McIntosh - is it that great?


I'm just curious if McIntosh gear is all that great. How does their older power amps compare to new products from other high end manufactures? Are there any products I should stay away from. I like the idea of owning vintage McIntosh stuff. Most of their stuff seems pricy. Is it because it's that good or do people just like to collect their products. thanks for you opinions--Matt
mattman
I own the mc352 (350 wpc) and love the punch and detail it brought out for my b&w N802. I previously owned a conrad johnson mf2500 (240 wpc), and while I enjoyed that amp, I felt the speakers needed more punch. The mac provided that and much more. In imaging and musicality. So, from my point of view, a hardy recommendation for the newer Mcintosh amps.
I agree that there isn't another brand that has the same consistently high resale value. Some models are more popular than others, but the tube stuff is REALLY popular. On two separate occasions, vintage MC275s recently sold on ebay for more than a brand new MC275 IV. There's a brand new MC275 IV for sale right now on ebay where the bid price is almost identical for what you can pay for a new one!

I bought an MC240 and MX110 off ebay and had servicing done (mostly recapping). Sounds really wonderful. Beautiful really, like real (live) music.

Of course, I haven't bathed my $9,000 interconnects in Hai Karate and gone over my speaker cables with a drowsing rod to test for "directionality," so maybe I haven't acheived the ultimate in transparency and other "high end" drivel.

But it sounds really great.

They just look cool too. Like high end audio should look. I would take the aesthtics co these over Edge or Krell any day.
I thought I'd chime in here on one of the reasons I think Mac is so great, at least for their solid state. It's their hand wound autoformers. I got this from something Ron C, of McIntosh, said awhile back. Transistors are not very linear compared to tubes. They get pushed around by speakers, which are not resistors. Mac designs the output stage to be as linear as possible within a certain design and type of transistor they're using then couple it to the autoformer. The output stage stays very linear while the other end of the autoformer deals with the reactive speaker. It seems Paul Speltz is enjoying success with his aftermarket autoformer. Imagine Macs experience with handwinding their own all these years plus they're matched for that specific amp. I hope I haven't butchered his explanation too much.