An Audio Amateur's question about McIntosh Audio

@amitb 

As has been said here by others McIntosh gear seems to have a love, hate opinion about the brand and its gear. As you probably already know McIntosh has been around since 1949. Some of the negative comments are that McIntosh hasn’t progressed in its styling of the brands equipment. Some dislike their traditional blue meters and others dislike their warm producing sound. Some equate that warm sound as a lack of detail. As far as the comments about pricing, yes, McIntosh gear is costly but there are a lot of other brands out there that are equally expensive and and a lot more…

I’m in the other camp and have an all McIntosh system with the exception of speakers and subwoofers. For me it does everything I need and does it extremely well! (IMHO) I’ve had many other good systems but my current system is the end of my system creating journey. I now, will simply enjoy the music it produces through the three mediums, ie; Vinyl, CD/SACD and Steaming. I love my system, it really is quite wonderful…You can view it here in “My Systems”….

Great listening to you!

McIntosh power amps are some of the best-designed, engineered and constructed amps in history! They are so good that they powered the Grateful Dead's revered Wall of Sound concert rig!

https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/about/news/perfect-harmony-mcintosh-and-the-grateful-dead-celebrate-half-a-century-of-collaboration

amitb!

I bought a McIntosh MC240 amp and C11 preamp in 1965.  The MC240 is still in use today driving a pair of Vandersteen 3A's. The C11 was replaced by an Apt preamp several years ago because the Apt had more functionality for transferring  my vintage vinyl collection from a vintage Thorens TD160 to a Revox A77 RtoR. 

In 1965, the MC240 cost $288. For many years the McIntosh reps would visit the McIntosh dealer in my area and scope units, retube and produce a performance printout at no charge. Great customer relations! I have no experience with today's  McIntosh gear so I'm not one judge. I'm a vintage (analog) guy and still love the sound of the old MC240!

McIntosh clearly has a storied history and a devoted following. As others have said, it has a soft voicing that some find pleasing while others find veiled and too dark-strictly a matter of taste. I think the brand suffers a bit from being owned by so many different corporate masters over the years-now Bose. But it really comes down to whether the very distinctive voicing coincides with your preference. Which can be said for a lot of brands.