Mcintosh MC500 or Accuphase P800

I thought about brand synergy too...
but I have heard the P800 once and the MC500 never.
I did hear the MC1000 but I do not know if the MC500 would be as good...

Well, seems I missed out on the auction for the MC500...
Had the comment from onemug been a day sooner I would have gone for it. Now I decided to leave as is as a hifi salesman told me the older mcintosh gear sounded more hifi, with a loudness effect and the newer gear is more transparent. I dont know however if the MC500, from 1992 was considered as the "older" gear...
I heard the MC1000 only once on a totally different system (a capella horns) and the P800 on JBL everests...
I do have a new runner however, being the Mark Levinson 432. It is at 4000 euros, from the dealer mentioned above... I heard this once too with 320s preamp on wilson sophias. Sounded really good. I have made an appointment to compare it with the MC452 on 30-07, both fed by my mcintosh c46, on b&w nautilus 800 speakers. (totally different then my matrix 800's of course)but the best I could do...
Feel bad about the MC500 though, it went for only 2600 euros...P800 is at 3400 and Levinson 432 at 4000...

I believe it was an acapella violon, with four fifteen inch woofers per side, big midrange horn and ion tweeters, pretty impressive!
but this brings us away from the topic...
so far no recommendations for the accuphase.
Any opinions on how the MC 500 sounds versus the newer models. On this forum I already found some in favour of the newer mac amps. What about the levinson 432?
When I compare specs with the levinson 336, the 336 has bigger transfos and more output transistors but it has known capacitor problems, which I haven't read about on the levinson 432...

Marcustang,could you maybe describe what musical aspects of your P800 where bettered by the Mcintosh?thx!

I finally got a mc500 and absolutely love it! the best power amp I ever had. It does everything right, details, soundstaging, musicality. and it looks gorgeous and is reliable! thx mcintosh!

Hi Gshepardbuster!is the c100 tube or transistor?
pairing with my c46 is great but I have a feeling there is even more in the mc500! how about those cinema preamps from mcintosh? or are these not as good as the c46?
what did you replace your mc500 with???

Wow sounds like a good preamp indeed! I like the C2200 and C2300 also, but never had a chance to hear them, but think tubes could add that little magic to my ssytem... Any thoughts?
Big difference between MC500 and 1.2 kWs?