McIntosh -- good for show, not for sound, says dealer

All ya gotta do is look at those toobs and transfoormers and ooo la la, you know it's gonna be just fine.

Having owned many pieces of McIntosh equipment, including a pair of the very first 1201 amps to roll out of Binghamton, it’s a certain sound.  It’s warm and laidback to me. Here’s the deal, it’s beautiful to look at and it sounds lush and warm, the equipment wasn’t made for just plain old you.  What sounds good to you might not sound good to someone else.  I prefer fast, forward, and bright equipment, that’s because my hearing is just that, mine   McIntosh didn’t design their equipment around me.  

 Hey.. It's one guy's opinion. I had a McIntosh amp and preamp for 25 years that sadly didn't survive the Harvey flood and I wish I still had them.

Hello!

Could not resist getting into this discussion. I was hired by MAC in 1968 to come and design tuners. MR77, MR78 and part of MR74 are mine. My current audio system is all MAC using all-tube circuitry. System finished in 1988, after I had left MAC in 1974 to do speakers.

(1) 2-box 8 tube preamp borrowing from Marantz 7 and MAC C22.

(2) 50WPC triode power amp with MAC output transformers

(3) Yes, a TUBE MR78!

(4) Usual turntable and CD player.

(5) Joseph Pearl loudspeakers

I do not judge audiophile hobby to deeply. Life is short and no time to indulge in uninformed opinions and trash talk. There is enough good stuff from others than MAC to satisfy any well-informed listener. Please check my article published in December 2021 issue of Audioxpress for more ideas regarding good sound.

My reference for sound are two seats for wife and myself at the Symphony. There is no argument for best sound, real live music, which cannot be duplicated by any audio system.