McIntosh XR-290.....Sweet!

I had the pleasure of spending the last three days at the home of a family member who recently acquired a pair of McIntosh XR-290 loudspeakers. He has been a McIntosh nut for about 30 years, but always had Klipsch speakers, but now has made the switch to McIntosh speakers in a big way! (...and I mean BIG.) I've included some photos of the system, which includes two McIntosh MC1201 mono amps (1200 wpc into 8 ohms, IIRC), McIntosh Music Server (doubles as a CD player), and McIntosh D/A converter. I only was able to spend an hour or so listening, but here are my comments:

1. Jimmy Buffett - MOFI CD of SON OF A SON OF A SAILOR - an excellent pop recording, IMO, and the acoustic guitars sounded smooth, and the bass was very full without over powering. Great sounds here.
2. Pink Floyd - THE WALL - Old CBS CD, I think (it played off the server) - I have felt bass that "you could feel" in the past, but nothing like this. Oy, vay! It was like being hit hard in the chest by a great boxer wearing pillows for gloves. The punchiest, tightest, fullest bass I've heard.
3. I do classical music recording in the Seattle area, and I had a disc of a recording of Beethoven's 9th that I had done recently, and we played the 2nd and 4th movements. Effortless, with a nice wide spread and smooth strings. Dynamics like you wouldn't believe.
4. Beatles - "Something" from ABBEY ROAD. This was great fun. The standard-issue Capitol CD was transferred onto the music server, and we listened to it at a rather full volume, and it sounded harsh in spots, which really surprised me. (I have 3 LP copies and a 7.5 ips open reel, but not the CD.) I had a CD copy I had done of the MoFi LP, and we played that, and it was like butter -- all the difference and improvement in the world. The best I've ever heard the Beatles sound. Wow. Those descending bass notes that lead into the guitar solo were phenomenal.

A splendid time was had by yours truly, and I can heartily recommend that you sell your house and invest in a pair of these puppies...

Matt

 

More photos

Two more shots....

 

Not to upset anybody, but he paid $5k for these on Craigslist -- locally, even! -- picking them up from a guy who had inherited them and had them sitting in his small apartment and just wanted to get rid of them. Some guys have all the luck!

 

Dome tweeters, foam surrounds, IIRC. There's a link to the details in the first post at the top of this thread.

 

(Pointlessly closed thread reopened.)

I'm sad to report that my brother moved and sold the speakers. I can say that they sounded fabulous!

 

My oldest brother (over 7 years older than me) caused me to be bitten by the hi-fi bug at a very young age. (I've pointed out before that while he was still living at home, he had a pair of La Scala's in his bedroom!) In a somewhat surprising move, he recently moved and sold everything, so he's more-or-less stereo-free, which I never thought I'd see happen.