McIntosh -- good for show, not for sound, says dealer

I've owned Jolida, Conrad Johnson, Hegel,  Cary Audio, and now I own a Mac MA5300. I do not regret it at all. I saw a comment about KEF's. I had a pricey pair of KEF Reference speakers that I lived with for a few years. They were pretty good but lacked in transparency. Some of the more recent offerings I thought were much worse (driven by Hegel H80). Lets keep it simple. To each his own.

Well I've had mac gear in the past, I also think it's just okay. Certainly not my cup of tea. But honestly I think it looks worse than it sounds. Never liked it's looks. But you can get this gear used all the time for really good prices.

Mikey has already helped me with getting my system to sound better with my current amp. I’m upgrading my amp and preamp, going with NAT Audio gear from him. He brings tremendous value and only cares about helping people get the best sonics as they can. Anybody that can’t appreciate that has issues with hurt feelings.

Glad you’re having a good experience.

As I see it, he’s made a very broad brush distinction between "people who just care who audio looks" with "the real audiophiles who care about sound."

We can all agree that’s a fair distinction. But his next move is to start herding people into the camp of looks (effectively calling them non-audiophiles) by dint of brand association. It becomes an "us" vs. "them" strategy that names names. That kind of tribalism -- he calls his fans/customers a "tribe" -- is reminiscent of the worst instincts we have. It turns us against one another in politics, religion, orientation, and more. Don’t we have enough of that?

He could have argued the "looks only" vs. "quality-sound" distinction without naming brands. He could have said, "listen for this" or "check these specs or build," etc. But instead, he went after a bunch of companies which make good products. Are all of them 100%, consistently, good? Probably not. (Is every Mercedes a winner?) Are all of them fairly priced? Kinda up to the buyer to decide that.

As someone above pointed out (I think), this seems desperate. It’s the YouTube version of a giant "Sale!" sign in his shop. He needs customers and he has a schtick -- the "Come to me -- I’ll hook you up with the *really* good stuff." Or, "Are you done worshipping false gods? Because I have a line on the Real Deal." He has set himself up as the authority above and beyond all influence, all marketing, all folderol. But then you realize -- he's just another seller, promising to be on your side, a "man of peace," to quote Dylan.

Give me any basically good amplifier and i will make it sound more than good...

How?

With acoustic treatment with passive materials and especially with mechanical acoustical controls...

Then bashing or celebrating a piece of gear means lttle at the end... Like the speakers, no amplifier sound the same in different room...

All amplifiers has different flavor sound for sure, but this flavor is not so much compared to the acoustic increase of their working in the acoustical environment tailor made for their speakers link in a specific room...

Bashing other gear or celebrating the gear we love is human but it is not serious audio experience...

i myself love my Sansui so what?

The most important thing is the system /room relation and this relation is always very specific andoptimized for the system and the ears of the owner...

Audiophile are ignorant focussing on the gear price tag or particularities that exist but at the end that are secondary...

i never listen McIntosh...

People who has never listened to their system in a controlled room cannot know his peak working potential S.Q.

@mahgister Right on cue! LOL! Love it.

However, once the room is optimized, then it does come down to the gear. As we've agreed on another thread -- two equally good rooms (equally optimized) will be different if the gear is different. 

Many people don't know or do enough about their room acoustics. The room is a system of acoustics and perception. But the gear is part of the system, and just as neglect of the room leads to worse acoustics, worse gear does, too, because it's all part of the system. So that leads back to gear.