Video Interview with Livio Cucuzza, Chief Industrial Designer of the McIntosh Group

While I am a BIG McIntosh fan, I can’t stand the sound of any of their speakers I have heard.  There is much better for far less $$$.

Hi Prof, I know Livio and his team are responsible for the aesthetics of the new McIntosh XRT Reference speakers. Re the sound quality, I believe Paolo and his team might be involved but I'm not entirely sure. However, as Livio indicated, part of the design process is to recognize the history and tradition of each brand. The top McIntosh speakers have long been line source designs with subwoofer/bass augmentation, which almost always sound different to point source. As for subjective observations, I do prefer the Sonus faber sound compared to McIntosh's re speakers, but then many of my clients would also disagree.

Thanks
I really like his style.
Especially with the new Audio Research Ref 160Ms. 

Interesting, thanks.
I've enjoyed some of the Sonus Faber speakers.  But I've been aghast at how reliably awful the McIntosh speakers sound (the ones with the multiple mid drivers).  I can't imagine the same designers are behind both speakers.