I find the characteristics of McIntosh-amps being "slow and boring without any hint of realism. they are not etched true. thats because their dull. the sound is not clean. its dull" to be a parody, being far from the truth from my own experience and the experience of others. Before I settled down on McIntosh - I now enjoy a combination of a C200 preamp and MC402 amp - I compared the following amps: Mark Levinson, Krell, Audio Research, Densen, Audionet, Chord, Musical Fidelity, T+A, Plinius, Bryston, and others - always with my own, same CDs. The McIntosh-amps were the most natural sounding, most powerful amps I heard. Soundstaging was excellent, as were voices, orchestras, and bass control and definition.
Hammerr: "The macs only come alive at around 300 watts or so." I have listened to five different McIntosh-amps now, and found the exact opposite to be true. They sound excellent even late in the night, when not even one per cent of their power is used. The MC602 that Avnut criticizes is definitely one of the best amps in the world. I can only imagine that the setup, or cables were bad, or that for example the MC602s he listened at a dealer's premises was not run-In. My own 402 sounded awful and steely for the first couple of hundreds of hours - but sounds terrific now.
As always, one should go and listen himself.
Hammerr: "The macs only come alive at around 300 watts or so." I have listened to five different McIntosh-amps now, and found the exact opposite to be true. They sound excellent even late in the night, when not even one per cent of their power is used. The MC602 that Avnut criticizes is definitely one of the best amps in the world. I can only imagine that the setup, or cables were bad, or that for example the MC602s he listened at a dealer's premises was not run-In. My own 402 sounded awful and steely for the first couple of hundreds of hours - but sounds terrific now.
As always, one should go and listen himself.