I am a McIntosh dealer. They do have their challenges right now. We get a weekly list from our reps with updates and usually there is more on the back order list than than limited or in-stock. This has been the case for the past year. But I've personally not heard of 6-month/1 yr. delivery times on anything. When an item is on backorder the prevailing consensus is more like 4-8 weeks which I think is fair, given the McIntosh manufacturing process and challenges of the day.
And like any situation where a consumer purchases through a dealer, if your dealer is bad, they're bad. I do also personally own McIntosh. Amp and preamp to be specific. And I like them. But I'd never insinuate that they're the only product to own or that they're inherently better than something someone else likes. And I certainly wouldn't make someone feel bad for walking in to my place of business, for any reason. I think dealers who do this are arrogant and part of the reason this industry has struggled to gain relevance and traction with much of Gen X and younger.
McIntosh is not a small, mom and pop type manufacturer. And doing business with them does feel different from doing business with the smaller guys. But it's not a bad thing and there's nothing wrong with McIntosh as a company. If you want to own good-sounding, well made gear that also has some nostalgic prestige, I think McIntosh is among the few where that is truly part of the experience. I think it's also probably very much worth a reasonable wait. Hold your dealer to a high standard. That's what having a Hi-Fi dealer needs to be about.
And like any situation where a consumer purchases through a dealer, if your dealer is bad, they're bad. I do also personally own McIntosh. Amp and preamp to be specific. And I like them. But I'd never insinuate that they're the only product to own or that they're inherently better than something someone else likes. And I certainly wouldn't make someone feel bad for walking in to my place of business, for any reason. I think dealers who do this are arrogant and part of the reason this industry has struggled to gain relevance and traction with much of Gen X and younger.
McIntosh is not a small, mom and pop type manufacturer. And doing business with them does feel different from doing business with the smaller guys. But it's not a bad thing and there's nothing wrong with McIntosh as a company. If you want to own good-sounding, well made gear that also has some nostalgic prestige, I think McIntosh is among the few where that is truly part of the experience. I think it's also probably very much worth a reasonable wait. Hold your dealer to a high standard. That's what having a Hi-Fi dealer needs to be about.