Two defective pieces in a row - unreasonable to demand refund?

The aroma of aquatic life is strong with this one.

Regardless  of what the Mac haters are trying to shove down your throat, McIntosh is still a reputable company.  McIntosh wouldn't still be recognized as one of the foremost purveyors of high end audio eqiupment if they had suddenly and mysteriously decided to sell their reputation to some fly by night company. Considering the fact that McIntosh QC checks every single finished unit they manufacture for both blemishes and proper operation before shipping, and since you didn't bother to name the vendor, the odds are most likely that you chose to buy your Mac from some shady dealer who offered a bargain basement price. and you fell for it. You learned the hard way that if the price is too good to be true, it most definitely is a scam.

You ever wonder why you don't see McIntosh sold all over the internet? It's because they have a reputation to maintain. They won't let just any Mom And Pop outfit sell their product. They only use vendors who will back their guarantee 100%. McIntosh is a quality and reputation oriented company. They didn't stay in business for 75 years by screwing people, and they damn sure wouldn't  sacrifice their reputation because of a pandemic, they would explain why they are taking longer to ship. If your package was damaged during transit, that's not on McIntosh. Tell us the name of the place you got your bargain basement items from, then maybe we have something to work with.

Still waiting for the name of the "reputable dealer". Do you really expect us to believe that McIntosh would authorize a dealer that had a "no return" policy?