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

‘Ding’ and as if by Magic …

It's about carefully matching a total system to sound best 

I’m running a McIntosh C2300 (tube pre) into an MC152 amp. I love my bourgeois suburban rig

Summary - Mac gear got me to the place where the recording itself becomes the subject of research (rather than worrying about gear) - so easy to hear the differences now. Seems like decent marker in judging quality of one’s rig

(Sources are Roon/Tidal into a Benchmark Dac3 HDC (wow), or a Clearaudio table (good, will upgrade cartridge & see what happens). Speakers are Harbeth SHL5+ (see below). Kimber “Ascent Series” for cabling (their second tier from bottom))

Omnivorous musical taste

I’ve had a few iterations of McIntosh pre/amp combos. Changes have come as I was able to save and upgrade - but never felt the need to move away from McIntosh, and believe in “voicing” - pre & amp from same company. Current combo feels like it will be in place for a long time

Always 2nd-hand from AudioClassics. Mac seem built like tanks. From reliable dealer, stuff lasts forever (personal experience)

Haven’t been interested in Mac tables, or DACs; (I think) those use designs from others & so no particular benefit from using Mac

(Separately, the Harbeth were great choice for me, and have always been pleasantly surprised with the depth, quality and musicality of the base (its other qualities well-covered). Won’t compare them to big towers or adding a couple of subs, but never been tempted to add subs. The Harbeth are just…great sounding…that’s an audiophile term, right?)

Anyway, one from the peanut gallery of longtime Mac owners….

(btw, I find OCD Mikey @mikepowellaudio  entertaining, and some of what he does very interesting- he did a bunch of videos on active crossover networks & manner in which he built & dialed in his, and they are excellent)

haters gonna hate

it’s all they got, sad as it is

when all you have to your name is a rusty old hammer, the whole world just looks like a bed of nails

old hat at this point