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McIntosh

Not so, McIntosh (Canadian or U.S.?) has been and is sold for donkey's years and forms many audiophiles' system componentry
 
Yeh, lots of it around in the UK, always loved their look, with the black glass fronts and Blue meters.
 
A mate had a home lone of the 252 integrated and brought it over to mine to hear it in my system to get a feel of it with my Focal floorstanders at the time.I really liked the sound .I think it had a valve preamp input stage.
Sounded really sweet sounding and the soundstage seemed to be enormous not just between the speakers but extended too the sides.
For the price though just having 3 line inputs was a bit limited I thought .
Nice amp but pricey.
My mate got a Rega Aethos instead.
Never heard any other Mac gear so no opinion
 
Mike Reed said:
Not so, McIntosh (Canadian or U.S.?) has been and is sold for donkey's years and forms many audiophiles' system componentry
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Well I have never met anyone with McIntosh kit Mike so it must be pretty rare in the UK. Clearly that is not the case in the US given the number of pics on FB Groups.
 
I had one of their integrated for a number of years (MA6900) and it was great. Moved away from it purely for curiosity of what other brands could bring to the table. The negatives were the cheap remote, lackluster "knob feel" and that pre-LED models were a pain in the neck/expensive to change light bulbs in.
 
We auditioned an integrated amplifier last year ( might have been the year before)
Wife hated the design. I liked the blue light, we weren’t won over. (This wasn’t a home demo, so unreliable audition for serious comments)
 
KJ West One in London sell them. They're a fairly significant London dealer.

I've never heard any of their stuff. Which is entirely moot anyway, as even if I were a valve fan they're way out of my price bracket. The cheapest integrated is £9k
 
They're very American in design and features. Not really my cup of tea but I've never heard any as it's all way too expensive.
 
JezmondTutu said:
Well I have never met anyone with McIntosh kit Mike so it must be pretty rare in the UK.
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Depends upon your definition of 'rare'. Maybe less numerous than ARC, maybe on a par with Levinson etc. I heard one of their power amps (I think) when I visited a fellow Norwich audiophile. He had serious kit and it sounded like it too !
 
JezmondTutu said:
Seems to be a hugely popular brand in the US but virtually unheard of in the UK. Is their kit any good?
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IMO, in terms of value for money, McIntosh is untouchable in the US and Canada. It's a pity there is so much of a markup all over European countries. In US/CAN you can get a MA8950 integrated for much less than a new Naim Nova PE... The 450w. MC462 power amp. is $10k compared to $20K for the Naim Nap 300DR.

As for the McIntosh sound I don't dare to emit a viewpoint knowing that in some quarters it's one of the most hated audio brand. After many years swapping gears, I finally bought a McIntosh. Should have done that years ago as it would've save me lots of dough !
 
TLS said:
IMO, in terms of value for money, McIntosh is untouchable in the US and Canada. It's a pity there is so much of a mark-up all over European countries. In US/CAN you can get a MA8950 integrated for much less than a new Naim Nova PE... The 450w. MC462 power amp. is $10k compared to $20K for the Naim Nap 300DR.
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A bit counter-intuitive. Exporting/importing goods, esp. specialist stuff, costs money esp. where agents and retail distribution is concerned. McIntosh in North America is home-grown but Naim is not. Naim in the U.K. is home-grown but McIntosh is not.
 
It's inoffensive, safe, warm, and tubish; a bit veiled and quite boring IMO. I understand the newer kit is more neutral.
 
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