Предусилители — McIntosh C53

The McIntosh C53 is a stereo transistor preamplifier with a built-in digital section, a pair of phono stages and a headphone amplifier, and McIntosh now lists it among its legacy products. The front uses a glass panel set in black metal and polished steel, with blue backlit VU meters above the controls. Digital decoding comes from the DA2 Digital Audio Module, which is installed at the factory.

Key specs that matter

The C53 offers 16 inputs, nine analog and seven digital. Analog sources connect through three balanced XLR and four unbalanced RCA inputs plus dedicated Moving Magnet and Moving Coil phono inputs. The digital side has two coaxial inputs, two optical inputs, asynchronous USB, HDMI ARC and the MCT digital DIN socket that carries DSD from McIntosh SACD/CD transports. Frequency response is +0/-0.5 dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz and +0/-3 dB from 15 Hz to 100 kHz, with total harmonic distortion no higher than 0.005% across the audio band. Input impedance is 44 kOhm balanced and 22 kOhm unbalanced, output impedance is 200 ohms balanced and 100 ohms unbalanced, and maximum output is 16 V through XLR and 8 V through RCA. Power draw in operation is 30 W, and the unit weighs 12.5 kg.

Engineering and use context

The MM phono stage has 47 kOhm input impedance, 4.5 mV sensitivity and 40 dB gain. The MC stage offers 60 dB gain, 0.45 mV sensitivity and selectable loading of 25, 50, 100, 200, 400 or 1000 ohms. Inside the DA2 is an eight-channel 32-bit converter in Quad Balanced configuration, taking DSD up to DSD512 over USB and 24-bit/192 kHz over the coaxial and optical inputs. Frequency balance can be altered with an eight-band analog equalizer offering a range of 12 dB per band. The High Drive headphone amplifier on the 6.3 mm jack is specified for headphones of 100 to 600 ohms and includes the Headphone Crossfeed Director (HXD) circuit. A Home Theater PassThru function is included for surround systems. Outputs comprise three variable balanced, variable unbalanced and one fixed RCA, plus two trigger outputs and 3.5 mm jacks for linking other McIntosh components.

Pairing

Power amplifiers connect over XLR or RCA, while an MM or MC turntable is wired to its own phono socket, and DSD from SACD reaches the C53 from a McIntosh transport over the MCT cable.

Alternatives

The McIntosh C55 is the closely related solid state preamplifier in the same range, sharing the DA2 module, the 16-input layout and the eight-band equalizer.