Do true audiophiles own Mcintosh gear

Vintage Mac gears were great.
They were the best looking amp back then as well.
Although they might not be the best sounding at that era but they're sure one of the reference amp in that era.
The Monos like MC30/MC60
The stereos like MC225/MC240/MC275
Many of the modern amps still don't sound as sweet as these vintage amps.
The vintage tube Tuners is still one of the best.
MR67/MR71 still sounds better than many of today's top tuner.
The preamp are decent as well. The C20/C22 were the best from that time.

So, it depends are who you are and what you listening to, the gears may vary as preference may vary.

I've taken a pretty extensive tour of tube amplification over the past 35 years, and am currently running three SET systems with tube pre-amplification. None if this gear is McIntosh, but not for lack of audiophile quality from that brand. That company did suffer a product crisis in the 1980s into the early 1990s, but you can't be too hard on them for that. During the same period, the aural horror of Krell was introduced to us, Audio Research sound got progressively colder and ascetic, and the CD was still finding its way to quality in the entire chain from digital recording to mastering to duplication to playback gear.

However, you'd be hard-pressed today to hear a better amp at any price than a McIntosh MC1201 monoblock pair, and its smaller brothers in the "quad differential" range aren't slouches. The MA6900 integrated is one of the more musical integrated amps of any topology. Their push-pull tube amps are among the best of that topology. And the preamp range gives you a good range of transistor and vacuum bottle options delivering essentially the same balanced, musical, penetratingly revealing sound. I don't find satisfaction in any of McIntosh's speakers, but for some other makers' speakers, there's no better amp than a Mac.

Phil

I am not sure if audiophile own mcintosh,but seem like all the financial analyst and investment banker all own mcintosh.

Hi,

Recently I listened to Mcintosh's reference system at a local audio dealer. I was buying some speaker wire. The system cost 200,000 dollars and had monoblock 2000 watt amps and seperate preamps. The speakers had 6 12" woofers and a line array of 24 2' midranges and 36 1" dome tweeters. It soundede very very good and life like.

So I would say Mac gear is " Audiophile " gear, a lot more audiophile then I am.

Larry

MAC is nice gear; but is also in many ways a status symbol.

Like many people who buy a BMW and only commute back and forth to work in it.

Many want you to see their MAC gear, not necessarily hear it. Still nice stuff...