I take it that smaller one take-away from this whole exchange is that it's a turn off to see dealers who don't carry a particular brand (McIntosh, Magico, Wilson, are the video's examples) try to boost what they sell by dismissing or denigrating another brand. @kaplandesign -- you clearly carry good brands, as evidenced here:
But you're engaging in McIntosh bashing on this thread. So, maybe you do believe what you're saying based on experience; ok, I'll stipulate that for the sake of argument.
The objection argued for here is that your position as a seller of competing brands, you're better off -- you, your business is better off -- taking the high road and not denigrating what is effectively your competition.
Here is your opportunity to retract your comments and apologize, or double down and be lumped together with the Mike Powell Scorched-Earth-Business-Strategy.
If Mac stuff is so bad, why was my friend able to sell his piece of equipment at 100% profit? lol Why is there always a thread like this? makes me wonder. LMAO. they must be doing something right.
My suggestion is do not wait so long. Buy your MAC earlier in your life because you will ultimately go in that direction anyways. Its just a matter of time and wasted money spent.
Mac is expensive relatively compared to others in UK so although I love the look.... I bought UK made at first for value for money but have since gone Japanese for amps with a class luxman...
And as pretty as my amp is.... The mac is sure purdier
This thread is hilarious! Two things I have learned reading this threat while listening to my McIntosh MC462…. “Buy Mac don’t look back” and “denafrips won’t get you laid”, wise words lol!
I read a lot of reviews from people expressing regret waiting so long to get a McIntosh. So I splurged and made the plunge. My brother calls it my mid-life -crisis stereo. Whatever, it sounds great and the blue meters add a little panache to the space, like a glowing piece of art. I plan to keep mine forever.
And as far as performance, I can pick out a poor recording or weak mastering technique, and I can pick out the difference between mp3 and CD quality. Beyond that I can’t hear the difference and will am happy to remain blissfully ignorant.
I hope everyone enjoys their audio pursuit, I’m feeling like my system is pretty dialed in at the moment. Cheers!
I hope Mike Powell Audio goes out of business. Reading his posts, it's obvious he's a scumbag. If that's how he deals with his customers, it's amazing he's lasted this long.
Biggest mistake was dealing with Mike Powell Bought a pair of AGD Tempo GAN amps and just didn’t work out in my system. Sent them back within 3 weeks of the 30 day trial and he said he spent my money. He pieced me back the 9k over a 10 week period while calling me names, and dogging my system.
The dude is just the worse dealer by far I have ever dealt with….stay away
His physical appearance pretty much tells me what I need to know. He looks very unkept and non-professional. I know you can’t always judge a book by its cover but in this case I think it’s obvious. His character is crap and being a dealer he never should go online much less a YouTube video and bash a company. Just not good business and shows severe lack of social skills.
@jjss49 Your reported exchange with Stereo11’s Mr. Powell shows that his irascibility and petulance -- exhibited in his videos and in his posts on this forum -- can extend to his dealings with customer. To quote Maya Angelou again, "When someone shows you who they are...believe them."
Those who have gotten good service from Stereo11 have their experience and, judging from his YouTube comments, he has lots of fanboys willing to attack anyone who questions him. But fanboys on YouTube does not a business model make.
He’s flailing. He’s angry. And pouring it out on others isn’t helping. He’s crapping in his own back yard. If he has any friends out there reading this, he needs an intervention. Go help him.
It’s one thing to display an arrogant, know-it-all attitude on a YouTube channel. Let’s face it, these days you have to sometimes scream to be heard (or clicked). It’s a hard life for these social media “influencers”. 😄
But in Mikes case, he appears to be under the delusion that screaming and insulting his customers, in a niche business where word of mouth is EVERYTHING, would somehow work great for his business!
Reading his rant above and his unique communication style with customers (as evident by what you shared), I’m now convinced this dudes a shoddy businessman and may have been rejected by McIntosh for representing their brand. He clearly didn’t take well to that rejection! 😂
i made the post below a few days ago on the thread that was started showing ocd hifi guy’s video about 1% etc etc... shortly after i made this post, the thread was deleted -- i don’t know if it was my particular post, or the comments made by others, that led to the thread deletion
i have been asked to repost my experience by those who saw it the other day... and thus i do so here
i make no further commentary, but wanted to share the experience i had, trying to make a small purchase
a month ago i got a set of maggie 1.7i’s... really enjoying them... read about the rear fuse bypass etc etc, figured i would try that, so i find this fellow’s site, with his jumper and fuse rod kit, $107... so i order it, pay at time of order (he is in texas or georgia i believe, i am in california)
a week goes by, no update, no reply, no shipment progress, no tracking number, just silence
i send him an email, hey there just checking in, here is my order #, did the order ship yet? silence
wait couple more days, send him a second email (two email addresses are prominently shown on his site, on his order confirmation, rec’d at the time of my order and payment)... crickets
three days later, given i had paid using paypal, i file a case to get the transaction reviewed... two days later, i get an email reply:
Theres a backorder on pure silver from our supplier. My apology for not reading your email. Have you tried calling ? I know its an old technique but I dont sit at a desk any longer it makes me ill.. Call me old school but the phone is what works best for me. I have changed the website to no longer take orders for whats not in stock. The demand has fully overwhelmed my ability to supply based on the raw materials availability from my vendor, so I apologize.
The silver jumpers should be here this coming week I hope. could be as much as 2 weeks. So let me know if youd like a refund now or can just be patient with all the others waiting for this product. It will be fulfilled for sure. Clearly you did not search the net to see if theres even one time in 23 years of doing this as a career that Ive stolen anyones money ... I dont do that ... I also am not Amazon with 24 hour delivery... But I think I will be now... This PP dispute will cause me to eliminate the possibility to order unless Ive got them in stock and Ill make them in batches from time to time and inventory will be listed on the site .
Mike Powell
my answer...
Don’t mind waiting Mike. Just need communication.
Most things are bought online these days, and order status, inventory status should be shown, along with leadtimes. Especially long lead-times. Yes Amazon Prime has spoiled us. And there is Covid and supply chain disruptions. But a vendor still needs to communicate. It isn’t on the buyer, it’s on the seller. So why do you imply it is my fault to not call you? The burden is misplaced.
I am glad the dispute got your attention to even get a response. But why did it have to come to that?
Steve
it has been another 8 days, no reply
paypal writes me, says they reviewed the case, issued me a refund
i got other jumpers and solid copper rod to bypass the maggies, improvement is minor but noticeable
no value judgments or commentary... just what happened... end of story
The claims you made in the video were quoted, verbatim. They were outrageous. You got some over-the-line flak, here, but there were others who defended you and others who made specific points about what you said. But rather than own up to what you said -- or man up and try to defend it -- you’d rather pull a middle-school move and say it was just an "opinion"? To disparage this forum and its members?
Taking the nasty, dodgy route just highlights your true character. Future customers might want to look out for Stereo11. They might get insulted, or worse.
Don't be coy. You want the views, the subscribers, the clicks, the love. Your channel has 12.8k subscribers and your video got 5.3k views in a little over a week. Like it or not, you’re beyond single dude with an opinion. You’re playing a professional businessman. It’s time to grow up.
@femoore12+ 1 - That's one audio dealer I can cross off my list of 'might buy something from them some day'. He doesn't care if people don't like him. Good, 'cause after reading his post, I don't like him, and I would never reward somebody I don't like with business.
It appears that many want to be the arbitrators of the scope of conversions involving the “audiophile community” in general, and A’gon forums in particular. In my view, this is a bit of an overreach in that the “experience” of enjoying music production/reproduction can be multi-faceted. The actions of defining the “audiophile experience” as one element, and only one element, is heavy-handed and narrow in scope in that it truncates the emotional, intellectual, and esthetic stimulus that we human beings enjoy. Yet, we told by some that their reality should be our reality, and any deviation is <fill in expletive here>.
Opening the floodgates and welcoming a “hit piece” on one of the most respected, successful, and iconic hifi brands in the world was probably not the intent of the OP. But we can’t deny that some comments have been less than complimentary, if not harsh, about the famous brand with big blue meters.
Back in my early used Pioneer receiver, Garrard record changers days, I stumbled across a pair of Scott speakers in a department store. Someone had punched their fist thru the 15” woofer leaving a gapping hole. I picked them up for next to nothing and borrowed some clear fingernail polish from my sister to patch the hole. I wasn’t sure if they’d play 5 seconds, or 5 years. They were still working when I put them in a place of safe keeping until I returned from college. This was my first system. I loved it as much as our dog, Farfel.
A few years later, I visited the premier audio store in the region and had the privilege of sitting in front of a pair of ESS AMT1s power by … McIntosh. I didn’t have the audio vocabulary to describe what I was hearing, but it was so much “cleaner sounding” than my system. I aspired to own a McIntosh setup someday. I was also “hooked” on good sound … but didn’t realize at the time that providing an “above average” musical experience to others would be my life’s work.
A little musical “gig” called Woodstock happened in 1969. I didn’t know until later that it was powered by McIntosh power amps. I doubt if there were many audiophiles among the 600,000 peace, love and music lovers at Bethel Woods. But I am pretty sure that they enjoyed the musical experience that those Mac amps provided. Those who chose to chemically enhance their experience even more so.
The “musical experience” was far reaching. I recall a time when everyone I knew could play the drum solo from Ina Gadda Da Vida in its entirety on a car trunk lid, cooler, or whatever else was close by. All that was needed was a supple wrist, fingers, and something that would make a percussive sound when energy was applied to it. By definition, it was a “musical experience.”
A few years later, my musical tastes become bit more refined, upgraded to mid-priced separates and built my own speakers. I also shopped, and found, the perfect listening chair. Low back, swivel, comfortable, easy to move and vacuum around. Probably the most rewarding times in my musical life were when my butt was in that chair, listening, evaluating and replacing one inductor after another in the passive crossover, trying to determine if I just made things sound better, or worse. “The chair” was a major component in my total hifi experience. I’ve discarded a lot of stuff over the years. But not the chair. It’s in my loft along with a few items of “interest”. I place my butt in that chair from time to time. It still feels “just right” and reminds me of its critical role in my total hifi experience.
About 6 years ago, I traded my full-time gig for a part time one. As the new owners were inventorying items for transfer to their stock, I made a request for them to exclude a Mac amp and preamp. My life-long aspiration to own a “Mac stack” finally came to fruition. My high performance/high value “tweaked” separates were boxed up and the Mac gear took their place in my home. The “listening experience” for me is now complete. I have no regrets.
Our part time gig involves my former service technician. We work one day a week “trying to keep good equipment from going into the dumpster”. The prerequisite is that the equipment has to have an emotional attachment to the owner(s). A first, we were seeing the usual suspects – 2-channel receivers, turntables, speakers, amps, etc. Then, we started getting odd requests. But as long as the item meant something to the owner, then we’d see if we could help.
We checked in a transistor radio from the 50’s and told the owner we had a 10% chance of a successful repair. All the stars must have lined up and we were able to get it going. When presenting the item to its owner, I wasn’t prepared to see a 70ish-year-old eye surgeon come to tears when he heard music coming from the transistor radio his father gave to him as a child.
Later, a Pioneer cassette deck was checked in middle-aged man. “It belongs to his father,” we were told. We obtained some hard-to-find parts and had a successful service event. Turns out that the father was in a nursing home and was terminally ill. He played accordion and had been bragging to his friends at the home about his talent. He had recorded himself on cassette but, with a broken player, was unable to show off his skills. Before he passed, he was able to play his music to his friends on his Pioneer cassette deck that we repaired.
The thought of servicing an Arvin console was completely off our radar. This one belonged to a family who mother had recently passed away. It hadn’t been played in years, and they remembered her playing Christmas music on it. It was presented to our shop shortly before Thanksgiving. The family’s Thanksgiving was brightened by the fact that “mom’s” stereo might be ready by Christmas. We had several setbacks (things that haven’t’ been exercised in years can yield unwelcomed events). And, yes, a few grownups were emotionally overwhelmed (and grateful) that “mom’s” stereo would be playing Christmas music. They didn’t care if it had a ceramic phono cartridge and was highly compromised sonically.
Then there’s the Panasonic open reel tape recorder on the bench. The owner purchased the unit (and some prerecorded tapes) during his service in Vietnam and hasn’t listened to his music in 30 years. He has Stage 4 cancer. We’re busting our chops to get it to him, while there’s still time.
We’re presented with vintage mid-fi receivers and other assorted goodies and we see ear-to-ear grins when these things are brought back to life. There is one thing that’s certain: none of these guys/gals would trade me even up for the high performance/high value “tweaked” (highly musical) separates that I have carefully tucked away upstairs.
To all the above, there is more to the musical experience than the quality of the musical presentation. Perhaps, even a chair?
Okay, so now back to McIntosh.
The founders of McIntosh established some uncompromising principals sometime back. To set an objective to have a brand that people aspire to own, it needs to appeal to customers on many levels and have little, or no, compromise on any of those essential elements. Performance, build quality, esthetics. Each element needs to hold up to scrutiny and survive on its own merit. McIntosh, most certainly, gets a pass all counts. They are not merely be the most successful at pulling this off in the history of audio. They could represent a highly credible example of the best of best including all industries regards of their discipline.
So, yes, there are things out that may sound better to you than McIntosh. Our perspective of McIntosh should be evaluated on technical execution, rather than our own limited perception of their intent. I doubt if there is anyone on the payroll at McIntosh who is thinking: “Yeah, our stuff is really pretty, but it doesn’t sound very good.” I do believe that McIntosh’s intent is to design and build high performance into their products. Whether this performance fails to meet your expectations is another matter altogether.
The question should not be blue lights vs no lights. Meters vs no meters. Pleasing esthetics vs boring. The question becomes: “Does this product offer the overall experience you are aspiring to in your listening room?”
If I were given the power to define the scope of the conversations of this forum, it would encompass ALL THINGS that contribute to our enjoyment of listening to music.
I answered another poster who asked what the Mac sound is, and I wanted to add something to that. Oldhvymec, who owns 100 times more Mac pieces than I ever have or ever will made a good comment to the effect that over the years many pieces of Mac sound differently. I agree. I have heard vintage Mac gear that sounded very different from my SS am and direct coupled Mac that sounded different again. My point is that I suppose that it's not entirely valid to say that there is a Mac sound, other than the one a particular owner has experienced.
It's a really sound marketing strategy. Insult a demographic that can actually afford expensive audio gear and then insult them again when they question you. I wonder how the audio companies he represents would feel about that?
His entire presence not just his looks. I worked around a lot of crusty people, "Looks", NO! Presence, YES!
And the spew begins.
Now that all the "FAKE" autophiles have shown up.
That is the problem you don't give a crap and make statements that people who OWN or LIKE Mac are in the MidFi loop.
What a DUMB A$$ statement..
An autophile is a "Personal" choice by the individual. It has ZERO to do with other's opinions of the person's choice or their opinion of their choice of gear.
The nice thing about Mac. I've never "SOLD" a piece, someone always offered to buy it first. BTW I don't sell my gear to someone because he has money. He/she better have a story to 'WHY" he/she want's my Macs. Money doesn't buy my gear a good attitude does. I'll take it with me before I sell it to a dummy.
Mcintosh will be in heaven, even I know that..
Mr Mike you don't have treat people "UNFAIRLY" to treat them poorly. It's pretty obvious with the "Ladies and Jackass opinion" statement..
Oh yea you got my business, but don't worry it's only MidFi.. LOL Funny Guy. You don't need Midfi business, do you? I'll take my 45-50 pieces of MidFi and look somewhere else, I guess.
LOL Hello Ladies !! Im so sorry Ive been ignoring you ... Who would know that one jackasses opinion would make people cry for a WAAAAAmbulance... So Ill ignore that meaningless drek and invite anyone who thinks they know something about me or any of my relationships with manufacturers to come forth and bring your story and lets get to the truth shall we ? Ill also invite anyone with an opinion that says they have not been totally taken care of by me as a buyer to also come forth and lets get to the truth... Time to Excercise the Demons out of this group and Im here, showing up to do so. For the record, I dont care if you dont like me ... who gives a crap.. Im talking about things that matter like service and sales. Any single person out there that feels they have been treated unfairly by me care to step forward ? Opinions here dont matter , they are of no consequence. Lets get to the meat of the vomit on this thread and see if theres even one single legit complaint.. Im here to settle any dispute fairly and openly in a public forum.. Bring it ...
I find it funny as hell the pathetic little troll who wants to bash mcintosh audio equipment. Mcintosh is a true reminder of hard work and dedication determination and commitment of making excellent audio equipment for decades. Very few companies can say that. Yes I do own some mac gear . Hell ya I do bit I also have parasound krell audio research. Each audio equipment I own is sweet and personal to me. Mcintosh is some the greatest audio equipment made period
with the McIntosh I could easily get lost in the music.
Ding ding ding! That's the criteria the video guy hauls out as the ultimate test of an audio system. The fact that McIntosh does that for you -- and I assume many others, here -- is about as good a refutation as one could hope for. The only reply the video guy could make is, "Well, you don't know what really good sound is like." To which the only answer is, "Go home."
My experience is that McIntosh makes some great sounding, relatively high value products, and some that are mediocre and overpriced "lifestyle" products. I really liked my MC452. Direct coupled MA352 not so much. MHA100 went back in the box within hours.
MC452 was $7500.. FOR 450 WATTS. By comparison the Pass Labs X350.5 was $11,550. I don't see that as a ripoff.
Maybe if the MC452 sounded like a Denon receiver, but it had authority, detail, dimensionality, and that unique McIntosh autoformer tone that I've never heard replicated from another manufacturer. Not as nuanced and refined as some competitors and pricier amps I've owned (PS Audio's Paul McGowan described Mc as a bit "heavy-handed", which I think is accurate), but really enjoyable and very musical nevertheless. I now have a system that I feel strikes the right balance I've been searching for with an Allnic preamp and Luxman power, but sometimes I take a step back and find my listening habits too fickle and analytical whereas with the McIntosh I could easily get lost in the music.
I use to own MC601 mono blocks and matching preamp C52 with klipsch speakers never ever sounds good or no synergy at all I sold them bought Parasound A21+ and P6 and here we go everything sounds right
my wife love the looks on Macintosh and she always giving me a compliments with Parasound she don’t care 🤷♀️
since then I own a lot of power amps JC1, JC5,SIMAUDIO MOON, CLASSE CA2300 Plinius 103 and more but anthem STR amp I use to own also sound dead code with my speakers
matching right amp to right speakers is super important
I’ve actually received criticism by members of this site because I stated the design aesthetics of the equipment I purchase is actually important to me.
First off, we’re good. I appreciate your kind words.
Next, the (video author’s) notion that how something looks and sounds are completely distinct -- indeed, unrelated -- is a ridiculous move (and it is a move).
Has he ever eaten a meal that was well-presented (or "plated" as they say in the biz)? Of course looks matter. Aesthetic experience involves the whole person. No one ever complains if a stereo makes you tap your toes, right? So, motor senses like touch are relevant to audio but not sight? How many audiophiles should be dissed for their lava lamps or their lighting because clearly (the idiot logic goes) that is evidence they don’t really care about the sound? None. None should be dissed.
People who love cars get it. Form AND function can go together. And a company that can produce really great functioning cars can put that talent into their form, too. It’s not necessarily a sign that they’ve diverted precious resources away from the function side, right? Well that’s another claim made by the video author.
Are there charlatans that are only about looks? Sure. Do con-jobs happen with looks? Hello, trophy-wife or trophy-husband! But the notion that IF there are good looks, THEN there is inadequate attention to the content is (as I said) a rhetorical gambit meant to sucker in the confused. You are not suckered, nor am I!
@oldhevymec's comment about the author's appearance reminds me of Nietzsche's comment about Socrates.
"In origin, Socrates belonged to the lowest class: Socrates was plebs. We know, we can still see for ourselves, how ugly he was. But ugliness, in itself an objection, is among the Greeks almost a refutation. ... And Socrates merely answered: "You know me, sir!"
OP you see and hear a lot from a person that I can't get past what I AM seeing and hearing. It's simple the guy just turns me OFF. Terms like MiFi and Mcintosh in the same sentence and then infer a lack of knowledge if people disagree.
I've heard the same CRAP my whole life about Mcintosh. To make blanket statements about a product that is as different as Mcintosh is saying he has heard even a portion of the Macs through the years. I'd really really doubt it. Kind of like the guy here on AG that compares all the amps. Unless I'm looking for a spelling of a product. I can't really see a value. I did find it strange that they finally found the Holy Grail or so they say. Sure a lot of information to sort through.
Is one product the best? I don't think so. Are all the amps tested still there for testing? How can you compare a product from 5 years ago, today, without the product to compare it against.
If I set up a room, very few could tell the difference between my 2k and a others 20k amp SQ wise. I could roll a set of valves a 100 ways with the amps I use. Most would KNOW I swapped amps. Some would swear it's SS others would know it's not and a few wouldn't give a hoot. "It just sounds good". Mcintosh sound has changed as much as the tech that have rebuilt the millions of Mcintosh pieces through the years.. Very few use the same parts so the sound is as different as the parts they use.
BTW all Ford products are the same. 63 Ford Falcon, 2022 Lincoln Navigator, they look and sound just alike.
Mac's MidFi? I guess I'll just have to settle. :-)
I agree with your analysis of the video. Again, I apologize for previous comments in this thread that were typed way too quickly.
I’ve actually received criticism by members of this site because I stated the design aesthetics of the equipment I purchase is actually important to me. To some people that was proof that I am not a real “audiophile”. Honestly, I never use that word to describe myself. I am in this hobby because I listen to music all the time. Listening to music actually helps me keep my personal “spectrum” issues under control. To me this idea of there being a “correct audiophile” and an “incorrect audiophile” is an ugly side of this hobby I never knew existed until coming to this forum. I know not everyone here is that way, but there is a percentage that thinks like this. This reminds me of the Dr. Seuss book “The Sneetches”.
Took a couple days off social media. I see things are still going.
Reviewing the video and this thread, it’s clear that the video is not really about McIntosh. Jay (who made his own video about McInstosh) missed the what I think is the main point in OCD’s video. What is that point? Well, he’s advising people about how to sort out what to buy.
He begins by sorting audiophiles into two exclusive groups.
His first distinction, quoting the video here, is this "split:":
"You’re either a guy for display or you’re a guy for sonic and you don’t care about display." He continues, "Are you someone who you want something that visually is striking so that when people come over to your place to listen they’re visually arrested by the look of your rig and they’re awestruck by how grandiose it is okay or how beautiful it is or how amazing it is?"
If you’re about how things look, he has an example:
A "perfect example [is] macintosh, okay. You guys know that it’s a brand I don’t really like because I just don’t think it sounds that good; I think it’s overpriced."
And people who like looks are wowed by it. Ok, so it just seems at this point like one person’s opinion.
But, then he makes the sweeping claim:
"For people that are in hi-fi, we look at it and we’re like ‘Oh cute little green LED, that’s pretty kitschy,’ you know; ‘Oh that’s nice,’ you know. But I get where the market segment is -- it’s [McIntosh] not really...for the audiophile. I think macintosh is for the person that wants to *show* that they’re an audiophile; they want people to *recognize* them *as* an audiophile through a visual cue -- which means people that don’t know crap about hi-fi, okay? Because people that really know about hi-fi look at McIntosh -- the ones that [are] real audiophiles -- we know it doesn’t sound that good."
Who is McIntosh for, then? McIntosh is good, he says,
"for people that don’t really know, okay? For people that...are in their infancy of their hi-fi that aren’t real audiophiles but they’ve just started hi-fi; they’re going to be impressed because they know how much that [McIntosh gear] costs; the first level of person has no idea what it even is -- they’re going to be blown away by how it looks [but in fact] they have no clue."
But this is not just about McIntosh hate. That’s too simple. It’s about creating two categories — those who are fooled by looks and don’t understand what good sound is, and those who manage to get past superficial looks (and price). This is a video for people who are confused and need guidance. They want to hear good sound and they need a guru. This categorization is the first lesson being offered by this guru. It’s not a question of one internet dude's opinion. He is arguing for a fundamental dualism — looks vs. sounds. And those who accept that dualism will trust the guy who taught it to them. (And maybe buy his gear.)
This is also not just about McIntosh. It’s an Us-Them rhetoric, and all such rhetoric needs examples. McIntosh is just the first and easiest example to support the dubitable claim that there are (only) two kinds of audiophiles (the visually-mesmerized and the sonically-enlightened.) But then he adds in other brands. He mentions Focal,Wilson, Magico, too. About these brands he says,
"Man, they have the visual nailed, but they do not have the audio nailed." They are among, he says, "these visual brands for people that have elegant homes" filled with people where, "you’re the big man you know sitting in front of this gorgeous thing."
This is why this video is interesting (to me). It’s not about McIntosh at all. It’s about whether there are two kinds of audiophiles, whether looks and sonics are mutually exclusive, and (at the meta-level) whether dealers who advance these kinds of characterization about these dilemmas are operating in service of the hobby or just in service of their wedge into the business of the hobby.
i too have found over the years that it is a smart move to determine what amplification is used by one’s favorite speaker maker for development and at demonstrations/shows, and then at least audition, if not outright emulate that setup
stewart tyler’s using arc vt series tube amps for voicing his proac response series
alan shaw using hegel 360/390 for his harbeths
spencer hughes and terry miles using quad 66 and audiolab 8200 monoblocks developing spendor classic spendors
more recently, clayton shaw using lta zotl tube amps for his spatial sapphires
wendell diller using bryston, now pass labs for his maggies
focal with naim, devore with line magnetic...and so on... not to say these are the only ones that work well, but it gives precious insight into what amps, or the nature of amps, that the makers themselves think will coax the best sound from their speakers
I'm not sure that anyone can conclude that any brand of audio equipment is all bad, or all good. It appears to me, that how great a particular amp or set of speakers sounds, is not absolute with all amps or speakers.
It seems that how good any amp sounds, depends on how well it mates and synergizes electronically with a particular set of speakers, compared to others. How the design, and how much current, or voltage, is produced by the amp, the damping factor, the impedance, etc., etc. compared to what is required by the design of the speakers is far more relevant to how one combination sounds compared to the range of alternatives, than the brands of those combinations.
It does not seem that one can generalize that one brand amp, or another, will sound great with all types and brands of speakers – because they don't. I've found that true with the variety of amps and speakers that I have had.
I recently decided to try Harbeth speakers – the 30.1's and the 40.2's – which I have. And, I found that several of the amps I had, did not seem to drive them to their potential – the Harbeths didn't have the dynamics and clarity, and the mids and bass were not as controlled as, I had heard them present with other amps – specifically, the Hegel amps. Or, the McIntosh MA252 or MA352, which are two newer amps by McIntosh, which are tube / SS hybrids. Both the Hegel amps and the MA252 / MA352 amps provide the utmost in bass control, dynamics and clarity with both the 30.1's and 40.2's. I got the Hegel HA590 integrated SS amp to drive them, which drive the Harbeths to their full potential. I would not have kept the Harbeths, had I not found the amps that can properly drive them.
It can be a long, frustrating and costly journey to find amps and speakers that match well and synergize to produce their optimum sound quality – which is why you might rely on the manufacturers to provide that guidance. Harbeth's designer makes clear that selected SS amps drive his speakers to their full potential – which is why he demos them with the Hegel amps. Which is also why I decided to get the Hegel H590 for them. But, I often think of how great they also sound with the McIntosh MA252 and MA352, and perhaps, in some aspects even better - that tube preamp stage may add a special aspect to their sound, that the Hegel amps may not.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
