Dimensions: 5 3/4 in. H x 17 1/2 in. W x 15 in. D (6.8 cm x 44.5 cm x 38.1
cm).
Weight: 22 lbs. (10 kg).
Price: $2,750.
Company Address: 2 Chambers St., Binghamton N.Y. 13903; 607/723 3512.
Anyone who has been around the audio industry for as long as I have can't help but reminisce over the early days of high fidelity, when brands like Fisher, H. H. Scott, and Harman/Kardon dominated not just American hi-fi but the world's. And always at the top of the list was McIntosh. All but Harman Kardon are now owned by Asian giants. But McIntosh, though now owned by Clarion, a Japanese company, is a case apart. McIntosh still designs and, for the most part, assembles products in up state New York.
Physically, ergonomically, and cosmetically, the McIntosh MCD-7009 is most distinctive. It's large for a CD player, and its glass front panel glows invitingly. Five good-sized and well-spaced sculpted but tons lie on each side of the central display.
On the left are "Open/Close," "Repeat," "Stop," "Pause," and "Play"; on the right are "REV" (reverse), "FF" (fast forward), "Back" (track skip backward), and "Next" (track skip forward). The last button, which is red instead of black, is "Power." A red lamp above "Open/Close" blinks as the tray opens and closes and glows continuously when a disc is loaded. Another lamp, above "Pause," indicates when that function has been activated.
From the remote, you can control all aforementioned functions except opening and closing the disc tray and turning power on and off. You can also access tracks directly via numbered buttons on its keypad.
The remote's keypad and "Clear" button, together with a "PGM" button, can be used to program as many as 20 tracks for play back in any order. Program memory is retained even after the selections have been played or stopped. The program memory is released by pressing "PGM" once again or by pressing "Stop" twice.
You can check the memory by using the Review" key; each tap displays the next program in the queue. Individual programs can be deleted by using Review" to access the specific program and pressing "Delete." You can add programs by advancing to the de sired point in the queue with "Review" and then entering the new pro gram with the remote's numeric keypad-even after programmed playback has begun.
"Delete" can also he used in conjunction with the numeric keypad to skip over particular tracks; the remaining tracks will then be played in consecutive order. You can inspect what's left in the queue by following the "review" procedure outlined above. This McIntosh player also can be programmed to pause at any point (for example, when you want to turn over a cassette that you're dubbing onto) by using "Pause" as if it were another program in the queue.
When you're reviewing the contents of the program memory, the MCD7009 displays track number, program number, and total programmed playback time, so it's easy to determine when you have accumulated enough time to fill one side of your cassette. When you're playing a lineup that contains a pause command, the total-remaining-time display shows the time remaining to the pause point.
You can program more than one pause into the queue but not consecutive pauses (which, in any event, would be meaningless).
The "Single" button can be used to play one track simply by pressing it and entering the track number. The single-play mode is released by pressing "Single" again. "Single" can also be used in conjunction with "Re peat" to repeat a single track. Used alone, "Repeat" replays the entire disc; if you use the "A-B" button to mark start and stop points, "Repeat" replays that particular section of the disc. Musicians find this handy to analyze a specific passage, and it's a feature relatively few players provide these days. If a program lineup has been memorized, "Repeat" replays the contents of the memory.
The remote carries "Index" search keys, another now-rare feature that I appreciate. An "Auto Space" pad inserts about 4 seconds of silence between tracks, and it can be toggled on and off. When the "Fade" key is pressed during play, the output level gradually diminishes and the MCD7009 pauses; pressing "Fade" again will resume play and fade the level up.
The "Time" button selects display of elapsed time on the current track, remaining time on the cur rent track, or total remaining time on the disc (or to the next programmed pause). I found the display unusually legible.
The back panel is straightforward: gold-plated RCA jacks for the analog line outputs and coaxial digital output, a Toslink optical digital out, and two means of inter facing with McIntosh preamplifiers or system-remote components: a "Data In" jack for components that have a McIntosh "CD Data Port" and a seven-pin DIN jack for those that don't. A small slide switch enables you to defeat the digital out puts when they're not used.
Measurements
Fig. 1--Linearity error.
Fig. 2--THD+N vs level.
Fig. 3--Fade-to-noise test, with dithered signal.
Fig. 4--THD + N vs. frequency.
All of the test measurements were made with the CBS CD-1 test disc. Where only one data point is given, it is for the left channel or, where the possibility of significant interchannel differences prompted separate measurements, for the worse channel.
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MEASURED DATA
Line Output Level: 2.2 volts at 0-dBFS recorded level.
Line Output Impedance: 1,100 ohms.
Channel Balance: ±0.03 dB.
Frequency Response: +0.32,-0 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
THD + N: At 0 dBFS, less than 0.061%, 20 Hz to 20 kHz; at 1 kHz, less than -91 dB from 0 to-90 dBFS and less than -94.7 dB from -30 to -90 dBFS.
Linearity Error: At -60 dBFS, 0.01 dB; at -70 dBFS, 0.15 dB; at -80 dBFS, 0.42 dB; at -90 dBFS, 1.07 dB.
A-Weighted S/N for Infinity-Zero Signal: 118.3 dB re 0 dBFS.
Quantization Noise: -91.8 dBFS.
Dynamic Range: Unweighted, 95.7 dB; A-weighted, 98.5 dB.
Channel Separation: Greater than 114.9 dB from 125 Hz to 16 kHz.
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As far as these test results go, McIntosh devotees will find relatively little to com plain about. Converter linearity, in particular, is exemplary, as seen in the plot of linearity error (Fig. 1) and the plot of total harmonic distortion plus noise (THD + N) versus level (Fig. 2). It's relatively rare to find a CD player whose worst-case linearity error is barely more than 1 dB at-90 dBFS-and that's on an undithered track of the test disc. With a dithered track, the -90 dBFS worst-case (left-channel) error is only 0.29 dB (0.34 dB at -100 dBFS), and the right-channel error is virtually zero all the way down! The fade-to-noise curve in Fig. 3 tells a similar story, with an average error of less than 2 dB down to, perhaps, -113 dBFS.
Linearity measurements are made using 1-kHz recordings, where full-scale distortion can be expected to be low. The MCD7009 fares relatively less well in the test of THD + N versus frequency, which is taken at a series of points from 20 Hz to 20 kHz (each tone recorded at full level). As you can see from Fig. 4, distortion rises gradually above 2 kHz and spikes up sharply at 18 kHz. This likely results from a combination of high-frequency conversion inaccuracy (perhaps due to jitter) and a marginal reconstruction filter that permits intermodulation of the signal's harmonics with the carrier. The rather unusual rise in frequency response above 8 to 10 kHz, seen in Fig. 5, lends credibility to my hypothesis about the MCD7009's reconstruction filter.
On the more plebeian side, this player's output level was about a decibel greater than the "standard" 2 volts, the output impedance was adequately low, and its channels were exceedingly well balanced. The channel separation was superb in both directions, averaging about 115 dB, and A-weighted noise from the "digital-zero" track of the test disc was vanishingly low.
Taken together, these specifics testify to excellent analog circuit de sign and layout. This opinion is reinforced by spectral analyses of the digital-zero and-60 dBFS, 1-kHz tracks of the test disc (Fig. 6). Hum related to the power supply, the only "line" components of significance within the audio band, is about-120 dBFS at 120 Hz and -125 dBFS at 240 Hz from the dig ital-zero track on the test disc.
The quantization noise and dynamic range tests exercise the D/A converter (the former over the converter's full range, the latter using the 1-kHz,-60 dBFS test track). Therefore, this data reflects converter noise and distortion as well as the noise and distortion contributed by the analog circuitry. Although the MCD7009 did not do particularly poorly in these regards, it set no new records either-and, indeed, could be better.
Fig. 5--Frequency response.
Fig. 6--Third-octave spectrum analysis.
Use and Listening Tests
I could not help but be dazzled by the McIntosh MCD-7009's tasteful illumination, clearly defined controls, user friendliness, and well-conceived features. Nor could I be anything but impressed by its smooth, silent operation. Its disc tray, for instance, glides open and closed with the surefootedness and silky smoothness of a pampered cat. Unfortunately, I did not find the player's sound as silky or as surefooted as its mechanism.
I have always been impressed with Mitsuko Uchida's ability to coax bell-like clarity from the tenor and soprano registers of her piano while maintaining a solid bass foundation. Yet on the MCD7009, her new recording of Schumann's "Carnaval" and "Kreisleriana" (Philips 442 777) seemed plagued with an unusual treble brittleness coupled with a relatively weak bass line.
Further, I found it difficult to distinguish between the two violins Itzhak Perlman used to record the J. S. Bach solo sonatas and partitas (Angel ZDCB 49483). According to Perlman's notes, he used his Guarneri del Gesti for most of the recording but the Stradivari of 1714 for the C major and A minor sonatas. On some players I can distinguish between the instruments, but both were rather scratchy on the MCD7009.
Matters improved somewhat on works of larger scale: the Borodin symphonies with Neeme Jarvi and the Gothenburg Symphony (DGG 435757), the Handel "Messiah" by The English Concert conducted by Trevor Pinnock (Archiv 423631/2), and the Bach-Malloch "The Art of Fuguing" con ducted by Lucas Foss (Sheffield Lab 10047 2-G). The MCD7009 was especially adept at preserving the ambient "tails" that are particularly well recorded in the Handel work, and I found the width of the soundstage quite good. It lacked depth, however, and I still felt the sound was overly bright in the treble and lacked a really firm bass foundation.
The nostalgia that McIntosh causes to rise in my soul may work to its disadvantage, for I must admit this feeling likely influences the standard to which I hold the company. The MCD7009 is not a bad player, and I would not wish to discourage any one from buying it. But in my opinion, it is not a great player, and I find it hard to accept less than greatness from this venerable company.
-EDWARD J. FOSTER
(Audio magazine, Jan. 1996)
Also see:
McIntosh MC 7200 Power Amplifier (Equip. Profile, Jan. 1990)
McIntosh MC2600 Amplifier (Feb. 1992)
McIntosh Model C-27 Stereo Preamplifier (Sept. 1978)
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