#Mcintosh compendium professional#

#Mcintosh compendium professional#

As such, it was ideal for use in demanding, professional applications.ĭuring the 1970s, the MC-2300 was an expensive piece of audio equipment, with a retail price of $1799 by the time of its discontinuation in 1980. McIntosh's ratings were conservative, however, because like many of their amplifiers, when bench-tested the MC-2300 has frequently been found to produce an even higher level of clean power.

The MC-2300 can be utilized either as a 300-watt-per-channel stereo amp, or a 600-watt monoblock, and was rated by its manufacturer as being able to produce this amount of power continuously, with very little (less than 0.25%) distortion. Today, the MC-2300 remains a very sought-after amplifier for audiophiles and collectors. During its production run, 4545 units were made. Physically, the MC-2300 is a very large and sturdy amplifier, measuring 10.5 in (26.7 cm) high x 19 in (48.3 cm) wide x 17 in (43.2 cm) deep, and weighing an impressive 128 lbs (58 kg). Jerry Garcia with MC-2300 in right lower corner of picture Design Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia also favored the MC-2300, using one for many years in his own equipment stack (see picture). Thanks to a combination of persistence and luck, the extra MC-2300's were incorporated into the sound system, successfully providing high-quality music to the gigantic crowd. Despite the fact that it was the weekend, she was able to locate the owner, buy the amps off the factory floor, and fly back to the festival site, with the overloaded helicopter skirting high-rise buildings and narrowly avoiding catastrophe in the process. Sound engineer Janet Furman was dispatched by helicopter with $6000 cash to nearby Binghamton, site of McIntosh Laboratories, to obtain five additional MC-2300 amps. Additional broadcast towers were set up, but this required more amplification power.

Due to the crowd's enormous size, a significant number of concertgoers could neither see the stage, nor adequately hear the music projecting from it. This concert was attended by 600,000 people - twice the number that went to the Woodstock festival in August 1969. In late July 1973, the Grateful Dead played at the Watkins Glen Summer Jam in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, along with the Band and the Allman Brothers Band. The Wall of Sound was only in use from March to October 1974. Designed by Owsley 'Bear' Stanley and others, this system utilized more than 26,000 watts of continuous power fed into JBL and Electrovoice speakers, and was renowned for its natural, low-distortion stereo sound which carried for 600 feet without significant degradation. The improvisational rock band the Grateful Dead employed 48 McIntosh MC-2300 amps as the main power source for their enormous public-address system, the Wall of Sound.