What does 620 Pounds of Vintage McIntosh Speakers Sound Like? 

I've had my XRT20's for 35 years. Love them.

I truly appreciate you getting these rare monsters out and making a video to share with us all. As beautiful as they are and as great as they must sound, the size and weight make them too inconvenient to own for most people out there..Including myself! Thanks lots, Kevin..Enjoy the remainder of your Sunday!

It just makes sense that in the world of audio, you should own these speakers. I think they might be your crowning achievement. Keep them and, when you do eventually expand, have that dedicated room for people to bring their absolute favorite record to listen to all the way through. But, you have to charge an admission. Kidding. But, seriously, you possess a pair of speakers unlike any other. Please keep them. You deserve them!

I worked for a guy that owned a complete Mac system, including these speakers. I have to say this much, it was breathtaking to listen to. Dark Side of the Moon, all master cut pressing LP's and Super Tramp - Breakfast in America, Steely Dan - Aja , and Dire Straights, that was the first and only time I heard this mind blowing HiFi rig. Thanks for the memories.

Thank you for another fantastic video! I heard these beauties a few years ago before they went into storage. I remember waggling my head around trying to define where each instrument was in the soundscape. Listening to these was like being at a concert in an amphitheater where the sound has no boundaries, high-low, left-right, and everywhere in between, they sound like they're outdoors where speakers can really sing.

Roger Russell is smiling from above. I have the ML1C and though nobody else likes them, I do. I emailed him while he was alive and he was immensely gracious. I'm happy to see his Magnum Opus get this kind of respect. Gosh, I'd love to hear them.

I have a pair of XRT 20s I bought at a premium from a McIntosh dealer in Ohio. They blew me away with the “wall of sound”. They were spaced 40’ apart and just filled the whole store with sound. I have a c28 McIntosh preamp and MC402 powering them. They will rock my house no doubt. The tweeters is what blew me away. I think the mids and lows are lacking just a little bit. As a comparison I have a new pair of speakers the paradigm 120H which have amazing lows for 3 - 8” bass drivers in each with built in 1000w of power. Those are part of my home theater setup. Back to the XRT 20s. I did see a pair at a vintage shop in Houston on sale for $1750 and that was waaay cheaper than I paid for mine. Too me they were amazing the instant I heard them and never plan on getting rid of them.

I worked at a McIntosh dealer in the eighties and we sold a pair of these to the son of the owner of a now defunct shoe store chain. He invited us over to his home for a listening party. I thought they looked awesome and sounded pretty good, but not amazing, McIntosh speakers were not known to be amazing back then. The house was way too small for speakers like those, but he didn’t care, he had his toy. He even had a pair of Bozak Concert Grands in the master bedroom, there was almost no room for the bed, hilarious.

The first time I felt that wall of perfect sound fog wave through the body experience was with my Polk SDA-SRS speakers. I will never sell them because they're perfect, and not only that, but they're really not worth anything close to what they are. They will also never be duplicated by anything that I can afford. I've never heard speakers that sound as good. I'm happy for you and your magic speakers. I'm sure they're amazing.

As a collector of several sets of BAS (Big Ass Speakers), I can confirm they take up a LOT of space. There were some very cool, but large, speakers made in the late 70's and early 80's timeframe, but due to their cost, very few were sold. These are great examples of those TOTL speakers of that era.

As a XRT owner, my experience mirrors yours. They bring a 'live concert' experience to my listening. I think that for years (1970's-1980's) the unremarkable McIntosh traditional floor standing box speakers set the reputation for their speakers. The line array design was a game changer for them.

Although I didn’t got to hear them, I believe I saw those McIntosh speakers at CES back when there was a June Chicago show. They were quite a sight to behold.

Heck, the Pass Labs Amp was just as impressive. That thing is a monster! Great video.

I still have my old magazine that have these featured in the advertisement section. Always wondered what it would be like to listen to them. Even 30 years later I still finally remember opening up stereo file magazine and a few others and seeing the advertisements inside for these speakers and I'm still amazed by them till this very day

I’ve experienced what you are talking about , “ musical Scale “ is the word I used to describe them. I could be in any room of the house , and the scale of sound took the entire home over , and not in just volume . It is an emotional evoking experience. At any volume , Every song goes right through the homes foundation and into your heart and mind. Mine were the 180lb each Epicure M 1000s.

It's the first time I've heard of those. Never seen them

Hey SA… I’m a lucky XRT-18 owner loving this one…XRT-20’s with an XR-19 hat…that’s crazy. You’ve almost got a XRT-30; (my Holy Grail set-up). Cool to see everyone’s reaction and a little McIntosh love. Kevin at 7:23…love the passion, that’s why we watch the channel. 🍻

I think I have an idea of what you were talking about with a wall of sound. I got a chance many years ago to listen to a set of Infinity reference standard 1 speakers at audio store (Pacific Audio I think.) At the time I was there they had it connected to a open reel tape deck playing at 15in per second. I listened to two pieces of music one was Toccata and Fugue in D minor and the other was some jazz piece I didn't recognize. With the organ piece, the whole room shook with the deep organ notes and was airy and detailed in the upper notes. With a jazz piece it felt like I was in front of a live orchestra. Overall, it just had this massive presence that made the music just come alive. It's one of my fondest audio memories I have.

You should have "listening parties" at the shop. "Tea and Tweeters"...with Kevin & co. I'll bring some of my Grateful Dead Dead Dicks Picks & Daves Picks.

Interesting that McIntosh would even have speakers like that in their lineup. That's a VERY specific customer looking for those

Uber cool Kevin! Also that you have kept them all this time and are intent on keeping till you can really enjoy them. Agree, money not everything !

Just discovered this channel a few days ago. I'm not into vintage hifi but I love your videos. I have watched at least 20 of them over the past 4 or 5 days. You are a great guy to listen to. Great perspectives on audio.

Absolutely AMAZING!

Love seeing your videos for the variety of equipment you've shown us. Those Macs are worth hanging on to, I'd definitely regret letting them go before fully experiencing them.Thanks for sharing.

Finally, something worth every Penny and I love the Martin Logans as well. My Favorite is still the Cornwall's or the HPM 150/1500.

Those are a true treasure - unique, beautiful and functional. Love this story, thanks Skylabs.

What crossed my mind when I saw these is set them up facing each other with a chair in the middle, like giant headphones. Had a buddy in high school that had large speakers, can’t remember what they were but nothing like you’re talking about, but they where nice. He set them up on stands with a chair in the middle, his turn table in front of him, and he’d sit in the chair and listen like they were huge headphones. It was awesome. And, non-ported speakers always more punchy.

Welcome to the Club Kevin we had a Shop with those and Infinity IRSV...I would listen to both weekly

Thanks for sharing Kevin, they sound like something that you have to experience to understand what “ wall of sound” is really all about. It definitely was a fun one and I wish I was there to hear them (or I should say experience them 😮) 🎶 with you guys!

They must sound incredible. You're doing the right thing, enjoy them and then send them along to a new home.

Damnit, good on you brotha! Nice to see the right things find the right people : D I have some flagship 80's speakers myself that have been waiting to finally be restored. I totally get it. Ive been dying to finally hear them for years and have been sitting patient waiting for the resources to have them done right. My hopes are that Ill have them working in the coming year.

Looks like modern day venue sound system. Especially the line array of tweeters

I've never quite understood why Mac speakers aren't more widely liked. A true industry giant, Roger Russell, made virtually all of them over decades, along with one other gentleman he collaborated with. He had entire facilities built in Binghamton for sound research and speaker tuning, eventually had control over every aspect of the materials used for their production down to the cabinetry, and was constantly focused on the best sound possible, until the time came to design the next speaker. And yet it seems their reputations are middling at best, with a couple exceptions. Great video about an important piece of audio history!

They remind me of the huge infinity towers of similar design. There is a guy selling a set of the "lower end" set of infinity with I think 2 towers of 6 12" woofers, another tower with like 12 EMIM ribbon mids, and 5 EMIT tweeters. FWIW, they are asking 3,850$. These are in the Sacramento CA area.

I had a pair of xrt 20s driven by an MC 2500 for years but finally sold them when I found some Genesis 2.0's locally.

Oh wow, a Dynaco preamp in front of the Pass. Says a lot for the refurbished Dynaco (we love em!). I was interested to learn you had driven the Macs with more typical receivers but that big ol' amp must really love them, and vice versa. Thank your for sharing this experience with us!

I’ve never heard or seen a set of such speakers and I can only imagine what they sound like. I guess I’ll just have to enjoy my advent Legacy two speakers.😢

Phil Spector..................What a piece of work. The sound would have to have strong similarity to being at a concert. Your talking about BASS that will literally change your heartbeat, have experienced at Car shows.

The quick cut to the trunk rattling was 💯

Fun stuff. Thanks for sharing!

Great video bro.. nailed it

I do believe I would make some room for them and keep them for the rest of my life lol

Another great video

Worth their weight in gold.

welll congrats for priming the market.... would love to hear them

The high-end shop where I worked for a while in the 70s, had a huge - but still far more practical than the McIntosh - set of GLi speakers connected to the HK rack system (Citation 11 preamp I think, Citation 16 power amp...) and when the trumpets came in on Steve Miller's "Swing Town" you could feel your shirt ripple.

@Kevin. You definitely got a lucky strike here. I have heard of these speakers before and pretty much they are geared for those that are hemorrhaging cash out the anus. For starters, its the initial cost, then you need the room to put it in which most likely would be a large dedicated room, which is probably going to be in a fairly expensive home. Putting something like that in a small room will just choke the sound. As I said, given the space they take up, they are probably well suited for a ball room. Overall, it really isn't a practical speaker and as you said yourself, you will probably move them. I mean, if a wall of sound is something you are after, you could probably do it with something on a commercial / DJ level, and probably do it for far less cost and real estate. I had my big speaker moment when listening to a set of Altec Voice of the Theater speakers. Absolutely amazing and you certainly do feel it when you turn it up. Now they are probably not as accurate as the McIntosh, but if it is concert level, chest pounding sound you are after, they will do it for far less. Now getting more realistic on a home level, I am not sure if you have come across the Polk SDA-SRS line of reference speakers. They are old and from the late 80's and early 90's. polksda.com/pics/sdasrs2.jpg Definitely get the wall of sound from them as well. As with McIntosh speakers, they are suffering from a bit of an identity crisis as well and what was once multi-thousand dollar speakers, you can often pick up some of the smaller models for less than $1000 for the pair. The Polk speakers are cool because they have this VERY wide soundstage that is achieved electronically by feeding the opposite channel into the speaker, but at reverse polarity, or something like that. So you don't have to place the speakers very far apart to get a really big "surround sound" effect. If you ever come across those Polks (afforably), you should check them out. They certainly would take up less space than those Mac speakers! I agree as well, MacIntosh wasn't really big when it came to speakers. They were definitely mostly centered around amplifiers and pre-amps. That Pass amp you have there is exceptional, and there is no doubt that it is up there with MacIntosh on a build level, however, I just feel Pass amps are WAY overpriced. But then again, many things in hi-end audio are. Anyway, that certainly was a "different" one and it was a cool story how you came across those speakers. It has happened to me too and I did end up with equipment that I would have never been able to afford otherwise. I generally got it in broken and often fixed it for a customer and then for some absurd reason, or no reason at all, they just abandoned the unit in my shop. I ended up just paying for the cost in materials and took home a nice piece of equipment. One day I had a regular customer came in and he placed a Pioneer RT-707 in my arms and he said, "It has problems, I don't use it anymore, I know you are into these things, so this is a gift for you." Yeah, I have had many a piece of audio equipment fall in my lap that way. The Sansui Receiver I currently have in my living room I got that way as well. Sadly, I didn't often come across speakers that way, but the electronics teacher in high school had given me a pair of Electro Voice home speakers that had a woofer and a horn set up concentrically in the same driver. Already at that point in time (mid 80's) Electrovoice stopped making those speakers. Sadly, I ended up reselling them off because they were big and took up too much room. Bottom line is that having a shop generally yields some really nice finds and "scores". I doubt I would have something that tops those McIntosh speakers, though. But, there are definitely more practical, and probably cheaper ways to get a wall of sound. Enjoy!

I thought my Infinity QLS-1's were huge speakers at 195lb each...Damn!!

Never in my life have I seen those

Thanks for the infromation

Awesome story!

Monster's !!!👍👍👍

There's no replacement like displacement.... You can see the IRS V's are floor to ceiling so there is no "zone". I would think the best sitting area for the Mac's and level would be inline with the tweeters.

Anybody here enjoy Phase Tech speakers? I’ve had my towers for about 40 years. Replaced the woofers but they still sound amazing.

I went to an estate sale of an heir to a wealthy local business. His mansion had shag carpeting on the floors and mirrors on most walls and a lot of marble. He had a full McIntosh system including these speakers. The drivers were all shot.

Love'em. If you can't stack Marshalls. I want them.

If you EVER get a chance to buy a pair of 1980's Infinity 2.5's -- BUY THEM. The Watkins woofers will probably need to be re foamed but the EMIM's and forward and rear firing EMIT's are pretty amazing. Hard to drive - yes -- but 150 WPC with some current will do the job.About 5-6 feet tall, maybe 30 inches wide and 6-8 inches thick with woofer box area 2 feet thick.A usable IRS system.

You are smart to post this and wait before posting for sale.

Great Video

Fun!

I want em and I want em now! Kidding.

hang on to them and let people listen to whatever they want to listen to when they come into the store

i think this is something you need to experience for yourself and is almost unexplainable to others...

I just got some Klipsch Heresy I speakers on Friday. I'm happy 😁

Can we also get talk about those JBL Everest speakers in the video?

I would love to hear your take on how the PAS2 performed in this setting.

Build a house like the guy did in Wisconsin. Build the house around the speakers!

That is nuts 🇺🇸🇬🇧

My stacked La Scalas with tube amps does it for mr all day long!

Oh how I wish I had bigger rooms. Looks like a good big un will always beat a good small speaker. Mac gear in the USA is expensive, here in the UK it's even more so. The shipping costs for these monsters would be enormous.

wow they are monsters

Thanks for sharing. Absolutely gorgeous! You'd mentioned you're working towards a listening room in an earlier video. I think these would be ideal as a reference set in it. Why sell them if you won't get what they're worth anyway?

Kevin maybe you should see if there is a church you could rent out for a day to hook them up to listen. Like once a month deal. Then audiophiles could come and listen to them. They might not be the best speakers out there but i bet they will be the best that alot of people has ever heard.

I bet they are very good for "Heavy" metal. Lol. Fun video my friend. I think I would want the TA.

Never seen or heard of these. But there is plenty of speakers i never heard of.

I'll stick to my two way speakers, lol.

I enjoy your videos Very good

Kevin, I don't know if you know, Paul M is selling those IRS speakers (the ones you see in the videos). He has spent at lot of additional money making them even better: all newer higher quality woofers, same with crossovers (external with the original still inside). Don't know if you want to spend the money and a way to transport them. I think he said 50 thousand. I think that's a very good price for them. I considered them but I'm not going to spend that much on speakers being almost 70. Plus I would have a long move getting them to Massachusetts. I would love to see you buy them so we can hear what you think.

Hey Kevin,,love the channel,,i enjoy your videos very much so but my only complaint is that you won't sell much items and or ship to Canada besides your tee shirts,,,wish i could purchase more things to support your business as in the record cleaner or stickers or a coffee mug anything alo g that line. Hopefully one day i will be able to....keep up the amazing work😊

It would be fun to pit them against McGowan's Aspen 30's.

I love my music but I don't know what a pre amp does or how it works. Maybe you have a video already out there...

Hey Kevin, I have a tool to look back 3 years of Solds on ebaya pair of XRT20s sold for $1250 in 2023. i'm not sure if that included shipping or local pickup. i think the later.

Try them with McIntosh power and see what you think. I have an entry amp/speakers and they seem to have a synergy and sound terrific together. I dont think McIntosh speakers work well with other amps for the most part. Amps are a different story. But that is just me.

@skylabsaudio Do you plan to refinish the outside, or just leave as is? It would be really cool for someone to replicate these with today’s tweeters, woofers, and high-end crossover parts!

You’ve been listening near field. Maybe they aren’t that great in a large room. That line array tweeter at close range is why the wall of sound I bet. Would love to hear those

Lovely video, but your clip-on microphone is acting up.

Speakers you’d need to build a room for… nice..

With that many tweeters, what can go wrong?

Great Find Yes As These Old Timers Pass Away These Gems 💎 Surface and The Guys At McIntosh The Engineers Are Dead 💀 or Retired Am Sure You Can Secure Schematics For These Pigs 🐖 And The Build Quality Alone Just In Materials and Labor is 1/3 Of The Price Many Years Ago In The 1970’s I Stopped By The JBL Factory in Los Angeles in a Apart of The City That Was Called Frog Town Because of The Frogs In The 1970’s JBL Was Located By The L.A. River So I Went Over There And The Assembly Building Was Small It Was The JBL Wood Shop That Was Huge If You Remember JBL Was Like Furniture 🪑 And Their Wood Shop Was Bigger Than The Assembly Building Any Hoot Those Where The Days When Speakers 🔊 Was Like Furniture Good Show Kevin Yes Get Some More History on These I Would Love To Know More About These Speakers I Mean Theres a left and a Right and What Your Saying is That As Big As They Are They Are Super Efficient This Episode Just Co/Signed For How You Enjoy Vintage High Fidelity Cheers 🍻 Too You’re Big Ears 👂 Great Job 👏

I have two cerwin vega at 15s. Vintage 89. I am the second owner. They are mint. Reply If interested. I'm in Indianapolis.

Since I'll never pay that much for a record player, I'll be happy with my Sherwood S7200 receiver , Benjamin Miracord Elac turntable and B&W speakers . I'm good .

Looks more inspired by the Dead’s McIntosh Wall of Sound than Phil Spector.

Damnit man! I want,to listen so badly now! I’ll never be able to hear it. 🙁

My wife looking over my shoulder … “guys that own these don’t have wives” she said.

They look double awesome and sound double awesome by your take. Awful large for most people likely. Perhaps you have room for them in yours house. If so, keep them - haha I would. I had an expensive very high quality speakers back in the day that were literally flat down to 30Hz and they would shake one's internal organs real good when the music was that low.

Good God!

Far out, man.

Were Macintosh speakers designed and built to pair well with their amplifiers ?

Sounds similar to Paul mcgowen s old setup. Infinity irs

I wish I still had my Trans Am. It was a lot easier to move than those speakers. ;o) And if I had known I had another $3,500 to spend on a stereo for the Trans Am that would have been a bargain.