McIntosh -- good for show, not for sound, says dealer

I’ve owned a bunch of McIntosh SS gear, and really love the look and feel of them. Just something special about them. Feels damn nice to come home to your Mac, after a long day at the office. But, soundwise … hell… I just don’t know… Honestly, Mac don’t sound very good compared to much other gear I’ve owned. They’re not really best at anything, but ok at most things. I found myself liking pre autoformer Mac’s the best. Latest (and last, I think) i bought was the MA6600. Even my cheapo Zell ZD-200 mk2 soundwise beat the hell out of that one, in every way… But still, every time I see an add for a Mac, I still feel the urge to buy:) 

Yeah, also I had the CAP150 and Halo. More than ok amps, for sure. What I’m starting to really understand, after years, is that taste in audio varies to a degree that makes it more or less worthless to argue about what equipment sounds good, or not. It’s like arguing about if an amp looks good or not. It’s all about preferences. Some people actually like a sound that I find bland or even right out bad. It’s still Hard for me to understand, but it seems to be real.