McIntosh MAC7200

STEREO RECEIVER

- LARRY GREENHILL

Recently, I received an email from Editor Jim Austin. “Larry, do you still use your Day Sequerra FM Reference tuner to listen to FM radio?” he asked.1

“Jim, yes, I still listen to FM classical music in the Bay area. Why?”

“I had kind of a crazy idea. McIntosh has lots of good new stuff coming out now, but I want you to review the MAC7200 receiver, which isn’t new. I like FM radio. I’d listen to FM a lot more, except that I’m stuck on the first floor in a neighborhood full of very tall brick and stone buildings. I am literally a 3-minute walk from Columbia, but I cannot receive Columbia’s powerful radio station—WKCR—in decent quality due to multipath. So, unless we move up in the world, literally, I won’t be listening to terrestrial radio much anytime soon.”

I was intrigued. This would be my first review of an FM tuner in decades and Stereophile’s first review of a stereo receiver since Herb Reichert reviewed the Outlaw Audio RR21602 “retro receiver” and loved its sonics and low price. Still, in production, the RR2160 is the only stereo receiver still listed on the spring 2020 Recommended Components list. Is it time to add another?

Design