"Well below reference." What a disingenuous comment. Reference is whatever a given manufacturer is willing to pay for or someone's ego insists it is. Everyone's hearing is unique to that individual and what one likes another may dislike. Note that Harry Pearson put a McIntosh C2300 in his "reference" system a year or two ago. Is that relevant? If so, why and under what conditions? Musicians, who produce the material the rest of us judge audio equipment with and should know, can't agree about the color of the sky at any given point in time, much less what something "should" sound like.
Does Mc Intosh make reference gear
I have been reading the current thread here about Mc Intosh being bashed. People are saying they use cheap parts or have a 70's type of sound. I don't know the Mc line that well. Do they make a reference line? If they do why don't you ever hear about it? If they don't maybe they should. I'm sure audiophiles would give more props to Mc Intosh if they made some cutting edge products.