mcintosh preamp for 5.1

@stereo5
Mac isn't the only one that can give you a lush sound. But Mac lacks in other areas : transparency, inner details, musical nuances and information was somewhat obscured compared to other high end gears. Lacking in musical rhtym and drive as well as PRAT. But as long as you are happy with the sound and performance of your setup and system that's what matters imo. We all have different expectations. 

@caphill ...........

i must be be in the minority in that i much prefer the lush sound of McIntosh.  It may not be the last word in accuracy, but both my McIntosh systems are very well balanced and perform the way my ears like.   Personally, I like having the extras like bass and treble controls, the ability to rename inputs, on the fly moving coil loading via the remote, etc. All of that means a great deal to me.  I have a smile on my face whenever listening to either systems. It works for me. 

Correction : my friend's Mac monoblock power amps are the MC 1.25KW, not the MC 2KW. Sorry my bad. 

@stereo5

As per your claim above in regards to your friend’s all Mac 7.1 HT setup that’s simply your opinion or perhaps you haven’t heard true high end HT setup of system. The same applies to your earlier claim that your Mac C2500 tube preamp bested all other preamps you’ve heard in the last 48 yrs. I think you’ve never or haven’t heard all other ultra high end preamps both solid state and tube.
I’ve heard multiple Mac tube stereo preamps and none of them were impressive at all they sounded dull, lifeless too syrupy and lacks of presence, inner details, dynamics, attacks and rhythm and musicality imo. However, Mac power amps are pretty good not great but very decent however within similarly priced amps there are certainly better options out there.

I’ve compared my friend’s Mac C1100 linestage preamp, which is Mac’s flagship stereo linestage preamp, to my Naim Statement NAC S1 linestage preamp in the same setup and system and it was no comparison. They aren’t in the same leagues. My Naim Statement NAC S1 preamp is superior to the Mac C1100 preamp,
I know this wasn’t a fair comparison as my Naim Statement NAC S1 preamp is a cost-no-object design and cost more than 5 times as much as the Mac C1100.

My same friend has a Mac MC 2KW monoblock amps and we had a shootout at my place the other day using my setup and system.
First we paired my Magico M6 speakers with my Naim Statement gears which consists of a Naim NAC S1 linestage stereo preamp and Naim Statement NAP S1 monoblock amps both of which are cost-no-object designs and are statement level gears.
Then, we switched out to my friend’s Mac C1100 preamp and Mac MC 2KW monoblock amps driving my Magico M6 speakers.
There was no comparison. They aren’t in the same leagues. Far from it. It’s expected though as my Naim Statement preamp + monoblock amps cost $270k and his Mac C1100 + MC 2KW cost around $42k altogether, which is only a fraction of the cost of the Naim Statement gears. My digital front end components consist of DCS Vivaldi full four stacks (Vivaldi master clock, Vivaldi upsampler, Vivaldi DAC, Vivaldi CD/SACD transport). My analog front end rigs consist of :
Kronos Pro turntable, 12" Black Beauty tonearm, Air Tight PC-1 Supreme mc cartridge, discrete class A linear PSU, Audio Research Reference 10 phonostage preamp, dedicated Kronos stand specifically designed for the Kronos Pro turntable.

Before recently upgrading to the Naim Statement preamp + monoblock amps I was previously using the Audio Research Reference 10 linestage preamp and 2 pairs of Dan D’Agostino Momentum M400 monoblock amps.

The Audio Research Reference 10 linestage preamp, which is a flagship linestage preamp from Audio Research, is significantly better than my friend’s Mac C1100 linestage preamp.
I know that this wasn’t really a fair comparison either as the ARC Ref 10 linestage pre costs nearly twice as much as the Mac C1100 pre.
Even the lower end ARC linestage preamps perform way better than any Mac linestage preamps.

Anyways, there are great phenomenal stereo linestage preamps out there. Audio Research, Vitus, Soulution, Mark Levinson, Ayre, Simaudio Evolution series, Boulder, T&A, CH Precision, Tidal, MBL, VTL, VAC, Ypsilon, BAT, Frontier, Lamm, Cary Audio, Rogue Audio P5, Parasound Halo JC make spectacular linestage preamps and amps as well.

I have a friend with an all McIntosh 7.1 channel Home Theater, and personally I haven't heard anything better

@caphill...……………………………………….

You must be in the minority.  I upgraded to a McIntosh C2500 tube preamp and it bests all the other preamps, both tube and solid state I have had over the last 48 years.  All the pre-pros that you list which sound better than Mac are merely an opinion (yours).  Which Mac did you put these against?

i don't know too much about high end equipment. but i have a McIntosh mc602 power amp my son gave me. i was looking for a mcintosh pre-amp tuner to match the amp. i only listen to 2 chanell stereo. all of their pre-amp tuners are their older style units. only reason i bought the mx132 was because it had the lowest price of the other a/v units.

There isn’t a single Mac preamp that I like and it also applies to their av multi-channel preamp processors (av pre pro). There are much better sounding preamps or av pre pros out there than McIntosh, some of them are cheaper than McIntosh but probably aren’t loaded with features or bells & whistles like Mac pre pros are.
I would recommend the following AV preamp surround processors :
* Classe SSP 800 (discontinued last year)
* Classe Sigma SSP
* Bryston SP3
* Krell Evolution 707 (discontinued)
* Cary Cinema 12
* Meridian Reference 861 v8
* Datasat LS10 & RS20i
* Trinnov Altitude 16 or 18
* Lyngdorf MP-50. I haven’t yet heard it but many people highly recommend this product.

So all the above av pre pros sound better than Mac pre pros.