{"product_id":"mcintosh-ma7000","title":"McIntosh MA7000","description":"\u003cp\u003eMA7000 is the biggest McIntosh integrated amplifier so far. It is also one of the heaviest, almost 45 kg! It has a classic McIntosh design. Front panel made of thick glass. In the upper part we can find blue illuminated power output watt meters calibrated to show even the smallest power output. The meters are there just to satisfy customers. Between them you will find two red LEDs that indicate one of the company's unique patents, Power Guard. This is a circuit that protects the device from overdriving the power. It doesn't simply cut the power but gently compresses power peaks so that the signal waveform, which Power Guard is comparing, stays the same and there are no audible distortions. Below you will find a nice row of controls: two larger ones at the sides, and five small ones in the middle. On the left side there is a balance control, on the right a volume control. The small controls in the middle are actually complex equalizer controls. Equalizers are considered unnecessary or even harmful nowadays, but when correctly designed they might come in handy surprisingly often. The real reason for avoiding equalizers is simple: there is no magic about it. A well-designed equalizer costs a lot, especially one like this with five frequencies: 30\/150\/500\/1500\/10000 Hz. There is no on\/off button; it doesn't process the signal if the control is in the middle position. Beneath there is a row of push-buttons: input selector (6 linear inputs and one MM phono input), mono, output (x 2) and mute. Rear panel connections are placed in two groups. One is located in the lower part of the chassis, and the other in the upper part. The lower part consists of gold-finished RCA connectors and the preamplifier's XLR output, and in the upper part two balanced XLR inputs with two unbalanced RCA inputs right beside them, plus excellent WBT speaker terminals like in tube amplifiers, separate for different loads - 2\/4\/8 ohm. The preamplifier and amplifier sections are connected via jumpers. As already mentioned, the inside is divided into two parts. The lower part is a preamplifier based on electromagnetic switches for the input selector, transistors and NE5532 operational amplifiers. We can find another circuit there - a TLC174 by Texas Instruments, an eight-channel amplifier, most likely working as a tone control. In the upper part of the device we will find power transistors fixed directly to huge radiators, which are visible on the side of the device. There are also four big capacitors whose task is to level current fluctuations for this part of the device. The secondary winding is common to both power transistors. There is a separate one for the preamplifier, hence an advanced power supply in the lower part of the amplifier, where each section - input, driver, meters, safety circuits and so on - has its own power supply. The transformer (EI) itself is huge, packed in a metal case filled with some damping material. Autotransformers (output transformers) were put into similar cases. All transformers are located at the front of the chassis. They are not hidden under the top plate of the chassis, so together with the beautiful front they make a nice, attractive design. Twelve power transistors are used in each channel of the MA7000 power output circuitry. Those are special elements called Thermaltracks. This allows for instantaneous and accurate monitoring of the power transistor temperature. A specially designed bias circuit precisely controls and adjusts the temperature of the power transistors so that they always work under the same conditions. As mentioned before, balanced outputs (two pairs) are located separately in the amplifier's part of the chassis. The XLR connectors are partnered by RCA ones, right behind the latter, where the signal is symmetrized in inexpensive, low-noise NE5532 circuits. The signal goes from there to the lower part of the amplifier through a computer cable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOutput power: 2 x 250W\/8, 4, 2 ohm (20-20,000 Hz) THD: 0.005% (maximum rated power) Frequency response: (+0, -0.5 dB) 20 Hz-20,000 Hz (+0, -3 dB) 10 Hz-100,000 Hz Preamp output: 2.5V (RCA, max. 8V); 5 V (XLR, max. 16V) Input sensitivity (for 250 W): 250mV (RCA), 500mV (XLR) S\/N ratio (weighted): -100 dB, -84 dB Preamp total harmonic distortion: \u0026lt; 0.005% Wideband damping factor: 40 Input impedance: 20 kOhm, preamp 47 kOhm\/65 pF Dimensions (WxHxD): 444.5 x 239.7 x 558.8 mm Weight: 44.3 kg\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"McIntosh","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59370619142489,"sku":"1807","price":4990.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1066\/5721\/8905\/files\/mcintosh-ma7000-1.jpg?v=1789118413","url":"https:\/\/wenwaudio.com\/en-de\/products\/mcintosh-ma7000","provider":"W\u0026WAudio","version":"1.0","type":"link"}