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McIntosh

Kirk said:
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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It will also believably drive B&W disasters everybody loves and will definitely kick the arse of any British amp , actually blowing it out of the water into stratosphere in opinion of all the ears except the " audiophile " ones and that's the saddest truth :)
 
Pirx said:
It will also believably drive B&W disasters everybody loves and will definitely kick the arse of any British amp , actually blowing it out of the water into stratosphere in opinion of all the ears except the " audiophile " ones and that's the saddest truth :)
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Funny, B&W is another brand that I can't appreciate though they do get a thumbs up on the design front, which puts them ahead of M.
 
I like the idea of a big integrated with all the required inputs to reduce the box count.
Audio T sell them now, not heard one. Should be on display downstairs at the Bristol show next week but not usually listenable in that space. There was a big buzz around them last year.

Gregory-Porter-Hifi.jpg
 
paulfromcamden said:
I quite like the looks but I'm unable to stumble across any of their gear for cheap in the UK so I doubt I'll be indulging.

Perhaps I should invest in their $1,800 clock.

McClock_office_720x.jpg
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I’m not ashamed to admit that I really like that!!

Also I’m amazed that, given they do a surprisingly big range of accessories and gadgets like the above clock, they’ve never done a simple add-on ‘two massive blue meters in a box’ type add-on unit.

I’d buy 3…
 
I don’t know McIntosh history, but I can’t help thinking something went very wrong at some point and they just went oligarch bling over function. Just hideously vulgar. The vintage stuff is really nice though, I’d happily use a pair of MC30 or MC40s and their matching pre. It is a very old company, I assume it is in the hands of venture capitalists now, hence the full taste bypass. Looks designed for oil sheiks, Trump, and millionaire boxers to my eyes.
 
It holds value exceptionally well. Rolex owners are buying them. I personally know two. Big pickup trucks and huge SUV's are the same folklore but once you get to drive one you can only hate them on principle or you are in denial:)
For truly ridiculous look up Moth Audio Sphynx. I'm going to buy it, once I save up enough to get the local owner drunk and willing to agree to a deal
 
I briefly had a Mcintosh valve integrated a couple of years back - the MA2275 I think it was called. It was a superb bit of kit, and sonically was as good an integrated as I could ever have wanted. I was very happy with it, but it popped an power valve which in turn blew a component on its board and it took an age to fix; during that time I learned that they can be very expensive to fix and parts difficult to source (in the UK). It did get repaired but I chickened out and traded it against a Luxman class A amp. In hindsight the Mcintosh was every bit as good as the Luxman, perhaps not quite as controlled but with slightly better tonal complexities, and to this day I have never heard an amplifier portray ride cymbals and their decay quite as well as that amp.

Am I a fan of their aesthetic? Not particularly, though it was handsome enough and not the abomination that some of their more recent efforts seem to be (I'm looking at you, Mcintosh turntable). Could it play music well? Absolutely! Would I buy another? Not sure, but only on reliability/servicing practicality grounds....
 
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Tony L said:
I don’t know McIntosh history, but I can’t help thinking something went very wrong at some point and they just went oligarch bling over function. Just hideously vulgar. The vintage stuff is really nice though, I’d happily use a pair of MC30 or MC40s and their matching pre. It is a very old company, I assume it is in the hands of venture capitalists now, hence the full taste bypass. Looks designed for oil sheiks, Trump, and millionaire boxers to my eyes.
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It was just a question of time before someone divert a discussion about McIntosh into a political agenda! Come on man, it's just another hifi manufacturer and nothing else.
 
TLS said:
It was just a question of time before someone divert a discussion about McIntosh into a political agenda! Come on man, it's just another hifi manufacturer and nothing else.
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Not a political agenda, nor is it the price, I just find the bling-aesthetic really cheesy. It just isn’t good design to my eyes. It does not follow form dictated by function. The record deck may actually be the worst piece of design I’ve ever seen in my life. Just vulgar to my eyes. By saying that I do like the ‘60s and ‘70s stuff a lot hence my curiosity as to whether the brand had changed hands. The modern stuff seems all about making a visual statement of wealth and power to my eyes, like driving an especially ugly modern Bentley, the early stuff was just good hi-fi.

PS AIUI the current MC275 has LEDs in the valve bases to make the tubes glow brighter or in different colours. That tells me absolutely everything I need to know about the current brand ethos!
 
I can't say the McIntosh turntable's aesthetics work for me, but kudos for including a ginormous blue meter that provides useful information.

Joe
 
You can turn the green light off.
It is indeed missing all the essentials of Brit audio - particle board with cheesy ornaments , plastic subplatter wit a bolt substituting for bearing , clever wooden frame scavenged from a pallets and some mattress springs and two volumes of voluptuous prose how to set it up for a proper bounce and how to dress the cables so Majik can be fully released:)
 
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