Is McIntosh still a good choice?

Here's a little follow-up to the McIntosh purchase. I am in the market for speakers and that was part of the plan. But when I hooked up the MA6900 it sounded just great....but certainly not enough to justify the cost difference between the reciever I had and the MA6800. As I turned it up the volume the Lower end on the the Powered towers started to really sound muddy, sloppy, ect. The Mids and highs were greatly improved. But my God those speakers really were revolting. The soft clipping lights came on at 1/2 power and I thought I might have wired them out of phase. I new my problem had to be speakers so I then decided to drag my speakers from my neighbors over after pleading my case. He has a pair of older vintage JBL 100s. We hooked them up and it was like night and day from what we had heard moments before! It sounded really nice until his left speaker started gasping. Yep, that's my luck! Now we have a recone project. So what the hell was up with that. I had a lightweight 65watt Yamaha DD reciever hooked up to the Newton T300 powered towers and it sounds great! Especialy for Home theater stuff. Hook the McIntosh up and it all sounds great until you go above normal listening levels. So after buying the Integrated Amp and the Rega I have just enough left for Paradigm Reference 100s, Dynaudio 82s, PSB Goldi, or a used pair of series 3 B&Ws. Even was looking for a used pair of Kef 104/2. Looks as though thet 2nd weekend of March the road trips & listening will be completed. And I'll make a purchase, but one last thing? Does anybody have an explaination of why the Towers peter out above listening levels? Is it because of the built in amps? Thanks!

My apoligies to all. I'm just glad I was able to post before others respond. In fact maybe the wisest thing to do was just to keep my mouth shut about what I found. The fact is The Newtons were hooked up incorrectly and out of phase. When my neighbor left I just had to try it again with my speakers before going to bed. It's 11 pm here and I can hit the sack a happy man. I apparently had hooked the speakers out of phase because they sound completely different.....unless of course it takes 15 minutes to break in an amp....Just Kidding. The difference is like night and day. I can't really check it out since it's late but I'll be running home from work tomorrow to check it out. I apoligize!

The Mcintosh works without any strain it seems. I'm not going to pretend to be some articulate reviewer but It's the best I've experienced im my own home. With the speakers wired right (Should have kept my mouth shut) They sound better than I imagined they would. So much so that I took the things off the market for now. I have time to make a good decision. The only hurdle I have now is keeping my kids away from it when thier home from school! I guess the best thing I can say obout the McIntosh is that after the purchase looking back at the other amps I auditioned I have no regrets.