Mcintosh Amps w/ B&W 801'S

It seems that people are of two camps when it comes to McIntosh amps. When I mentioned to some dealers that I was considering a Mac amp they chuckled. I assume you are thinking about the MC602. I auditioned this amp at home over a long weekend driving my Thiel CS7.2s off the 4 ohm taps and found the Mac to be very powerful and uncongested sounding, and even more at ease then my Bryston 7B ST monoblocks playing large scale symphonic music at loud playback volumes. Tonally the Mac sounds very natural, strings never get edgy, thin sounding, or steely like most of the other amps I have tried, and there is tonal color and harmonic richness present that is lacking in some of the current high tech designs. It also sounds very delicate for a big amp. It never seems to get physically very warm, has no mechanical hum, and is dead quiet. On the down side its bass is not quite as impactful or as subterranian as some of the current high tech designs. The Mac also doesn't have the same razor sharp resolution, although it sorts out detail very well and never sounds homogenized. I also wouldn't go as far to say the Mac is totally neutral, I thought the treble was slightly 'off the mark' sounding on some CDs. I am still considering this amp. To my wife's ear this is the best amp I have auditioned to date (other amps auditioned ML No. 336, Classe CAM 350, and Krell FPB300). I did encounter a severe ground loop hum when I turned on my Bryston 5B ST for HT. If I can't get past this issue I'll have to eliminate the Mac from my short list. Oh yeah, the big blue meters are pretty cool to watch as well, but really not necessary. The meters indicated that I needed about 60 continuous watts to maintain a pretty good playback volume on my Thiels.

thanks tom_munro, the 801's in my opinion, will give you clarity,and warmth only if the electronics have these characteristics. what i seek is great control, delicacy, and warmth at the same time. the bats are great, but just wanted to keep my options open. oh yeah, my dad is a big mac fan. so all i hear about is mac these days. thanks again.

What concert hall are you going to use these in? I run my N803s with a Conrad Johnson MF2500 in a 18x26x8 ft. room and I think it's barely large enough for coherent sound. At any rate, the Macs can probably handle the 3 ohm MRI.

Tom_Munroe As per another thread on Krell it is suprising to me how some find Mac objectionable. I for one don't. McIntosh solid state is well engineered and quite good. I can only guess the chucklers are the ones that really haven't listened first hand which is so prevelent in high end audio. I suspect many make verbal comments on what they have heard from others rather than what they have actually listened to in a familiar system. To Avnut I say consider the macs but only because you have heard them and know in your own mind. Don't rely on the approval of others in your decision.

the reason i ask for fellow audiophiles' advice or experience is because the mac dealer in my town does not do in home demos. also, if i buy it and dont like it, they will only give me my money back. they are supposedly the highest volume mac dealer in the world. if i decided to buy, my investment would include a pair of mc-1000's and an mc602. over 20k. i refuse to buy at retail if all they do is type the order in the computer and ask how i'll pay for it. thats why im looking for outside opinions. thanks