The legendary American firm McIntosh has just made a new exhibition of its talent with the marketing of a new e impressive power stage intended for the most demanding music lovers and audiophiles: the MC451. Slightly simplified version with a chassis with more conventional geometry and dimensions of the formidable MC901, the new McIntosh shares the same conception. An absolutely unique conception in that combine in the same block two amplifiers based on different devices for bi-amplify speakersusing the most appropriate in each route and which is reflected in the exclusive Hybrid Drive technologywith an output section based on vacuum tubes and another based on transistors.
Specifically, the MC451 includes a tube amplifier (12AX7A and 12AT7 in small signal and KT88 in power amplification) 150 watts continuous speakers intended for midrange and treble speakers and one with 300 watt transistors continuous in order to do the same with the woofers, the first of them using the iconic output transformer Unity Coupled Circuit from McIntosh in order to guarantee full compatibility with 8, 4 and even 2 ohm speakers. For its part, the “solid state” amplifier uses another emblematic engineering solution from the American firm, the Autoformer technology, in order to attack with authority all types of speaker systems. A fundamental element of the MC451 is that the two aforementioned amplifiers work together in one synergistic relationshipeach of them being destined for a specific frequency range.
Equipped with an opulent extremely quiet toroidal transformerthe new McIntosh simplifies considerably the formal complexity of bi-amplification, avoid use of separate power stages, an external crossover filter and a lot of testing as to how incorporates filtering electronics which adapts the range of output frequencies of each of its amplifiers to the relevant section of the associated speaker, and the gain of the vacuum tube-based amplifier can also be adjusted from -6 dB to +3 dB. The MC451 also features one of the sophisticated DualView displays from McIntosh, consisting of two independent level indicators that show the power delivered by the tube and transistorized sections. The new McIntosh “double monophonic” power amplifier is completed with the classic and ultra-effective protection systems Power Guard (in the “solid state” section, Power Guard Screen Grid Sensor (SGS) in the valve section and Sentry Monitorin this case to limit excess current in the entire assembly, to which we must add connection terminals to boxes Solid Cinch and a heatsink Monogrammed Heatsink of the American firm.
