Our good friends in Blanco TX are downsizing and donated their old not entirely functional 1960′s Cabinet Stereo system to us last week. Fortunately they took immaculate care of it and although the speakers were popping and not working all the time it was in fantastic physical condition. I felt pretty confident I could get it working without too much trouble.
Cleaning McIntosh 1700 in garage
I drove down to Blanco to pick it up and returned Saturday night. I worked late into the evening getting it working again.
The cabinet contained a Mac 1700 receiver and tube pre-amp by McIntosh. When I powered it up it lit up but the audio and knobs made scratching noise and I was only getting sound out of one speaker. I used Deoxit and Deoxit Gold to clean the oxidized connections which where the root of most of the units issues.
McIntosh Mac 1700 Receiver Preamp with Tubes
Once I got the Aux and Tape inputs cleaned I hooked up my iPhone to test the sound and much to my surprise it sounded pretty awesome. I surmised my digital files would sound better through the tube pre-amp but I had no idea how much better. Even with 50 year old JBL 15 inch speakers that I have not even started reconditioning it sounded so much warmer and clearer than I am used to.
Orange Glow of Vintage Tube Technology
The tubes make all the difference in the world. If you get a chance to pick up an old unit like this from some friends or a flea market I highly recommend it. Below is the unit dusted off and set up in our house.
Mid-Century Stereo Cabinet 1960's
It came with a old belt drive turntable as well. I have not started on that yet and will need to save it for another weekend. I look forward to that project as well.
The whole family is enjoying it now, when I got home from work today the kids were playing songs from the Madagascar 3 soundtrack and much to my displeasure Alvin and the Chipmunks. That was not what I had in mind for this vintage unit… but oh well.
