McIntosh MA-6900 Integrated Amp - Your Thoughts?

Just returned the Cambridge Stream 6. Impossible to read the display in the light of day. Much easier with my laptop connected to a decent DAC.

Try a pair of Clear Day Cables double shotgun speaker cables. You can try them for 30 days free so the risk is nil. These cables really opened up the sound of my system and at a relatively small cost. There are many others on these boards who have had similar experiences as me with these cables. Do a search and you will see what I mean.

'Boulderskies' sounds like you're in Colorado as am I. Be glad to chat with you since I have McIntosh equipment and have tweaked to make the cound compelling and would be glad to share thoughts with you.
I think you can email me directly via A-Gon.

Joe in Centennial

Came back for a visit My take on speaker cable is twelve gage makes a sonic difference over thinner gage. I have yet to experience and hear sonic improvements in special windings and casings. At least not to the degree of the expense associated with the sonic improvement if any. Same for interconnects. But various brands build makes for a pride of ownership factor. I love the hobby and the gear. As I like to see my wife adorned well, so my stereo system. From the front to the back.

Having had three Cambridge Audio products, two which went bad. They sound good but I am now leery of of the reliability. Their new stream 6 does seem a peach, if you will indeed use all the features.

Post what direction you take.

Thank you all for your compliments and suggestions. I chuckled at the one about just replacing something-it may not sound better but it'll be fresh. That's the essence of this hobby sometimes, isnt it?

I didnt see any input on speaker cables. And I neglected to mention that I have (what I thought) fairly high-end Monster cables terminated with Monster banana plugs. In examining them, (apparently I went with the bigger-is-better menatality) a large part of their size is actually the plastic insulation and a silly inner nylon reinforcing strand that runs down each side....So, what's your take on a speaker cable upgrade?

Also, I have been toying with buying the new Cambridge Audio Music Stream 6, which appears to be a pretty cool, upper end digitally based network player and DAC. Thoughts?

the ma-6900 has a phono stage doesnt it? get a rega rp1 and a few lps and give it a try

Be sure to try reversing your speaker cables +/- because it inverts polarity.

I'd upgrade the source. A great CD player should make a significant difference.

You have a nice system as it is. First suggestion would be to buy some new music, or break out some of your old tunes you have not listened too for some time. It is all about the music after all.

Second, you may wish to try different speakers, as I think they make the biggest difference. But as it is a hobby you may just want to exchange what you have for something else. It may not be better, but for you fresh. Have fun!

it should sound great.