McIntosh MT5 Precision Turntable REVIEW

McIntosh has been in the audio game since 1949 and has become a favorite amongst many audio icons such as Bob Weir, Brian Wilson, and many others. Being one of only six dealers for the brand, we at Gramophone are excited to show you everything McIntosh has to offer. So let's dive in and see how the MT5 Precision turntable holds up to that wonderful McIntosh heritage alongside its little brother, the MT2 and its big brother the MT10.
0:00 Intro
0:20 About McIntosh and the MT5
1:06 Servo Based Speed Control
1:18 Stainless Steel Brush Motor
1:27 Acrylic Silicon Platter
1:31 Magnetically Suspended Ceramic Bearing
1:41 Duraluminum Arm
2:00 Tracking Angle, Azimuth, and Anti-Skate Adjustment
2:04 Sumiko Bluepoint 2 Cartridge
2:33 Dimensions of the MT5
2:53 McIntosh Design Aesthetics
3:34 DC Power
3:40 Unbalanced RCA Outputs with Added Ground
3:47 Price & Final Thoughts
4:03 Come See Us At Gramophone!
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Timonium - Columbia - DC Metro - Hunt Valley
Family owned and operated since 1976.
#McIntosh #MT5Turntable #GramophoneMD

[@Reuben007Ash]

Never saw such a beautiful piece of McIntosh ❤ great review 😊

[@GramophoneMD]

Thank you Reuben for your comment . It's a really impressive 'table

[@AudioElectronicsChicago]

Beauty

[@steelyerface21]

Any ideas on what that shelving rack the table was on over the amp is. Looks really nice!?

[@GramophoneMD]

That is a SolidSteel rack.

[@unklecorky2181]

Would this pair well with a Luxman 507 MK2?

[@HB92647]

I have this, the cartridge isn't great, but there are several 2k upgrade options that really bring this to life.

[@surfbug1]

Such as? Very interested....

[@user-wb1qo3cx9l]

At $7.5k+ it better be perfect out of the box.

[@littlejoe2010]

Is it an overly bright treble sound in this TT ?

[@GramophoneMD]

Nah, I think it sounds pretty balanced with the standard Blue Point No. 2 cartridge.

[@bareknuckles2u]

More of an advertisement than a "review."

[@danc2323]

I believe the the MT5 is made in Germany.

[@mcintoshkid]

clear audio germany yes

[@felixfranzen7578]

This turntable has received rave reviews all over the place. The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Gear Patrol and countless hifi publications have given it a perfect score and called it everything from ""The turntable of the gods" "among the best turntables on the planet". The price is around $7500. Meanwhile MacIntosh themselves state that the wow and flutter of the MT5 is "0.15% - 0.20%" and that signal-to-noise ratio (or rumble) is 36dB - 41dB. This level of performance would have been considered abysmal 50 years ago. That AR-XA achieved 0.07% wow and flutter in 1963 and it was not considered high end. A Technics SL-1200MK2 (introduced in 1979) had 0.025% wow and flutter, and signal-to-noise ratio of 78dB. You could buy a brand new MK2 for 600 dollars in 2016. How this turntable could be considered good is beyond me and for the price it's ridicolously bad. You can buy a second hand budget direct drive from brands like Denon, JVC, Technics, Sony or Pioneer for 100-200 dollar in close to mint condition. Tables that will have wow and flutter at 0.03 percent, and SNR of 65-70dB.

[@GramophoneMD]

Not everything is in the specs my friend. While do I enjoy a SL-1200 a lot myself. The MT5 has never let me down.

[@felixfranzen7578]

​@@GramophoneMD Didn't mean to offend anyone who owns a MT5. And you're right about the specs. At a certain point it's good enough and a couple per-mille less distortion or wow and flutter doesn't matter, you won't hear the difference. For instance, I don't hear much difference between the Dual 505 at the office and SL-1200 at home. I'm certain the MT5 sounds subjectively good and that the build quality is amazing, as MacInstosh gear always is. Plus, I would love to own a MacIntosh amp some day. The only thing I'm saying is for that kind if money Mac could worked a little more on the implementation of the drive. Mac gear is usually not like products from the likes of Naim or Linn who live on their reputation alone. A MacIntosh amp measures really good and in most cases beat their specs by a hefty margin. They're typically several orders of magnitude better than they have to be (in order to be transparent) when it comes to distortion etc. By the way, I was probably wrong about the SNR/Rumble level being horribly bad. After reading the specs again it now seems as if the -36-41dB number could actually be unweighted not weighted rumble. If that's the case it quite good actually if not excellent (excellent would be less than 50dB). Likewise with, wow and flutter. They don't specify, but it could be DIN and not WRMS as I assumed, and if so the MT5's will be good enough in that regard as well. Also, most of this doesn't really matter in pratice. Most modern turntables from reputed makers are better than the vinyl medium itself and good enough. You don't a phono stage with a SNR of 100dB and 0.0001% distortion as the vinyl can't muster much more than 30dB dynamic range anyway and most cartridges have distortion at several (whole) percent in certain frequencies.

[@downhillman1000]

Lmao sooo much dust on the record and stylus

[@farokhbulsara4890]

Only for the rich

[@GramophoneMD]

Or those who budget and set aside for it. Some people spend $50k on a car, and next to nothing on audio. Others spend $5k on a car and $50k on audio. We all have our "thing" if you will.

[@felixfranzen7578]

​@@GramophoneMD But why would you? Sure it looks luxurious and I can see how it could appeal to some. That's purely a matter of taste. What is not, however, is the stated (by the manufacturer no less!) performance. According to McIntosh this deck manages a Signal To Noise Ratio of 36dB - 41dB and Wow & Flutter of 0.15% - 0.20%. An old and cheap Japanese direct drive will typically have wow and flutter of about 0.05% (at least) and about 70dB worth of SNR, at a bare minimum . The Technics SL-1200MK2 and it's siblings gives you a w&F spec of 0.025% and SNR at 78dB. A $300 Fluance turntable has 0.07% wow and flutter and a signal to noise ratio of 76dB. This is really strange. McIntosh amplifiers are usually very, very expensive. But they're also usually very very well engineered and gives you awesome specs. When you buy a (non-tube) McIntosh amp you can rest assured that it will pass and amplify the signal transparently and that no hifi amp anywhere sounds better. It can not be bettered sonically (at least not if you're aiming high fidelity). This is, apparently, does not live up to the usual McIntosh standard.

[@GramophoneMD]

@@felixfranzen7578 Personally I think this table sounds great and in practice it runs really smooth. Specs are important no doubt but sometimes they don't quite translate to the actual experience of using it/hearing it.

[@mikechivy]

@@felixfranzen7578 This table sounds better than an 1200-MK2. If you're worried so much about wow and flutter, but a CD player.

[@Kwippy]

@@felixfranzen7578 All the numbers are so much bunkum. No direct drive Japanese turntable old or new isn't going to sound good.

[@garth56]

So why does it sound CRAP???