Does Mc Intosh make reference gear

"I'm sure audiophiles would give more props to Mc Intosh if they made some cutting edge products. "

I think Mc cares more about retaining the value of the brand than catering to audiophiles. I don't blame them. The brand is what distinguishes McIntosh. WHy should they do anything to make their brand not stand out from the pack? Especially just to cater to finicky audiophiles who will not even agree on what a reference is? Keep dreaming. If you don't like Mc, buy something else. I lot of people do. I do not, but I suspect I could find a way to live with Mc gear if I had to. I do love the looks and have considered Mc gear on many occasions, but it has just never worked out.

"I'm guessing that those who bash it have never heard it."

Maybe, but I gotta say I have heard a lot of poorly set up Mc based systems in A/V shops that target the wealthy in general (certainly not audiophiles, though a lot of the gear they sell is pretty good) and that lack of audiophile level quality control probably contributes to the uneven reputation with audiophiles.

I've also heard mc sound very good when done up right. So my opinion is it is as viable a product overall as most but has unique appeal due the brand and its styling.

Regarding origins of the high end, I would say it started to reach its peak back around 1970 or so with the introduction on the OHM A and F, large full range speakers capable of lifelike presentation and dynamics on a large scale. THat is of course when working correctly, which was often not the case. Things took off from there, thanks largely of course to Al Gore...:^).

In the beginning....

No Al did NOT however invent the Klipschorn or found ALtec or JBL, which is probably where the high end really started, with large high efficiency speakers that worked quite well with the tube amps that were predominant in the early years of high end audio.

YEs, tube amps were the dawn of high end audio civilzation, especially driving large high efficiency horn speakers.

THen came the middle ages of largely eh Class A/B SS amps that opened up some new doors in terms of getting bigger better sound out of smaller packages, but things tended to mostly muddle along for years.

Then came high efficiency Class D amps and the dawn of a new era. Class G came and went offering decent sound in a smaller package, but this was the real deal.....a path into the future.

Now we are at the dawn of a new era, the Class D amp era....all thanks mostly of course to that great inventor and humanitarian, Al Gore....

BTW, I think even McIntosh has come out with some new CLass D amp products of late that still looks like Mc gear. That Al Gore......

Bryston and Mc = two way different beasts.

Which is reference?

The one that sticks the word "reference" in the product name first! :^)

Fact is Mc gear does hold its value better than most any other brand, including those near and dear to high end enthusiasts. So they are "reference" in that regard. Facts are facts. So there.... :^)