[FreddieFerric]

Prior to the great hack of 2022, I was asked to post up a review of the MC1502. I've thought a lot about this amp, its sound, and my impressions of it in the last 90+ days. What follows is a short summary of what I've come to think about it.


I should first like to start with the easiest matter to discuss: Physical Appearance.
It’s been oft said that nice things come in shiny packages. To the uninitiated, or those who have never seen the MC1502 in person, the amp is, well; Big! It has stature, visual impact and a certain style of overt gravitas. Its “in the flesh” presence overwhelms any photograph I have ever seen of it. It is by all accounts a very nice and substantial shiny package.

Having had the good fortune to visit or sit with a good number of McIntosh amps over the years, the MC1502 stands as a sort of standard bearer to the brands open tube architecture that had heretofore been the sole province of models such as the MC275 and MC75, its predecessors, and later to the newer models like the MC830 and its MA352 and MA252 integrated cousins.

Dimensionally the MC1502 measures a stout 18.25 x 10.25 x 21 (WxHxD) and weighs-in at a back breaking 118 pounds in the buff. The amp will take up nearly every square inch of some of the larger amp stands on the market. The top plate is mirror polished stainless steel which, aside from its visual beauty, helps augment the magical tube glow that the 8 KT88 power tubes produce. Its 8 signal tubes stand like sentries in front of the double rows of KT88’s, their green lit LED’s glowing brightly enough to be clearly seen in any daytime setting. To its credit, McIntosh includes, on the front panel, a rotary dial switch that defeats the little green devils, so nighttime enjoyment brings with it only the seductive and soul soothing natural amber glow that is the hallmark of vacuum tube gear. The fit and finish of this amp is simply superb from top to bottom. The MC1502 is architecture. The MC1502 is art.

In the audiophile community, the best looking gear doesn’t do much good to anyone if it doesn’t sound great as well. So, how does the MC1502 stack up in that regard? To set the record straight at the outset, you must know, I am not a loud music listener. My Rock n Roll head-banging days are miles behind me now. The genres of music I spend my days and nights listening to now consist of the great crooners, classical music and a prodigious amount of great jazz.

Being the non-professional reviewer I am, it seems easier for me to first discuss what the MC1502 doesn’t sound like. That is, it doesn’t sound classic tube-like. By that I mean it’s not overly warm or romantic. It’s not syrupy or fat sounding. It is, however, supremely neutral. To my ears, the amp sounds like truth. As I’ve listened to it over the last 90+ days, it constantly comes back to me that this amp illuminates music from within. The consequence of which is to draw you in to the listening experience. To my way of thinking, that is perhaps the highest compliment I can give to this amp. I look forward to the time I get to spend with it. Every time.

Great resolution is a hallmark of the MC1502’s sound. Instruments sound like real instruments. There’s resonating vibration and the gentle decay of the bow across string, the sound of air on the reed, the wetness in the artists mouth, and the utter purity of the struck piano key. This great quality, however, does not come across to the point where the taskmaster pounces on every miscalculation of the equation. This amp is not overtly analytical. It doesn’t get in the way of the music by exposing its flaws. It simply lets the music flow.

As I stated in the beginning, I like listening to music at low volume levels. To my way of thinking, soft listening volumes, 25% or less on the preamp, really exposes an amplifiers capabilities. It presents the test of whether the amp can sound real and still present an engaging sonic picture that gives the listener a reasonable dynamic presentation despite its idling along. The MC1502 really shines in this regard. What makes this fact even more impressive to me is that it achieves this quality through large full range floor standing Canton Reference speakers. A match made in heaven I’ve come to believe.

Oh, and the MC1502 has grip. Loads of grip. While I generally eschew loud music listening, it is not all the time. On those occasions when I’m in the mood for adventure, the volume level cranks up and the room fills with SPL’s that might make the faint of heart feel a bit squeamish. (This includes my wife and cat) Forgive my omission from the earlier description, but the MC1502 is rated at a mere 150 WPC. And if you believe that, I’ll tell you another. What I mean here is that McIntosh is legendary for its very conservative power output ratings. This amp produces a good bit more than 150WPC and while I have no measured proof to back that statement up, I’ll stand with Vizzini and say: “I’ll bet my life on it.”

On the subject of power, of which the MC1502 possess a prodigious amount; what good is 150 watts if the first watt isn’t sublime? This harkens to that age old adage of the audiophile community: If you don’t like the first watt, why would you want 149 more of them. Well, I like the MC1502’s first watt. No, I tell a lie,… I love the MC1502’s first watt. So heck yeah, I’ll gladly take 149 more! The hallmark of these watts is clean, coherent, resolving power: Free of artifacts, grain or glare. There is no sibilance in this amp. Period. What I really admire here is this amps ability to play throughout its entire power band without distortion or loss of control and delicacy. These accolades cannot be said of many solid state brethren, my MA8000 included. While it has twice the power output, it doesn’t maintain the same composure at 200 watts as it does at 10 watts. In saying this I’m not casting dispersions on the many fine solid state components on the market today. Rather, these are merely myopic musings from within my own little oyster.

A final word that must include the ubiquitous McIntosh Sentry Monitor. A hallmark of McIntosh protection circuitry, and in the case of the MC1502 (at least my unit), exceedingly sensitive. The monitor is designed to protect against impedance mis-matches between amp and speaker and also to detect tube failure, and I assume, other events of fault as they may occur. During my ownership of the MC1502, the Sentry Monitor has kicked in on two occasions. Both which seemed to have no apparent reason. Cycling the unit off and then on again reset it and all was good to go. Since those two occurrences, I have developed a particular power on procedure for the system which I leave disconnected from the mains when not in use. Since the adoption of said procedure, which I won’t detail here, Sentry Monitor has stayed unobtrusively quiet in the background, operating without issue.

Summing up. How do I feel about the MC1502? Well, were I tapped to evaluate a review sample how would I feel at the end? Would I feel obliged to buy the thing rather than let it out of my possession? In a word: Yes.