ResonantLive Sound Archive

Equipment file · Valve power amplifier

MC60 amplifier

McIntosh · 1955

Evidence status · documented

Identity and core specifications are documented; some historical fields remain unavailable.

The McIntosh MC-60 is a 60-watt mono valve amplifier using McIntosh's unity-coupled circuit with two KT88/6550 output valves, with output taps including 600 ohms.

Introduced
1955
Category
Valve power amplifier
Intended use
Mono power amplifier for home and professional systems
Production
McIntosh Laboratory, 1955–1961

Why it mattered

  1. 01

    It gave installers more clean headroom than most valve amplifiers of its day.

  2. 02

    Its balanced line output suited distribution and PA installations as well as hi-fi.

Engineering record

Power
60 watts continuous, 20–30,000 Hz ±0.1 dB[1]
Distortion
Under 0.5% at 60 watts; hum and noise 90 dB or more below rated output[1]
Valves
Two KT88/6550 outputs with 12AX7, 12AU7 and 12BH7 stages[1]

Original pricing

$219.00 list (1955)

2026 equivalent

≈ $2,740

Period US list or retail price reported by the cited source.[2]

Estimated in 2026 US dollars using the BLS CPI-U annual average for 1955 (26.8) and 334.980 for 2026, rounded to the nearest $10.[3]

Use in the field

No named deployment could be tied to this exact item by a checked source yet. Know of one? Suggest it on the contribute page.

Manuals & original documents

Sources

  1. 1McIntosh MC-60 Instruction ManualMcIntosh Laboratory (archived) · manual
  2. 2MC 60 Monaural Power AmplifierThe McIntosh Compendium · reference
  3. 3CPI Inflation Calculator methodology and CPI-U dataU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · reference · 2026

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