I agree with Nealhood, especially the 3rd paragraph. Also, Mc's autoformer shunts DC to ground by the autoformer - according to their literature.
Speaking of which, I am so impressed with McIntosh's practicality and good reason when it comes to protection that it seems conspicuously lacking in other high quality designs. Are all audiophiles immune to accidents? I was just reading in Stereophile where ST burned up 2(!!!) YBA integrateds at different times while swapping speaker cables. McIntosh realizes this, and so there are several protection schemes like clipping distortion prevention, overcurrent protection, thermal cutoff, inrush limiters, and short circuit protection to make sure that mishaps are adeptly handled. Part of this is the necessity to protect BJTs from their lopped SOA, but at any rate, I have to say "Go McIntosh!" for having brains to back me up on less-than-stellar days - like ST's.... Guaranteeing longevity to this extent is a healthy part of the high degree of satisfaction I have in McIntosh ownership. I believe that eliminating protection for the sake of "purity" in design is ridiculous and ludicrous since all these circuits can be incorporated totally inobtrusively to the regular circuit operation.
Anyway, after having several different brand amps, I have settled on McIntosh being my favorite sound as well. I also have found that the direct coupled versions of autoformer amps sound remarkably similar to their original. The highly acclaimed MA6500 is merely the MC202 in direct-coupled configuration and i have compared them side-by-side and find them very similar and equally engaging. Perhaps it would be a different story with low-impedance/sensitivity speakers....
Anyway, you cannot go wrong with McIntosh if you like their sound. For me, it doesn't get much better than McIntosh.
Speaking of which, I am so impressed with McIntosh's practicality and good reason when it comes to protection that it seems conspicuously lacking in other high quality designs. Are all audiophiles immune to accidents? I was just reading in Stereophile where ST burned up 2(!!!) YBA integrateds at different times while swapping speaker cables. McIntosh realizes this, and so there are several protection schemes like clipping distortion prevention, overcurrent protection, thermal cutoff, inrush limiters, and short circuit protection to make sure that mishaps are adeptly handled. Part of this is the necessity to protect BJTs from their lopped SOA, but at any rate, I have to say "Go McIntosh!" for having brains to back me up on less-than-stellar days - like ST's.... Guaranteeing longevity to this extent is a healthy part of the high degree of satisfaction I have in McIntosh ownership. I believe that eliminating protection for the sake of "purity" in design is ridiculous and ludicrous since all these circuits can be incorporated totally inobtrusively to the regular circuit operation.
Anyway, after having several different brand amps, I have settled on McIntosh being my favorite sound as well. I also have found that the direct coupled versions of autoformer amps sound remarkably similar to their original. The highly acclaimed MA6500 is merely the MC202 in direct-coupled configuration and i have compared them side-by-side and find them very similar and equally engaging. Perhaps it would be a different story with low-impedance/sensitivity speakers....
Anyway, you cannot go wrong with McIntosh if you like their sound. For me, it doesn't get much better than McIntosh.