Considering a MAC

I know a lot of people like Mac's, but for my money and ears, there are better amps out there. I tried a 2505 and for about the same price as my McCormack DNA 0.5 there was no comparison. Not even in the same league. But try it for your self. The beauty of buying used is you don't lose much money if you don't like it and decide to sell.

first off let me say that i own mcintosh gear & i always will own mac gear,i dont want you to think im just bashing mcintosh but the 2 amps your looking at are horrible & not as good as a $99 audiosource amp from best buy.

unless your looking for a good paper weight stay as far away from the mc2505 & the mc502 as you can.

Thanks for all the input....

Bigjoe,

If the MAC's above are bad, which (inexpensively) are good? Also, is the audiosource ANY good?? Maybe I should just start there?

Thanks,

Marty

Yeah, Joe is right. The models you are looking at are decades old and time has moved forward since then when it comes to trasistors, capacitors, rectifiers, etc.

The 2505 is 30 years older than a DNA 0.5! You can't compare them whatsoever.

The MC7100 sounds great but doesn't have meters. The MC7200 (which I have) is fantastic. So is the MC2002 though it is hard to find. None of these amps have autoformers so they are the least expensive - but don't see that as a negative. The 7200 is one of the best sleeper amps so I would recommend you look for one of those. It is hugely powerful too.

Arthur

hi marty,the suggestions that aball made are your best bet for good sounding vintage mac amps with the mc7100 being the cheapest priced.

the audiosource amps are really pretty good performers for being budget amps,you get alot of bang for the buck for $200,i have a little audiosource amp in my youngest sons system & it sounds pretty darn good too.

[http://www.audiosource.net/amponea.html]

Aball wrote- "The 2505 is 30 years older than a DNA 0.5! You can't compare them whatsoever."

I wasn't comparing the 2505 and the DNA 0.5 head to head. My point was that for about the same price as the 2505, there are much better amps to be had, IMO.