McIntosh MA6900 vs MA2275 for Rock Music


Dear audiophile friends,

I am considering buying my first McIntosh amplifier and looking at the second hand market. I am currently using Marantz Pearl Lite with B&W 804 Nautilus speakers. Although I like listening to vinyl, my primary source is my CD collection. I have been an experienced listener and I have some experience in music studios as well. Therefore, I am a little too analytical yet I enjoy a warm and moving sound character with a 3D soundstage. I listen to mostly Rock music, expanding from Modern to Progressive and Grunge to Jazz Rock.

My question is, would you choose a McIntosh MA6900 (Solid State) or an MA2275 (Tube) if you were in my shoes. I have no previous experience with tubes. I am not considering buying separates because of my budget, but I am open to any other suggestions as well. Comments from users with experience of both amps will be highly appreciated. Thank you.
pseudognostic

Showing 1 response by egoben

And I have owned the MA2275 and it is a wonderful amplifier, but it is still a 75 watt tube amp and is not ideal for every speaker with all genres. I totally loved the amp, and I used hard to drive Dynaudio Focus 160 speakers, but it got very soft, extremely pleasant to listen to, but the attack and last bit of punch and "start-stop-bass" was missing, especially in rock music. I didn't listen to the MA6900 though and cannot give any information about how the compare. McIntosh feels great to have in your home. Good luck!