McIntosh - is it that great?

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.

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.

McIntosh almost completely for over 20 yrs. Very reliable equipment and retains its value more than most equipment. I am not an audiofile, but enjoy the benefits of ownership. Can be pricey, but it retains its value. Had and older amp for 20 yrs and just sold thru audiogon and I did not lose much over what I originally paid for it. Not a tube person because I pay my music loud, like ss. I like the crispness of ss. Just bought a used 18 yr old receiver which I plain on keeping for many more yrs. You can relie on it greatly. I like the convenience of what McIntosh offers on its gear. Designed to play music with all the frills included. But you must listen to their amps because they do have a different sound. My older amp had a deep bassy deep throated sound, and my some what newer amp has a less bassy sound. It is more crispy. I like that because I listen to bluegrass, not as much bass. The whole moral is listen before you buy. You will never go wrong with their reliability.

I bought a pair of McIntosh 60's stock back in 1991 and still own them. They have been upgraded (modified) since then several times. They now sound much better (less of the traditional tube colorations) than they originally did, different caps and star grounding have been implemented. Bass performance is MUCH better now, definitely more slam and power. I am currently working on the high's to eliminate the rolloff these amps still suffer from. Virtues They don't run hot; tubes last forever; superb midrange; very dynamic when additional filter caps are added; reliable; hold their value and are a good investment Are they as good as current amps or even amps from the 1980's? No I can't say they are as neutral as the D series amps from ARC and they certainly aren't as neutral as the current crop of tube amps. Can I live with this amp in my current system? You betcha, more than I can most of the lower end solid state gear I've heard side by side with the McIntosh. Bottom line is that they are a very good investment, will hold their value, are very dependable and they have a very good midrange in the tradition of classic tube sound. If you like that sound, you can't go wrong and in the right system you won't miss much believe me.

In view of the fact that opinions of audio equipment are circumstantial and (as with virtually all categories of audio-stuff) usually very subjective, you'll find that consensus opinion (especially by high-end gurus) seems to rule. Yet even these "experts" have highly variable opinions. McIntosh equipment is criticized by some and praised by others. However, much of this opinion seems to be based upon the momentum of someone elses previous, often distantly removed, impressions. E.g., recent write-ups of Mac SS amps (in Stereophile for example) have demonstrated surprised praise (class A rating). The most telling remark for me can be paraphrased as such; I guess I haven't listened to any McIntosh for a while. I own an early SS amp and one powerhouse built in the '90s. The early '70s amp sounds decent (and still functions flawlessly). The newer amp is obviously superior and, in my opinion, is equal or superior to anything I've heard(some very expensive hardware).It is delicate, dynamic, dead quiet. and to my very experienced ears, natural. Of course ,there are many other amps which meet these qualifications. The Mac pre-amps do demonstratively compromise the sound somewhat. But they are very useful when system flexibility is important. I don't use a pre-amp normally. I run source material (save vinyl) directly into the power amp. So bottom line from this corner is that Mac equipment is just about bulletproof and, if one simply LISTENS, can be as satisfying as anything (tube lovers live in a different world). At the outset I said that opinions are circumstantial and subjective. This applies to opinions of ANY equipment. We should remember that objective evaluations are more consistent and represent truth within their parameters, and that as unique and emotional beings, we can hardly avoid being subjective in our opinions. De gustibus non est disputandum