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Tag McLaren 100x4R

G

Greyandy

pfm Member
Recently picked up this beauty from Tag McLaren/Audiolab upgrade wizard Kevin Green. Photos are from Kevins build.
The amp is based on a Tag McLaren 100x5R with the 5th module removed and replaced with 4 additional caps per module. Each module has been upgraded as has the servo control unit. I can't give the exact amount of increase to the caps capacity but Kevin assures me that it's 'lots'. Kevin has built quite a few of these and the improvements over the standard amp (which was not too shabby to begin with) are significant. The output of each module is very conservatively rated at around 125w into 8ohmsI'm using it to bi-amp my KEF R3's and the jump from my previous set-up of a pair of Kevin Green modded Audiolab 8000MX's is significant.

s-l1600-2 by Andy Grey, on Flickr
s-l1600-4 by Andy Grey, on Flickr

s-l1600-7 by Andy Grey, on Flickr

s-l1600-5 by Andy Grey, on Flickr

s-l1600-6 by Andy Grey, on Flickr

s-l1600 by Andy Grey, on Flickr
 
That looks amazing: he really knows his onions so chances are it'll be all the amp anyone could ever need.

I've always liked the look of tag amps. I owned a 100p for a little while and was distinctly underwhelmed, but these 100x beasts seem to be completely different prospects and my interest remains very much piqued.
 
Looks great! I recall that these amps were ‘ok’ back in the day, but didn’t set the world alight. Similar priced offerings from Parasound and Rotel were perceived as being better if my memory serves me right. Very curious what these upgrades do!

Kevin is such a nice guy, a true pleasure to do business with. He helped met with replacing crumbling RCA connectors on an old Audiolab 8000A, and display light bulbs on an TAG CD transport. Both cases of ‘they all do that, Sir.'
 
mercalia said:
must weight a ton. how did you get them to the guy to upgrade? My two audiolab 8000ms do
Click to expand...

Fortunately Kevin lives about 20mins away from me so transporting it wasn't a real problem... it does weigh a lot though!
I can only compare the sound improvement to my modded 8000MX's (shortly to be put up for sale) which were a vast improvement over the LK140 they replaced , basically better in every way. 'Authoritative' and 'effortless' come to mind but doesn't really do it justice.
Contemporary reviews of the Tag 100 amps described them as being slightly over analytical and not too musical, I couldn't describe this modded one as being either of those things. Everything sounds in the right place with great depth and imagery but also has very good transparency.
One happy boy!
 
I've always thought the standard 10x5R would be ideally adapted to running a pair of active SBL's but this would be even better.

He's sold a few of them on ebay over the last few years and they don't seem overly expensive.
 
Kevin did a similar upgrade with extra caps. on my 250x2r mono blocks about 6 years ago.To my ears he transformed the equipment from being very good to outstanding...much,warmer more analogue and gorgeous sounding.
For a relatively small outlay,it was like an expensive and serious equipment upgrade.
The monos are contained in one extremely heavy unit but it survived the trip from the west of Ireland to Oxfordshire and back unscathed.All credit to the different couriers involved.
 
BrianPK said:
To my ears he transformed the equipment from being very good to outstanding...much, warmer more analogue and gorgeous sounding.
For a relatively small outlay,it was like an expensive and serious equipment upgrade.
Click to expand...

Yep, pretty much sums it up!
 
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