McIntosh MEN220 Room Correction System

This McIntosh MEN220 unit is in excellent
condition.   All original mfg items are
included with this unit.  It is excellent
working order.  I had it connected
between my PS Audio BHK Signature preamp and Bel Canto REF 600M amps powering
Wilson Audio Duettes.  Simply amazing
what the MEN220 does for improved clarity and sound stage dimensions.  Even when not in the sweet spot the improvement
to the sound in the room is VERY noticeable. 
I am selling due to a change to my system and no longer have a need for
this unit.  The listed price includes
free shipping to any of the contiguous 48 states and I pay any paypal fees.  This price is much lower than the other units
listed on the internet to facilitate a fast sale.  I am a longtime Audiogon member with excellent
feedback.

ToneAudio review of MEN220

Room Challenges

We put the MEN220 through its paces in a few different
environments to judge its effectiveness in a treated room, a relatively inert,
non-treated room and our publisher Jeff Dorgay’s living room, which has to be
one of the worst-sounding rooms anyone on our staff has experienced, with major
anomalies in the bass and midrange regions.  The MEN220 made a minimal
difference in Jeff’s treated room with full range speakers, but in the other two
environments, the 220 achieved significant gains in terms of clarity and
coherence.

Wow!

When using the 220, more inner detail becomes instantly
apparent.  The 24-bit remaster of the Beatles’ “She Came in Through the
Bathroom Window” from the Abbey
Road album, startles with the level of clarity now present in
this recording.  The corrections made Paul’s bass line much easier to
follow, gave Ringo’s percussion its own space and elevated the backup vocals
that were buried in the mix.  After the first of many test tracks,
everyone was stunned at how much of a difference the 220 makes.

The piano hidden deep in the background of “Bang and Blame” (from
the HDtracks download of the R.E.M. album Monster) now has much more airiness lingering well
behind the right speaker, again exhibiting more clarity throughout the
frequency range, with the bonus of additional dynamic information.

The wood block in the tune “Rich Woman,” which Robert Plant and
Alison Krauss released in 2007 on their Raising
Sand collaborative album, jumps
out of the speakers.  With an almost surreal effect, it now sounds like
someone is whacking the wood block about a foot in front of the listening
chair.  Where was this thing in the 1970s when we all got really high
listening to music?

Any thoughts of altered reality wouldn’t be complete without
listening to some Doors.  “Riders on the Storm” was beyond
psychedelic.  Again, the amount of bass resolution now on tap thanks to
the 220 is stunning.  The piano floats wistfully in the air, instead of
just being locked in between the speakers as it was before engaging the 220.

Like an eight-year-old boy, Jeff determined not to eat what’s on
his plate.  He didn’t want to like the MEN220—because it’s sooo un-purist, sooo un-audiophile. 
(Perhaps non-20th-century audiophile is more accurate.)  But with enough
computer power under the hood to launch a spaceship, the 220 quickly converts
the non-believers.  Then staff member Jerold O’Brien’s girlfriend asked
the fateful question: “We can get rid of all that stuff hanging on the walls if
you have this box, right?”  Like watching Wile E. Coyote scheming on how
to catch the Road Runner, you could see O’Brien’s gears turning.  He
looked nervous and made a quick exit.

Vintage O-rama

Sure, the MEN220 did a great job with the $8,500-per-pair Dynaudio
Confidence C1s, and it was spectacular with the $23,000 Sonus faber Elipsa SEs,
but it was time to try something way off base.  So we hauled out the
circa-1970s JBL L-100 speakers.  And, as crazy and as “un-audiophile” as
this seems, the JBLs underwent the most miraculous transformation of all.

The L-100s are fun speakers, but their sound is decidedly vintage,
even with world-class electronics powering them.  After a quick set of
measurements, they sounded like a pair of speakers that you’d expect to cost a
lot more.  The JBLs still had their limitations—the upper register is
still slightly grainy and there is a touch of bass bloat that even the EQ can’t
fix—but they now have natural midrange and throw a huge soundstage with some
serious pinpoint imaging.  Don’t believe us?  Stop by our room at the
Rocky Mountain Audio Fest this October (www.audiofest.net) and have a
listen.  We’ll be showcasing the MEN220 with the JBL-L100s in the TONEAudio “Chill
Out” room.

Of course, running the 220 with the JBLs triggered a major
classic-rock listening session.  Christine McVie’s voice on “Songbird”
from Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours floated
whimsically in the air between the speakers.  As easily as with any pair
of audiophile-approved loudspeakers, the massive increase in system resolution
enabled us to readily discern between high-resolution and standard digital
files playing through the JBLs.  The 220 transformed the title track of
Bowie’s Young Americans (again
in 24/96) into an eerily immersive experience.  We could not believe this
was the same pair of speakers purchased on eBay a few years ago for relatively
little money.  Listening to the DVD-Audio rip of the Grateful Dead’s American Beauty was
much trippier, thanks to the MEN220—not an acid flashback or all the Dead karma
coming back from the days when the band used McIntosh amplification for their
live show. Either way, it really enhanced the listening experience.