To celebrate our 50,000 unit shipped, MC2 developed a “special” model of their E Series famous touring amplifiers, to be launched on April the 1st just before ProLight and Sound in Frankfurt this year. The E50,000 was not only hinting at an unbelievable power rating for a 2U amplifier, but it was also launched in a new 22” wide rack format, what the company hoped might have become a standard for future high power amplifier development. It’s also significant that the launch date for this amazing amplifier was April the first!
Was it really going to do 50kW in a 22″ rack format?
None the less, an “actual” E50,000 was on show in Frankfurt, attracting both annoyance – “How is that ever going to work – it means all new racks!”, incredulity – “I can’t believe you can get 50kW from standard Speakons!”, to our hoped for reaction – “No way – they’ve actually made one – can I have a picture?”
Indeed, amplifier selfies became something of a feature for the duration of the show, and we actually presented a real 50,000th anniversary unit to Thim Yan Fook, our Chinese distributor, in recognition of his sales achievement for the company, when he visited our factory in Devon, the following week.
From L-R: Terry Clarke, Director MC2; Thim Yan Fook holding his 50k certificate ; Yew Kay Yan Fook holding the E50,000 amp.
He received the actual 50,000th unit – an E45 – which was given a special serial number and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity personally signed by all the people involved in the amplifier’s manufacture. Thim also received the very special E50,000 as well, but that’s one for the trophy cabinet!
His son, Yew Kay Yan Fook, who accompanied him to Frankfurt was delighted to be part of the celebration and got the joke:
“Everyone was walking up to the amplifier at the show, and then looking round the back to see how it had been built – that was when they realised it was an April Fool! It was a great way to mark this very significant milestone for MC2, and we are honoured to receive one of these “amps”, plus the real 50,000th unit to come out of the factory.”
For those of you who like a good statistic, reaching this milestone equates to an amplifier being built, tested, burned in, inspected and packed every working hour of every working day for the past 22 years that the company has been in business!
Starting back in 1993, with the MC1250 3U monster AB amps, we decided to see if we could find any of the initial batch of 50 amplifiers, and what they were up to. Contacting the original owners of the first twenty amplifiers revealed a few promising leads, but several companies had ceased to trade or had sold the amplifiers on and could not recall to whom. However, we were delighted to discover that a number of them were still with their original owners and still in service…and how!
Landis and Gyr is a multinational company established in over 30 countries worldwide and based in Zug, Switzerland. They manufacture electricity meters and energy monitors, and have a facility in Peterborough in the UK. To facilitate testing of the meters, they needed a source of a pure 50Hz sine wave at high power that they could leave running reliably for extended periods. This is where the MC1250’s came in.
Original “debadged” MC1250s still hard at work in a test rack at Landis and Gyr
Rebadged (or actually “debadged”) they became their source of a super-pure “mains supply” and have been used for this purpose ever since. As we actually discontinued manufacture of the MC series several years ago, they selected and ordered E Series as a suitable alternative to augment the units they already use.
New E90s and E100s installed to augment the current Landis & Gyr test facilities.
“Current” – geddit? Oh, never mind…it was a shocking pun.
Alex Cooper, our R&D manager visited the company to investigate the possibility of supplying another amp model in place of the MC Series.
He commented “Whilst this is an off-the-wall use of the equipment, it does ably demonstrate how capable they are at providing high quality pure audio power, and as this is the essence of any amplifier. The E90s and E100s they have selected as suitable replacements will deliver all day, every day.”
Waring Hayes, MC2’s Technical Brand Manager added “Whilst we couldn’t really ask [them] for a quote about sound quality (50Hz is 50Hz, although strictly speaking not to them!), it is testament to the quality and longevity of the amplifiers that the company approached us again to purchase more – so many years later!”
