I agree with Dave b, the Mac stuff does not matchup here...Mac is second rate compared to Krell, hands down, case closed. I had a 402 for over a week, and it sounded terrible, listened to Mac equip. again at my dealer recently while auditioning 803Ds on and I thought I was going to puke. Auto formers are single-handedly the most ass backwards engineering design, and any engineer in electronics will tell you they don't make an ounce of sense-which is one of the reasons Mac is the ONLY one using them. McIntosh is also owned and operated by a Giant conglomerate corporation who runs a few other second rate non audiophile grade brands. Speaking of Brand, this is about the most successful thing about McIntosh, the brand recognition, it's an old name, one which used to be the best. These days it does NOT compete on the level alot of the Mac owners here on AG like to think it does.
Lets not forget the "Old Blue Eyes" look of it, and the moving needles. Incredibly annoying. Even my wife, who has not a care about any HiFi equipment took one look at the 402 and said, "it better sound better than it looks".
Some of the other brands mentioned here are simply on a different level of sound and detail and smoothness. If you like the delivery of your music detailed, w/decent bass, but dry, grainy, stale and etched sounding, go for Mac. Otherwise BAT, and Krell and MF are much nicer components living in a completely different plane of musical reproduction.
Lets not forget the "Old Blue Eyes" look of it, and the moving needles. Incredibly annoying. Even my wife, who has not a care about any HiFi equipment took one look at the 402 and said, "it better sound better than it looks".
Some of the other brands mentioned here are simply on a different level of sound and detail and smoothness. If you like the delivery of your music detailed, w/decent bass, but dry, grainy, stale and etched sounding, go for Mac. Otherwise BAT, and Krell and MF are much nicer components living in a completely different plane of musical reproduction.