Any opinions on the Mcintosh Mc 402/352

Mcintosh equiment seems to get little respect here on AG,but I have owned the MC352 (bought from Audio Classics)for about four years and love it with my C2300 preamp. They sill offer NOS 352s at a very reasonable price. I dont think there's much if an difference between the sound of the 352 and 402 except for the 50 watts.A lot of power and sounds unbelievable with the preamp using Gold Lions.

I have owned a 352 and traded it in for a 402. They are both very good amps but the 402 is markedly better than the 352. If you can buy thge 402 I would suggest that you go that direction. The 402 has a few improvements beyond the additional 50 watts of power. But they added a better power supply that I noticed after burn in on several recordings that the bass transients were much more fluid, and timly in response at higher volumes. ALso the LED lights for the meters were a selling point form as I changed the bulbs in the 352 many times and that is no easy chore. The connectors are of a higher quality than those used on the 352. I believe if memory serves the 402 weighs about 15-20 pounds more than the 352. SO al in all as much as I loved the 352 the 402 has enough improvement in overall ownership advantage I would go with the 402. And from what a dealer told me that had both a 402 and 452 on the floor at one time, he preferred the 402, but that could be that he knew a trade was going to shock me.

Not sure if it was a match issue or what, but on my Thiel 2.4s, the 402 was completely outclassed by a Pass Labs X250.5 and an XA30.5. No competition at all... and I bought the amp from someone who had loved it on the same Thiels.

That's funny. It's all about personal listening preferences. I bought a 250.5 from an Audiogoner who sold it to get a pair of Mac 501 monos. He admitted to me that he thought that the Macs were far better. Meanwhile, I had sold an MC 300 I loved to get the 250.5, and couldn't get rid of it fast enough once I had it. I literally hated the sound of it.