Any experience on McIntosh Amp with B&W Speakers

good synergy especially with hi-end b/w speakers.

Thanks for the suggestions and sharing, it is very helpful.

I live in Beijing, China, the local dealer only have limited model for me to choose. Even worst, those high end HiFi product's pricing is on average 20-30% higher in Beijing, due to import tax and logistic cost. Well, too bad .... anyway, current offer on the table are ....

1) Krell KAV-500L (250wpc, an old model) at US$4,100.00
2) McIntosh MA6500 (120wpc) at US$3,200.00
3) McIntosh MA6900 (200wpc) at US$4,900.00

I brought home a Rotel RC1090/RB1090 pre and power combo from this dealer together with my B&W N803 3 weeks ago. I think the Rotel combo is not a good match to the B&W speakers after listening for a few weeks in my house. The dealer is willing to take back my Rotel gears at the original price (US$2,900.00) for one of the above replacement amp, and I pay the difference.

I am more interested to MA6900 although she is the most expensive one, and I have never own any McIntosh equipment before. But it sounds like this is a good bet.

For MA6500, it seems she just carry the McIntosh brand and look, but not really a classic McIntosh in terms of sound and value, e.g. no Autoformer feature, no XLR input, etc.

For Krell, I was originally interested on KAV-400xi, but the dealer don't have this model. They only have KAV-500L from their old stock, and it seems they are not going to sell Krell in the future. I think that may not be a good idea to use 500L for it is an old model, the dealer is not selling Krell anymore, and it seems the 400xi do have some good improvement over 500L/300L series, more natural and less bright. On top, consider reliability and resell value, maybe McIntosh is a better choice after all.

The dealer will set up both MA6500 and MA6900 for my audition with N803 this Friday. My friends told me both McIntosh and B&W make good products, but their charactoristics are very similar. Both are accurate, warm and sweet, but a bit lay back and "slow". My music is female vocal Jazz, Pops, and a bit of Rock and Classic.

Any additoinal sharing, comment and advice? It will be very useful to me, as a potential new McIntosh owner. Thanks in advance.

You are fortunate you can listen to both before purchasing. The 6900 has autoformers, which is a good thing. During the audition have your dealer try the B&W's on both the 4 ohm and 8 ohm tap, see if you hear a difference. Then go to the 6500. You will probably like one set up a little more, if not, base your decision on these 2 things: The 6500 is cheaper or, the 6900 is more future proof with more power and the autoformers. One of those will make more sense to you. Good Luck

I have an audition on the Mc MA6900 driving N804 an hour ago. Well, I have to say it is considerable better than the Rotel Combo, the sound is clean, detail, with deep bass and wider sound stage, very musical. As expected the sound is warm and sweet, both female and male vocal are great. I think it will be even better when driving N803, I am going for 6900 ....

I HAVE A MCINTOSH 4200 ALONG WITH B&W 805S SPEAKERS AND FIND THE COMBINATION TO BE A PERFECT MATCH. BOTH UNITS HAVE A WARM SOUND AND SEEM TO FLOW WELL TOGETHER. I AM NOW IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT CD PLAYER TO GO ALONG WITH THIS SETUP. I AM LOOKING INTO MUSICAL FIDELITY BUT THINK I SHOULD GO WITH ONE OF THERE TUBE MODELS? ANY SUGGESTIONS?