Upgrade to McIntosh


Hello everyone,

I am looking to upgrade my hi-fi sytem.I demod MC 275 recently and loved the tuby,warm house sound of Mcintosh.

I will be pairing them with Sonus Faber Olympica 1.

I am torn between MA352 integrated and MC275+C8 separates. The latter is obviously more costly but I am willing to go for it if there are advantages.

How would the sound differ? What would be the most notable distinction between the two system in your opinion?

Thanks in advance

I love the MC275 it’s a workhorse and a tank! I wouldn’t pair it with a Mac pre however as the sound is on the dark side I much prefer a CJ like a ET5 is a steal used for the $ and hard to beat. Also tho are you doing the MC275 because it will be on almost all the time or ? As way better soundstage with a CJ amp also but not made to run 8days a week like the MAC. I’m closing do separates but not mono blocks imho I’m very happy with my VTLS200 (another versatile well priced used amp🌟 but if you have efficient speakers and love the MC275 go with it my Uncle loves his and I do to for what it does it’s truly a gem

Ayon IS great stuff, but not always easy to find or contend with receiving those beasts on a pallet.  I too have an MA12000, but find it more than awesome in my setup.  Both units are beautiful in their own way and a joy to be around.

Even the McIntosh SS amps are warm sounding. If I ever go back to tubes, it will be only in the preamp section, I never got tight bass with tubes.

Check out the new McIntosh gear, they are hybrids with tubes for midrange/tweeter and large SS for woofers in 1 chassis. 
As for a built in dac, these are always a compromise over a separate dac. I used to have the McIntosh c47 preamp with phono and dac. I played this dac for 5 minutes and never went back to it, my standalone psa ds sr dac sounded much better.

FWIW, MC275 has a very low output impedance for a tube amp, so its bass is plenty tight, so much so that some tube aficionados don’t consider it “tubey” enough!  That said, you may want to look into a VTL ST150 and TL2.5i for a comparison if you can find them. Very high quality and great sound that might surprise you.

I auditioned the Olympus Nova V with the MA12000 and it sounded quite musical with a great soundstage. In the end I went with Wilson because I thought that the Wilsons were less likely to be knocked over. It is easy to find a dealer that represents McIntosh and Sonus Farber. I wanted the McIntosh resale value, but I know that they carried other amplifiers that would have improved upon the MA12000. You best A/B Sonus Farber with the equipment you are considering vs buying based upon our suggestions .