done with test tones, to maximize overlap between the three driver sizes. The odd feature for a speaker of this vintage is a pair of adjustable "power response" and "phase response" switches. They let the listener tailor the speaker's response to the peculiarities of their listening room, since speakers tuned to sound great in a showroom often fail in a living room.
McIntosh recommended an amplifier of at least 200 watts per channel, noting that 600 watts or higher was ideal. Impedance is rated at 8 ohms. The speaker used five-way gold-plated binding posts. Beyond that, the record becomes genuinely murky: published frequency response figures conflict (one source lists 28Hz–20kHz, another claims 7Hz–45kHz ±2dB, which strains credibility for a passive speaker), and no sensitivity figure, crossover frequency, dimensions, or weight have been captured reliably. I've omitted those rather than guess.
Owner reports are enthusiastic but anecdotal. One long-term user wrote that firing up the XR-290s with McIntosh gear made everything feel right in the world. Another described the low end as powerful and authoritative across musical genres. A third claimed the speakers would "turn your hair into an afro" at high volume while keeping bass tight and punchy. These are forum and retailer-site comments, not bylined reviews, so take them as color rather than measurement.
Known specifications, as reliably documented:
- Type: 4-way floorstanding loudspeaker
- Drivers: 2 × 12" woofer, 4 × 8" midrange, 1 × 2" tweeter
- Impedance: 8 ohms
- Recommended amplifier: 200W/channel minimum; 600W+ ideal
- Finish: natural cherry or black oak with "curtain" grille cloth
- Adjustable power response and phase response switches
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