AS the legend goes, your McIntosh Labs amp will last you for years and years… still, this isn’t stopping the company from fine-tuning/upgrading its current products with newer iterations. The latest in line to benefit from new research is the MC312 power amp, which replaces the popular MC302 – still 300 watts per channel as the name indicates, but sporting some updated features.
To start, with the new model gets a 27% (from 1.8dB to 2.3dB) increase in dynamic headroom, thanks to a doubling of the filter capacity, and so handles a wide range of musical moods with better ease. Distortion is further minimised, while bass performance benefits from this as well.
Design-wise, the iconic looks are a given, but with a tweak… “direct LED backlighting now illuminates the front panel for improved colour accuracy”, and while the familiar Autoformers still straddle the power transformer, they are now located in new enclosures that are “capped by a single cover containing glass inserts that show the wiring diagram for each transformer.”
As is the norm, the MC312 is able to deliver its full power into any speaker load, thanks to the Autoformers.
According to McIntosh, other updates include “the addition of our Monogrammed Heatsinks and our eco-friendly power management system… numerous circuit components and internal wiring have also been upgraded… balanced and unbalanced outputs have been added to enable bi-amping or tri-amping your speakers; they can also be used to connect to a secondary system if your preamplifier doesn’t have enough connections, or to connect a powered subwoofer.”
Tempted? Well, you can pre-order the MC312 now, shipping begins this month.
Leave a Reply