McIntosh MP1100 Phono Preamplifier

The McIntosh MP1100 is McIntosh's flagship vacuum-tube phono preamplifier — a fully balanced dual-mono design built around four 12AX7A tubes, two per channel, engineered as the reference-tier phono stage at the top of a McIntosh vinyl system. For McIntosh systems where vinyl sits at the center of the listening experience, the MP1100 is the phono stage sized to the rest of the line.

The engineering priorities are the ones any reference phono stage is judged on. Vacuum-tube gain stages contribute the harmonic character McIntosh has been building phono electronics around for decades; the dual-mono architecture isolates left and right signal paths from each other and from the shared power supply. Three phono inputs — two RCA and one selectable RCA or XLR — can each be configured independently for moving-coil or moving-magnet cartridges, with seven resistance and eight capacitance loading settings per input. The unit ships pre-programmed with cartridge profiles for both cartridge families and for the MT10 and MT5 turntables, plus five customizable profiles for cartridge changes over the life of the system. Selectable gain, five equalization curves (RIAA, LP, NAB, AES, 78), and switchable rumble and scratch filters cover the practical needs of a vinyl collection spanning decades of pressings.

In the McIntosh vinyl ecosystem, the MP1100 is the natural mate to the MT10 turntable and the C1100 vacuum-tube preamplifier — the reference-tier phono partnered with McIntosh's reference turntable and preamp, feeding a signal chain like Tempe Room 2's MT10 driven through a pair of MC2301 monoblocks.

Available at LMC to order — walk in during business hours or book ahead.