This new McIntosh integrated looks like a winner

  It looks nice, aberyclark. Have you heard it?

It's new. I believe dealers are now taking orders. I think it's making its big debut at RMAF and shipping late September. The lower level MA252 got good reviews. I'm hoping this one sounds even better.

I would actually consider selling my current PS Audio tube BHK pre amp and go with something like this. 

This looks like a very interesting pre/amp/phono that might fit the needs of a lot of people, would love to hear it or at least read a review. I hope that the phone stage is up to par. Never thought of myself as a Mac fan but this could change my mind. Enjoy the music

How many integrated amps does one manufacturer need? 11 it seems if your McIntosh. 

not to mention the web site really doesn't do a good job of describing the differences or the price ranges. for a new Mac inquirer its hard to tell what's what on there.

The smaller MA252 is a winner ( I own one). I bet this one will be a monster. I fortunately have a Best Buy Magnolia close to me, so I’ll be able to audition it. Thanks for the heads up! 

This thing looks like the ideal integrated... tube pre section and a strong solid state amp all in one! 

It looks a bit futuristic, though...

I think it looks kinda cheesy.

McIntosh products always look cool but i don't understand the hybrid idea.  I think you go all tubes or no tubes.  You either accept the introduction of distortion and like it or you don't.  I don't see how you mix the two ideas.  But that's just me and i'm an all tube guy.

So did Luxman in 1984.

That's one hot looking mama!

 Many people using separate components  deliberately choose a  tube preamp  and pair it with  a solid-state power amp.  Each approach has its benefits, and this “hybrid” approach seeks the best of both worlds.  So, why not look for an integrated amp that offers the possibility of synergy along with simplicity? 

I like it. I'll start packing away some cash for one.

I’m a big McIntosh fan, owning both tube and solid state and, honestly, i find the mixing of the two to be weird, esthetically. The front doesn’t feel like the front. Having the tube cages forever reflecting off the glass feels like a mistake, and having dual badging on the sides.

contrast that with the MC275, which feels so right. Anyway, i’m sure it sounds amazing which trumps all, i guess...

When I was a kid I will never forget going to a stereo store in NYC with my father. They sold Macs and he got bitten (me too). His last pride and joy system some years back was Mac gear with Tannoy speakers. My mom gave them away!!! Mom!!! I’ll omit the curse words. Naturally I have always had an affinity for Mac.

This could be tempting to me...the 5-band tone control (a nice way not to say equalizer) included. In my room that would/could help? Oh course dang fine stereos don’t use tone controls. I can’t think of anyone I know who has anything like that. And yet more tweaking options are tempting. Dig the blue glow but not the slime green.

Currenly using a PrimaLuna HP w/ KT 120’s driving somewhat power hungry Sonus Faber Guarneri evolutions. Going from 84 watts to 200 watts might/might not be the ticket.

I own a MA252 and I love it. Best purchase I've made in a long time. Even my wife who typically doesn't care for this stuff comments how much better everything songs.

For me, I want high-end sound, but I also want simplicity. I don't want a huge rack of 10 components and cables (interconnects?) going everywhere. I'm not fortunate enough to have a listening room where I can have an amp sitting on the floor with crazy foam panels on the wall. I just like having my turntable for analog and my BlueNode for digital. It's simple and sounds great.

However, I do feel McIntosh is coming out with too many products. This MA352, the proportions just look weird. It looks too wide, perhaps I'm just used to my MA252 though. But it seems they're rolling out some new variation every week. That MTI100 turntable/streamer/integrated amp is a Frankenstein disaster. I'm sure it sounds good but it's like they're just throwing McIntosh design components together to form new products. The same with this MA352, throw in the blue meters, the solid state amp, and some McIntosh tubes in some new configuration and let's call it something new. It's kinda like how Taco Bell only has 5 ingredients and they keep rearranging them to get new items.

I heard the same design team is considering bringing back Sonus Faber integrated amps.

I prefer the motto of Keep It Simple Stupid. I hope McIntosh Group doesn't try to over-expand and find themselves in a financial crunch.

The MA 352 has an overall gain of 44db. If I’m not mistaken the gain on the 252 is 40db. The 352 is a bit too high for my efficient speakers. I would be cutting it close with the 252. 

Since I already have a tube pre ( gain of 10db), I could do the MC152 and have a total gain of around 39db.

+1 for Manishe! Too many products!

Wow, not much love for Mac here. I'm a relative newcomer to home audio...since the late '70s anyway. I remember Mac back then was considered among the elite. Since I've been out of home audio for 40+ years I'm trying to get up to speed regarding all the brands of components. I've always thought of McIntosh as some of the finest audio gear money can buy. But they seem to have a lot of detractors these days. As far as I can tell they still produce some top notch stuff although I've only auditioned one Mac amp in the last 6 months. I thought it sounded good. But they sure seem to take a lot of hits on the forums.

@audiofound- welcome back! Yeah, Macs are a polarizing brand like Vandersteen, Magnepan, B&W, Pass, et al...
Love em or hate em for some reason. 
Beats me.
Fwiw, I like em.
Tom

OP- just looked at the Mac link. I love it! Hope it sounds as it looks. If I had the cash, I’d buy it in a heartbeat.
Tom 

I  don't get the Mc hate. My MA252 sounds great, previously had Bryston 4Bs and Ampzilla, the Mc is pulling its weight and then some.

Still no reviews on this new amp. Has it shipped yet? Any store have it to listen to? It looks like s great new product design. Anxious to hear it.

Just ordered one today. I went to hear and likely purchase  the Primaluna Evo 400, also listened to an Octave, which I had never heard of, but the 352 was so much clearer, and detailed. Listened to it on a set of Sonus Faber stand mounts ( the sound great) which were not efficient at 85, and then a set of Klipsch Hersey which another customer had come to hear. The Primaluna just seemed more dull, less detailed. I was REALLY expecting to love it. No sense of spaciousness or holographic image that I had read about, thought the sound did seem to come from a somewhat wide area, not holographic at all, just spread out?. The Octave seemed to project the sound more onto a flat plane about the face of the speaker, and I did seem to like that presentation surprisingly. Still, not quite the sound I was expecting from a tube amp. I have never owned an audio tube amp, but I play the guitar and do have a large number of tube amps. I guess I was expecting something more along that line, but wasn’t what I heard, and certainly wasn’t giving me any reason to spend just to say I had a tube amp. It may have been just by comparison to the other two, but the 352 had a sense of easy power behind it, a strength to the sound with no strain, clarity and detail that seemed to be better than some very high end and fine solid state amps I’ve owned over the years. Because of the tube preamp section? I don’t know, but it sounded good. I really had no intention of looking at a mac, in my search, but as happened to me years ago when I ended up with Vandersteen speakers over all others I heard at the time, I let my ears have the final say. 

speedbump6
I find your comments regarding the Prima Luna very much in accord with what I just experienced with an Evo 300, a component for which I had high hopes. It proved to be dissapointing.

After years of dealing with various, excellent tube separates, and being on the tube-rolling treadmill, I’m seriously considering the McIntosh 352. I’ve set up a home audition and if I love the MAC, I’ll buy it, sell all the tube gear and my closet-full of spare tubes, except for the 12Ax7s and 12AT7’s. I’ll also change my cartridge from a low to HO MC and sell my phono stage and outboard signal processor, which I use strictly as a balance control, as well.

Perhaps with the MA352, less will indeed prove to be more. It may be time to turn in my official audiophile chaser-of-the-unobtanium membership card and simply go back to enjoying reproduced music in my home.

Keep us updated on the 352. What speakers will you be pairing the unit with?

@aberyclark 

I've Sonus Faber Guarneri Homage and Maggie .7's.  I just spoke to the MAC dealer and he urges me to get an MA8000 instead. (of course, it's more money!) but he swears it sounds (much) better than the MA352.

I may put everything on hold until I've got my Covid vaccinations, at which point (soon I hope) I can go hear these units before making any decisions.  After years of fiddling with tubes, wires, tweaks, etc. I'm more than ready for a great integrated. Turn it on, sit back, relax, and simply listen to music and turn in my audiophile card, finally.

Looking at the amp reminds me of the movie "Back to the Future" with those coils. It may look good but I don't usually make a hifi purchase based on looks. You listen to your hifi with your ears hence sound quality takes precedence over aesthetics.