Seasoned Mcintosh Fans lend me your ears & advise

Unless you posses exceptional electronic skills, or have very deep pockets, stay away from the tube stuff...some of it does sound wonderful, but when something goes wrong, it is expensive. McIntosh's first solid state amplifier was the MC2100 (this is a "de-metered" MC2105)...depending on how effecient your speakers are, there is a wide selection of McIntosh amps that will reproduce the sound you liked...the MC2505, MC2105, MC2125, MC2155, MC2205, all of these have the big blue meters...the comparable models to these, but without the meters are the MC250, MC2100, MC2120, MC2150, and MC2200...all of these amps were produced between about 1968 and 1985, and all have the famous McIntosh "autoformers"...these transformers are the big difference between the "good stuff" and today's amplifiers...this is what gave the solid state amps by McIntosh the sound so much like the tube models...you can spend from $500 to $2500 for these amps today...the C15 preamp you listened to, is by McIntosh standards, very average...the classic preamps that match the amps listed would be the C26, C27, C28, C29, C30, C32, and C33...just depends on how much you want to spend and what your listening habits are...each is an excellent preamp...if you are interested in a tuner, the MR73, MR74, MR75, MR77, and MR78 are the companions for the listed preamps and amps from the classic McIntosh years...they are all analog tuners, some am-fm, some fm only, and all are fine...probably the MR74, MR75, and MR78 being the best of the lot...pretty much any combination of the above components, assuming they are in good condition and operating properly, will make a very fine sounding system and will hold it's value much better than the stuff being produced today...there is some fine equipment made today, including some by McIntosh, but be ready to spend many thousands of dollars just to equal what this "old stuff" has to offer...