Any experience on McIntosh Amp with B&W Speakers

I have listened to the MA-6900 with the N803, N802, and N801 all with great results, top to bottom. I think the McIntosh is one of the top three amplifiers for the Nautilus line, from Krell, then Plinius, and then McIntosh!

JMHO.....

Dan

I am currently using a 352 Mcintosh Amp with the 803 and I never regret the purchase. I heard that the 6900 is similar to the MC202 + C42. If you have extra few hundred dollars, go with the MC352+C42. They are all discontinued and you can find great deal on Audiogon or Ebay.

Happy Listening :)

Rodney

good synergy especially with hi-end b/w speakers.

Thanks for the suggestions and sharing, it is very helpful.

I live in Beijing, China, the local dealer only have limited model for me to choose. Even worst, those high end HiFi product's pricing is on average 20-30% higher in Beijing, due to import tax and logistic cost. Well, too bad .... anyway, current offer on the table are ....

1) Krell KAV-500L (250wpc, an old model) at US$4,100.00
2) McIntosh MA6500 (120wpc) at US$3,200.00
3) McIntosh MA6900 (200wpc) at US$4,900.00

I brought home a Rotel RC1090/RB1090 pre and power combo from this dealer together with my B&W N803 3 weeks ago. I think the Rotel combo is not a good match to the B&W speakers after listening for a few weeks in my house. The dealer is willing to take back my Rotel gears at the original price (US$2,900.00) for one of the above replacement amp, and I pay the difference.

I am more interested to MA6900 although she is the most expensive one, and I have never own any McIntosh equipment before. But it sounds like this is a good bet.

For MA6500, it seems she just carry the McIntosh brand and look, but not really a classic McIntosh in terms of sound and value, e.g. no Autoformer feature, no XLR input, etc.

For Krell, I was originally interested on KAV-400xi, but the dealer don't have this model. They only have KAV-500L from their old stock, and it seems they are not going to sell Krell in the future. I think that may not be a good idea to use 500L for it is an old model, the dealer is not selling Krell anymore, and it seems the 400xi do have some good improvement over 500L/300L series, more natural and less bright. On top, consider reliability and resell value, maybe McIntosh is a better choice after all.

The dealer will set up both MA6500 and MA6900 for my audition with N803 this Friday. My friends told me both McIntosh and B&W make good products, but their charactoristics are very similar. Both are accurate, warm and sweet, but a bit lay back and "slow". My music is female vocal Jazz, Pops, and a bit of Rock and Classic.

Any additoinal sharing, comment and advice? It will be very useful to me, as a potential new McIntosh owner. Thanks in advance.

You are fortunate you can listen to both before purchasing. The 6900 has autoformers, which is a good thing. During the audition have your dealer try the B&W's on both the 4 ohm and 8 ohm tap, see if you hear a difference. Then go to the 6500. You will probably like one set up a little more, if not, base your decision on these 2 things: The 6500 is cheaper or, the 6900 is more future proof with more power and the autoformers. One of those will make more sense to you. Good Luck

I have an audition on the Mc MA6900 driving N804 an hour ago. Well, I have to say it is considerable better than the Rotel Combo, the sound is clean, detail, with deep bass and wider sound stage, very musical. As expected the sound is warm and sweet, both female and male vocal are great. I think it will be even better when driving N803, I am going for 6900 ....

I HAVE A MCINTOSH 4200 ALONG WITH B&W 805S SPEAKERS AND FIND THE COMBINATION TO BE A PERFECT MATCH. BOTH UNITS HAVE A WARM SOUND AND SEEM TO FLOW WELL TOGETHER. I AM NOW IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT CD PLAYER TO GO ALONG WITH THIS SETUP. I AM LOOKING INTO MUSICAL FIDELITY BUT THINK I SHOULD GO WITH ONE OF THERE TUBE MODELS? ANY SUGGESTIONS?

at the risk of straying too far from the original forum thread, i have been using a MF Tri Vista SACD player for about 12 months. it is without question the best digital component that i have ever owned or heard. if your budget allows it, i don't think that you could go wrong with one.

fyi - i used to own the MF Nu Vista, too. it is an excellent CD player and many of them can be found on the 'gon for a pretty reasonable price.

I already have a c32 Pre and MC 2255 power with a pair of B&W S604 III and I thing the combination it´s fine, some friends with a more expensive equipments tell me a bout the excelent match

BM speakers, to my ear, have very agressive treble. I would choose an amplifer, which do not expose treble as it would be fatiguing on the long term with much of the cds you probably have. Mcintosh seems to be a good choice.

I'm currently using a Mac MX119 with a Mac MC207 amp to drive my B&W matrix 802's fronts and B&W matrix center and rear speakers. Mac doesn't flinch one bit driving these speakers the sound is terrific PS my sub is a passive SVS.

i have two MC501 with BW 802D; it's a perfect match. The bandwith is extra-wide. The sound is clear and neutral.
My cd player is an accuphase DP78 and i have no preamp.