McIntosh MC2102 User Manual

MC2102 Power Amplifier

Owners
Manual

MC2102

McIntosh Laboratory, Inc. 2 Chambers Street Binghamton, New York 13903-2699 Phone: [phone] FAX: [phone]

IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS!

PLEASE READ THEM BEFORE OPERATING THIS EQUIPMENT.

The lightning flash with arrowhead,
within an equilateral triangle, is intended
to alert the user to the presence of
uninsulated dangerous voltage within
the products enclosure that may be of
sufficient magnitude to constitute a risk
of electric shock to persons.

WARNING - TO REDUCE RISK OF

FIRE OR ELECTRICAL SHOCK, DO

NOT EXPOSE THIS EQUIPMENT TO

RAIN OR MOISTURE.

General:

1. Read these instructions.

2. Keep these instructions.

3. Heed all warnings.

4. Follow all instructions.

5. Warning: To reduce risk of fire or electrical shock,
do not expose this equipment to rain or moisture.
This unit is capable of producing high sound pres­sure levels. Continued exposure to high sound pres­sure levels can cause permanent hearing impair­ment or loss. User caution is advised and ear protec­tion is recommended when playing at high volumes.

6. Caution: to prevent electrical shock do not use this
(polarized) plug with an extension cord, receptacle
or other outlet unless the blades can be fully in­serted to prevent blade exposure.
Attention: pour pevenir les chocs elecriques pas
utiliser cette fiche polarisee avec un prolongateur,
une prise de courant ou un autre sortie de courant,
sauf si les lames peuvent etre inserees afond ans en
laisser aucune partie a decouvert.

7. Unplug this equipment during lightning storms or
when unused for long periods of time.

8. Only use attachments/accessories specified by the
manufacturer.

The exclamation point within an equi­lateral triangle is intended to alert the
user to the presence of important
operating and maintenance (servic­ing) instructions in the literature ac­companying the appliance.

NO USER-SERVICEABLE PARTS

INSIDE. REFER SERVICING TO

QUALIFIED PERSONNEL.

To prevent the risk of electric shock, do not remove cover or

back. No user serviceable parts inside.

Installation:

9. The equipment shall be installed near the AC Socket
Outlet and the disconnect device shall be easily acces­sible.

10. Do not block any ventilation openings. Install in accor­dance with the manufacturers instructions.

11. Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators,
heat registers, stoves, or other equipment (including
amplifiers) that produce heat.

12. Do not use this equipment near water.

13. Do not expose this equipment to dripping
or splashing and ensure that no objects
filled with liquids, such as vases, are
placed on the equipment.

14. Use only with the cart, stand, tripod, bracket, or table
specified by the manufacturer, or sold with the equip­ment. When a cart is used, use caution when moving
the cart/equipment combination to avoid injury from
tip-over.

Connection:

15. Connect this equipment only to the type of AC power
source as marked on the unit.

16. Protect the power cord from being walked on or
pinched particularly at plugs, convenience receptacles,
and the point where they exit from the equipment.

2

17. Do not defeat the safety purpose of the polarized or
grounding-type plug.

A polarized plug has two blades with one wider
than the other. A grounding type plug has two
blades and a third grounding prong. The wide
blade or the third prong are provided for your
safety. If the provided plug does not fit into your
outlet, consult an electrician for replacement of the
obsolete outlet.

18. Do not overload wall outlets, extension cords or inte­gral convenience receptacles as this can result in a risk
of fire or electric shock.

19. To completely disconnect this equipment from the AC
Mains, disconnect the power supply cord plug from the
AC receptacle.

Thank You

Your decision to own this McIntosh MC2102 Power Am­plifier ranks you at the very top among discriminating mu­sic listeners. You now have The Best. The McIntosh
dedication to Quality, is assurance that you will receive
many years of musical enjoyment from this unit.

Please take a short time to read the information in this
manual. We want you to be as familiar as possible with all
the features and functions of your new McIntosh.

Please Take A Moment

The serial number, purchase date and McIntosh dealer
name are important to you for possible insurance claim or
future service. The spaces below have been provided for
you to record that information:

Care of Equipment:

20. Clean only with a dry cloth.

21. Do not permit objects or liquids of any kind to be
pushed, spilled and/or fall into the equipment through
enclosure openings.

22. Unplug the power cord from the AC power outlet
when left unused for a long period of time.

Repair of Equipment:

23. Refer all servicing to qualified service personnel. Ser­vicing is required when the equipment has been dam­aged in any way, such as power-supply cord or plug is
damaged, liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen
into the equipment, the equipment has been exposed to
rain or moisture, does not operate normally, or has
been dropped.

24. Do not attempt to service beyond that described in the
operating instructions. All other service should be re­ferred to qualified service personnel.

25. When replacement parts are required, be sure the ser­vice technician has used replacement parts specified by
McIntosh or have the same characteristics as the origi­nal part. Unauthorized substitutions may result in fire,
electric shock, or other hazards.

26. Upon completion of any service or repairs to this prod­uct, ask the service technician to perform safety checks
to determine that the product is in proper operating
condition.

Serial Number:

Purchase Date:

Dealer Name:

Technical Assistance

If at any time you have questions about your McIntosh
product, contact your McIntosh dealer who is familiar with
your McIntosh equipment and any other brands that may
be part of your system. If you or your dealer wish addi­tional help concerning a suspected problem, you can re­ceive technical assistance for all McIntosh products at:

McIntosh Laboratory, Inc.
2 Chambers Street
Binghamton, New York 13903
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Customer Service

If it is determined that your McIntosh product is in need of
repair, you can return it to your dealer. You can also return
it to the McIntosh Laboratory Service Department. For as­sistance on factory repair return procedure, contact the
McIntosh Service Department at:

McIntosh Laboratory, Inc.
2 Chambers Street
Binghamton, New York 13903
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Copyright 2001 ã by McIntosh Laboratory, Inc.

3

Introduction and Performance Features

Table of Contents

Safety Instructions ............................................................ 2

Thank You and Please Take a Moment............................. 3

Technical Assistance and Customer Service .................... 3

Table of Contents and General Notes ............................... 4

Introduction ...................................................................... 4

Performance Features ....................................................... 4

Dimensions ....................................................................... 5

Installation of Tubes and Tube ......................................... 6

Location and Ventilation ................................................... 7

Installation in a Custom Cabinet ...................................... 8

Rear Panel Connections and Switch ................................. 9

How to Connect for Stereo ............................................. 10

How to Connect for Mono Parallel ................................ 12

How to Connect for Mono Bridge .................................. 14

Front Panel Displays and Controls ................................. 16

How to Operate ............................................................... 17

Specifications ................................................................. 18

Packing Instructions ....................................................... 19

General Notes

1. Caution: To prevent electrical shock make sure that the AC
POWER CORD IS NOT CONNECTED TO THE
MC2102 when inserting or removing Vacuum Tubes,
as there are hazardous voltages present at the pins of
the Tube Sockets.

2. When Vacuum Tubes are installed or removed, reattach the
Tube Cover with the Original Tube Cover Screws.

3. If the MC2102 has been On, please allow the Hot Vacuum
Tubes to cool first before removing them.

4. The following Connecting Cable is available from the
McIntosh Parts Department:

Power Control Cable Part No. 170-202

Six foot, 2 conductor shielded, with two 1/8 inch stereo
mini phone plugs.

5. For additional connection information, refer to the owners
manual(s) for any component(s) connected to the MC2102.

6. It is very important that loudspeaker cables of adequate size
be used, so that there will be minimum power loss. The size is
specified in Gauge Numbers or AWG, (American Wire Gauge).
The smaller the Gauge number, the larger the wire size.
Connection Terminals will accept up to a 8 AWG wire size:

If your loudspeaker cables are 50 feet (38.1m) or less,
use at least 14 Gauge.
If your loudspeaker cables are 100 feet (76.2m) or less,
use at least 12 Gauge.

7. Pin configuration for the XLR Balanced Input connectors on
the MC2102:

PIN 1: Shield or ground
PIN 2: + input
PIN 3: - input

Introduction

Now you can take advantage of traditional McIntosh stan­dards of excellence in the MC2102 Power Amplifier. Two
100 watt high current output channels will drive any high
quality loudspeaker system to its ultimate performance.
The MC2102 reproduction is sonically transparent and ab­solutely accurate. The McIntosh Sound is The Sound of
the Music Itself.

Performance Features

· Power Output

The MC2102 consists of two separate power amplifier
channels, each capable of 100 watts into 2, 4 or 8 ohm
loudspeakers in stereo. It may also be operated in mono at
200 watts into 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 ohm loudspeakers.

· Bifilar Wound Transformers and Output Circuit

The Power Output Sections utilize the famous McIntosh
Patented Unity Coupled Circuit with a Bifilar Wound Out­put Transformer for low distortion, extended frequency re­sponse and cool operating output tubes.

· Balanced and Unbalanced Inputs

Balanced connections guard against induced noise and al­low long cable runs without compromising sound quality.

· Illuminated Power Meters

Two accurate, peak responding output meters continuously
indicate the power delivered by each channel. A Peak Hold
Meter Mode indicates the maximum power reached over a
given time span. The meter illumination can be turned off
so as not to detract from the listening environment, if de­sired.

· Gold Plated Connectors and Tube Socket Contacts

Gold Plated Input Jacks and Output Binding Posts provide
trouble free connections. Ceramic tube sockets with gold
plated contacts provide protection from atmospheric con­tamination. Output Tube Sockets include Air-Pipe cooling
at their bases.

· Glass Front Panel and Super Mirror Chassis Finish

The famous McIntosh Illuminated Glass Front Panel and
the Stainless Steel Chassis with Super Mirror Finish en­sures the pristine beauty of the MC2102 will be retained
for many years.

4

MC2102 Dimensions

The following dimensions can assist in determining the
best location for your MC2102. There is additional infor­mation on page 8 pertaining to installing the MC2102 into
cabinets.

MC2102 Dimensions

17-3/4"

45.09cm

Front View of the MC2102

Rear View of the MC2102

17"

43.18cm

13-11/16"

34.77cm

8-7/8"

22.54cm

1/8"

10-

25.72cm

Side View of the MC2102

3/4"

1.91cm

16-3/4"

42.55cm

12-3/4"

32.39cm

16"

40.64cm

8-1/8"

20.64cm

1-3/16"

3.02cm

9-3/4"

24.77cm

5

Installation of Tubes and Tube Cover

Caution: To prevent electrical shock make sure that the AC

POWER CORD IS NOT CONNECTED TO THE
MC2102 when inserting or removing Tubes, as there
are hazardous voltages present at the pins of the
Tube sockets.

Your MC2102 has gone through an extensive series of per­formance tests during the manufacturing process. The
MC2102 is supplied with the actual Tubes that were used
to test and confirm the performance of this amplifier. To
protect the Vacuum Tubes from possible shipping damage,
they are packed in four layers of foam and placed into the
Tube Cover. It is secured to the MC2102 Chassis.

Note: Gloves or a soft cloth will prevent fingerprinting of

the Tubes during their installation.

1. Orient the MC2102 so the Front Panel is facing you.

2. Using an appropriate screwdriver, rotate the two
Tube Cover Screws counterclockwise, for approxi­mately five turns, until the Tube Cover can be re­moved from the MC2102 Chassis and the screws are
still attached to the cover. Refer to figure 1.

3. Orient the Tube Cover to the wide opening along one
side of its longer dimension. Refer to figure 2.

4. Remove the first layer of foam to expose the Tubes.
Refer to figure 3.

5. Carefully remove the Tubes from the remaining
pieces of foam and temporarily place them in a safe
location.

6. Remove the remaining foam from the Tube Cover
and retain all four pieces for possible future use.

Tube Cover Fastening Screw Locations

Tube Cover

Figure 1

Tube Cover with
Layers of Foam
and Tubes

Figure 2

Power Output Tubes

Small Signal Tubes

The MC2102 Chassis has nomenclature screened on it to
specify both the circuit location and Tube type for each
channel, refer to figure 4.

Note: It is extremely important to insert the Tubes in the

correct location.

Power Output Tubes:

1. Orient the Chassis so that the Front Panel of the Am­plifier is facing you.

2. Locate a KT88 or 6550 Power Output Tube.

3. On the top left side of the amplifier, locate the Tube
Socket that has the nomenclature V7L KT88/6550
next to it on the chassis.

4. Orient the Tube so that the key on the base of the
Tube is aligned with the corresponding key on the
Tube Socket.

5. Carefully insert the Tube into the socket until the base
of the Tube is fully seated in the Tube Socket.

6. Repeat the above the steps for the remaining 7 Power
Output Tubes.

6

Figure 3

V7L KT88/6550 Tube

V1L 12AX7A Tube

Figure 4