Why do some audiophiles beat up McIntosh?

Donjr, you may be my brother from another monther, I too bought my first system at 12 yrs old with paper route money! Sadly, nowdays, it's adults delivering the paper

I went into a local dealer and he had the McIntosh turntable. It was sitting in what looked like the frame of an amp, with two big blue dials on the front for turntable speed (!). Utterly ridiculous.Anything to put those blue dials on the product, but the TT looked absurd. Maybe that mentality is why McIntosh gets bashed.

I agree with Audiozen in that Macs have that "classic" sound quality that is often scoffed at due to its coloration of sound. Personally, I like the "colored" sound of my Sunfire Sigs more than any Krell I've heard. And I like the sound of all of the Macs that I heard at my local shop, which sells their amps exclusively. However, I also agree that they may be a tad overpriced; a B&K with that similar "classic" quality can be had for half the price, for example.

I would like to offer one other possibility as to all of the Mac hating: a loss of exclusivity. McIntosh over time became a sort of symbol of the Audiophile, while brands such as Pass and Bryston will elicit a "who?" from the common folk. I have been a Martin Logan fan for my entire life. One day I walked into a Best Buy and almost shit a gold brick when I saw a pair of Logans there (along with some B&Ws and Marantz pres). I was a bit perturbed for a while that my beloved electrostatics would not be an alien concept to people anymore due to their availability at a commoner store, but in the end, they still sound like Logans (minus the Motion series).

A few weeks ago I was at a show. I listend to the 1.2 kw with the Focal Scala's. The control was not good. Also the speed and timing was not good as well. I talkes this week to someone who owned the 1.2 kw. He told me the same that the speed and control is not the best part of Mcintosh. That was the reason why he sold it.

@ Audiozen, No I will not mention Taralabs,LOL! your post is on the money!Mcintosh, bose, done all that!, you should do what these people asked of you!, tell them what you have for equipment so they will understand your were you are comming from!, lol!, cheers!