MX150 - Early Impressions

[Poobah]

I so much wanted to start this thread with an all out account of how wonderful the mx150 is, and how it performed to all expectations. Unfortunately, after some consultation and soul searching I realize that I just need to be as truthful as possible about my findings, and hope that any negative findings will be addressed in due course.

First of all I want to say, that generally when watching a Blue-ray or listening to music. I'm really quite impressed with what I hear and see. I’m not really skilled in explaining how I think music sounds, all I can say is I find myself listening to a lot of tracks and very much liking what I’m hearing. Music is very much clean, detailed and dynamic, whether I’m listening to Aimee Mann, Led Zepplin, AC/DC, Leonard Cohen, Nine Inch Nails, Roger Waters, or the Beatles. My Previous experience dictated that where some would shine on one system, usually others would fail. The MX150 seems to accommodate all genre’s much better than my previous Sunfire had allowed. Granted a well recorded track is generally always important. As far as black levels go via hdmi, all seems untouched and true. In years gone by I have always noticed some sort of coloration whether it be black levels and/or detail when passing through a Pre-processor, thus I have always went from source to display. Finally it looks like I will no longer need to do that. I think Roomperfect is a success, and to put it simply, if it wasn't for the problems covered below I'd be a very happy customer. But as it stands, there are some issues that t feel I shouldn’t have to live with considering the $12,000 price and flagship status.

My system consists of:

20amp dedicated circuit:
2 MC501's connected via XLR's

15amp dedicated circuit:
1 apc H15 Power conditioner - which everything below plugs into.
1 mx150 outputs via hdmi to 60" pioneer
1 mc205 connected via XLR's
1 Motorola DCT6416 (Cable PVR) Outputs hdmi and optical to mx150
1 Denon 3800BDCI outputs hdmi to mx150
1 Xbox 360 outputs hdmi to mx150
1 Denon 5900 (not currently in use)
1 Sonus with Cullin Mod (Streams 24/96 via Optical connection)
1 60" Pioneer Elite Plasma

Speakers, are B&W 802d's, HTM2D, and 805 surrounds.

Now for the problems:

Problem 1.

When listening to a stereo source, and switching (via Remote) to a multi channel listening mode for that stereo source.. on 3 occasions so far. The processing went hay-wire and it sounded like I was listening to music through some hand made speaker made out of pepsi cans? if that makes any sense.. very bad. However it was corrected by a simple switch back to stereo mode and switching back to multichannel mode. This happened only 3 times, but I really haven't had more then 4 hours total time of listening to music to this point and I don't spend alot of time switching from one mode to another. (i hope it will just go away, like a burn on etc.)

There was also an incident when I for the very first time listened to the Cable PVR, that made me think immediately that there was something very wrong. Similar to the sound I described above, but when switching to another source (via remote) and switching back to the cable source.. the problem fixed itself.

Problem 2.

All video sources are now fed to my mx150... but if I'm not watching the cable pvr, the cable pvr will have a handshake issue, that will require a few minutes for me to resolve while I try to get the cable unit to power off and on. So I need to try and remember to make sure to turn the cable pvr off, before I switch sources. Which is a fairly large pain in the butt, and may or may not effect recording shows etc. I realize I could work around that, by using component cables etc... but still it's frustrating, seeing as the kuro never caused this issue.

Problem 3.

On system shut down the mx150 releases a significant amount of noise into all channels. THe noise was like released energy, starting off loudish then fading over a second or two. A dirty sound, grainy. This problem was simply circumvented by setting up the triggers, so now the amps power down before the mx150's lights finally go off. I have yet to test plugging my MX150 directly into the wall as it was suggested I try by Ron. (I'll likely try that this weekend.)

Last night (March 31) I installed the March 24, 2010 update as Ron directed and I encountered what I believe is a related problem.

Problem 4.

When going through the menu to install the patch, at the point where it asks you to plug in the thumb drive and press continue. When i pressed continue there was a very loud and scary pop sound (the kind of sound that makes me worry for my speakers saftey), that eminated from my right surround speaker/s (not sure if it was right surround or right back surround or a combination of both.).

After the update, I listened to some streaming music from the sonos at a low volume of about 20%. When I pressed mute, there was again a audible pop (although not as loud and scary) emanating from mostly the right hand side. I also noticed if I quickly cycled mute on and off, there would not be an audible pop.. but if i turned mute off for an extended period of 30 seconds or more, then pressed mute again there would be a pop. Like a charge was building up in the circuitry or something?

Unfortunately, by the time another 30 minutes went by as I showed a friend some of the features of the unit and listened to some tunes... those problems went away for the rest of the evening. No more popping sounds when mute was used. So I'm happy that it went away, but I'm not convinced the problem is solved by any means.

In conclusion

I think it's a great unit, with what I'm hoping is very simple problem that can be fixed.. Possibly a problem that has nothing to do with the MX150.. Perhaps stray voltage from another component (cable)? I don't know. But that's all I know at this point.

I'd also like to say that Ron has been helping me to this point. And I'll be quite honest, I really haven't had alot of time to tinker and even try all the things that was suggested to me to try. I plan to give it a better shake this weekend, and see if some of these problems can be solved on my end. It was also suggested to me from a member here to get Chuck Hinton involved, and I'm basically sending him a similar email just prior to posting this.

I hope that we are able to fix these problems, and I understand that it is possible that perhaps some of my other components may have something to do with them? Although, i haven't encountered any of these problems with my prior Control Centre (although It didn't have HDMI, and all video was sent directly to the Plasma previously).

So if anyone has any questions about anything, I'll do my best to answer them.

[Masterlu]

Why isn't your dealer fully involved to resolve your issues?

[schaefer11]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

Why isn't your dealer fully involved to resolve your issues?

My thought as well. Supposed you didn't know about this forum or have access to Ron C? Get the dealer in there and let him spend his time finding out the problem. You paid him handsomely for that service.

[Poobah]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

Why isn't your dealer fully involved to resolve your issues?

Well it's only been a week, and I was hoping it would all just go away, and work. The problem 4 thing last night scared the crap out of me though. I have spoke to my dealer today, and am about to print this post off to give to him so he knows what's going on.

The dealer Tech (Dani) was also involved in the set up of the unit, and was aware and present for some of the strange happens...

[Poobah]

Originally Posted by schaefer11

My thought as well. Supposed you didn't know about this forum or have access to Ron C? Get the dealer in there and let him spend his time finding out the problem. You paid him handsomely for that service.

Good point, I'll stress the importance of them working with Mcintosh to resolve all issues..

Sound right?

[jdubbs]

This is exactly why I held off ordering an MX150 at launch. I've had enough issues with my MX135 (which died), MX136 (which frequently locks up or gets stuck in stereo mode... on an almost daily basis), and VP1000 (I'm on my third or fourth at this point? I've lost track) that I thought it best to give McIntosh ample time to work out the MX150's kinks. Especially given the manufacturing issues they've encountered over the last year trying to get these to market.

I don't mean to pile on here and I am certainly still a fan of McIntosh, but there were plenty of signs that being an early adopter in this case would be a risky proposition. Sorry for your troubles.

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by Poobah

Good point, I'll stress the important of them working with Mcintosh to resolve all issures..

Sound right?

I would be all over this situation to make my customer 110% happy! But folks here already know that.

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by jdubbs

This is exactly why I held off ordering an MX150 at launch. I've had enough issues with my MX135 (which died), MX136 (which frequently locks up or gets stuck in stereo mode... on an almost daily basis), and VP1000 (I'm on my third or fourth at this point? I've lost track) that I thought it best to give McIntosh ample time to work out the MX150's kinks. Especially given the manufacturing issues they've encountered over the last year trying to get these to market.

I don't mean to pile on here and I am certainly still a fan of McIntosh, but there were plenty of signs that being an early adopter in this case would be a risky proposition. Sorry for your troubles.

I hear you loud & clear, but in all fairness; I have one of the very first MVP881's & MEN220's both are 100% flawless.

My MX150 will be put into service very soon when I return to the Cape.

[jdandy]

Poobah.......I certainly sense your frustration, and believe you would have much prefered to tell us how happy the MX150 has made you, but it is good that you put this infornmation out here for all of us to read. There are not many MX150's in the hands of owners yet, so you are sort of like a beta tester right now. The loud popping on mute, the popping during udates, and the decaying noise on power off is totally unacceptable. I would not be satisfied with these problems from an $800 processor, much less one that cost fifteen times that. The issue between your cable box via HDMI seems very weird, too. Any one of the problems you described would irritate me, but the total of all of them would have me very upset, so I understand your frustration.

I have confidence that McIntosh will solve these issues for you one way or the other, even if it requires a new MX150 being shipped to you. Still, these kinds of out of the box performance issues, especially with a flagship processor from McIntosh, blemishes owner confidence, and completely evaporates the excitement of a new gear purchase.

Hang in there. I believe these problems will be worked out to your satisfaction eventually, hopefully sooner than later.

[Poobah]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

I would be all over this situation to make my customer 110% happy! But folks here already know that.

I don't doubt that, not for a second.

To be completely honest, I'm a bit ingorant of how to go about getting a situations like this fixed, seeing as I never had a situation like this with audio gear before. I'm sure my dealer, and Mcintosh will fix my wounded heart.

Originally Posted by jdubbs

This is exactly why I held off ordering an MX150 at launch. I've had enough issues with my MX135 (which died), MX136 (which frequently locks up or gets stuck in stereo mode... on an almost daily basis), and VP1000 (I'm on my third or fourth at this point? I've lost track) that I thought it best to give McIntosh ample time to work out the MX150's kinks. Especially given the manufacturing issues they've encountered over the last year trying to get these to market.

I don't mean to pile on here and I am certainly still a fan of McIntosh, but there were plenty of signs that being an early adopter in this case would be a risky proposition. Sorry for your troubles.

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I too was half expecting something to go wrong. I do have confidence it will be solved though.