Big Macs

Big Macs

Written by Frank Doris

More rarities from The Audio Classics Collection: a pair and a spare of McIntosh MC 3500 hybrid mono power amps, atop a pair of McIntosh ML4C loudspeakers. Not only were the amps good enough for home use, they were fit to be used by the Grateful Dead in live performances. The 5-way ML4C has four 12-inch woofers, an 8-inch lower-midrange driver, two 1-1/2-inch soft-dome midrange units and two 2-1/4-inch tweeters. It needed an MQ101 or MQ102 equalizer for flat low-frequency response.

 

A close up of one of the MC 3500 amps. 125 pounds of sonic brawn with 350 watts continuous power output and a stated output impedance capability down to 1 ohm.

 

We’ll bet this didn’t win any graphic design awards. Elektra Records catalog insert, 1958 – 1959, featuring artists from Theodore Bikel and Josh White to…Gene and Francesca?

 

I never did this. I mean, who listened to Mantovani back then? Pioneer ad, circa late 1970s.

 

We suppose “depth” is relative. From the Columbia “Listening in Depth” series of ads, 1957 – 1958.

Back to Copper home page

1 of 2