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McIntosh - is it that great?

I'm just curious if McIntosh gear is all that great. How does their older power amps compare to new products from other high end manufactures? Are there any products I should stay away from. I like the idea of owning vintage McIntosh stuff. Most of their stuff seems pricy. Is it because it's that good or do people just like to collect their products. thanks for you opinions--Matt
mattman
sws2
35 posts
 
In general McIntosh is average sounding equip. Their older power amps, which I have owned a few of, are not as good as older Marantz and Arc equip. Some of the older preamps both tube and ss were worse than the amps. The newer equip is in general better sounding but it depends on the piece of equip.
rec
328 posts
 
Sorry I have to disagree with the above posting. I have found vintage Mac tube gear some of the best sounding equipment out there. I prefer the tube over the solidstate but only have heard the older equipment. For an excellent resourse on vintage Mac gear with pictures and specs go to www.sundial.net/~rogeer/aboutmc.htm Also an excellent resourse on buying Mac is sonnysound@aol.com. I have found him fair, honest and he is usually able to track down Mac gear if he doesn't have any in stock.Tell him Bob C. referred you. Good luck and in my opinion you can't go wrong with Mac.
ljgj
955 posts
 
It is hard to beat the Mcintosh 240 tube amp for clarity and reliabilty -= the 275 reissue in stainless is also a very good tube amp - in solid state the new design 352 is better than the levinson 331 I use to have . The earlier models of the 90's don't quite cut it - anything prior to that has muscle and the newer designs are great.
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