McIntosh Announce New Home Audio Products

McIntosh has revealed two brand new home audio products, the MC830 Solid State Monoblock Amplifier and C8 Vacuum Tube Preamplifier. These new models are of a similar styling to the retro-inspired MA252 and MA352 Integrated Amplifiers which McIntosh took design cues from the MC275 Vacuum Tube Amplifier.

MC830 Solid State Amp

The MC830 is a 1-Channel Solid State Amplifier that has a similar footprint to the MA252 Integrated Amplifier. The MC830 is a direct-coupled output design that is rated at 300 Watts into 8 Ohms or 480 Watts into 4 Ohms. A fast-responding Dual Scale Watt meter gives an accurate readout of power output for both speaker impedances. McIntosh Monogrammed Heatsinks^™ adds visual appeal and will keep the MC830 running cool for optimum performance. Both a balanced and unbalanced input are included for connecting it to the rest of your music system.

To protect your speakers and the overall system, the MC830 includes two home audio technologies: our patented Power Guard^® technology that monitors the amplifier’s output signal to protect your speakers against being overdriven; and our fuse-less short-circuit protection circuit Sentry Monitor^™ that will disengage the MC830’s output stage if current ever exceeds safe operating levels.

The Solid Cinch^™ speaker binding posts easily secure your speaker cables to prevent them from coming loose and possibly causing a short. The binding posts are gold-plated to prevent corrosion and ensure a quality audio signal is sent to your speakers. Power Control ports allow for easy system power up and shut down by sending power on/off signals to other connected McIntosh components. The user-selectable Auto-Off feature will turn off the MC830 after 30 minutes if no audio signal is received.

C8 Vaccum Tube Pre-amp

The C8 Vacuum Tube Preamplifier is also similarly sized to the MA252 Integrated Amplifier and is powered by four 12AX7a vacuum tubes housed inside stylish protective cages. The C8 comes with 1 balanced and 2 unbalanced analog inputs, plus 1 Moving Coil and 1 Moving Magnet phono inputs with adjustable loading to play cherished vinyl collections. Bass and treble tone controls help fine-tune your music to your personal preferences.

For outputs, it has 1 balanced and 2 unbalanced; 1 of the unbalanced outputs can be configured as a subwoofer output for use with a powered subwoofer to further enhance low frequencies.

For personal listening, the C8 comes with our High Drive headphone amplifier that has plenty of power and flexibility to drive a wide range of headphones. Power Control ports allow for easy system power up and shut down by sending power on/off signals to other connected McIntosh components. The user-selectable Auto-Off feature will turn the C8 off after 30 minutes when there’s been no user input or if no audio signal has been detected. Home Theater Pass Through allows the C8 to be seamlessly integrated into your home theater system, and Data Ports can send remote control commands to connected source components.

While the C8 does not come equipped with any digital inputs from the factory, it is digital-audio-ready as our DA2 Digital Audio Module can be installed in it.

The MC830 will go for $4,000 USD while the C8 will be priced at $3,500 USD

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