Seeking Honest Opinions: Your Experience with McIntosh Audio Gear

SQ - I have owned four different McIntosh combinations over the years and I would consider their sound quality to be solid, punchy, clear and powerful, never shrill.   

BQ - just outstanding.  Beautifully crafted and very unique.  Touching McIntosh equipment always invokes a sense of quality craftmanship.  Some bash the meters but what a distinctive brand identity.  They are also incredibly reliable. 

Value - McIntosh is too expensive but when you add in most pieces ability to hold their value, I think it changes the expense to benefit ratio.  Seems you can always get your money back and in some cases more.

Customer Support - never had to use it but I hear it is exceptional.

Overall - I would highly recommend McIntosh to most listeners.  I just have confidence that Mac gear delivers in most all situations.  It may not be the very best of the best, but when you consider everything involved, it's a hard to be brand. 

No one has mentioned convenience. I have a M/X 123 A/V processor that controls my audio and video. It came bundled with Apple Music, so no separate streamer, DAC, etc. necessary. My audio is powered by a McIntosh 275 tube amp. For movies, etc,, I use a MC8207 seven channel solid state amp. Coupled with a MAC4BACCH filter, it sounds better than a million dollar system I recently heard at a very high-end dealer in New York. I cannot over-emphasize how much the BACCH adds to my system.

A little different perspective. I have bought almost all of my audio components used. I’m the second owner of an MC352 that I use to drive Quad 63s. When I moved on to Sound Lab electrostatics, I bought two MC2500s, each bridged to mono 1000 watts. The 2500s have a slightly brighter signature than the 352. But all sound great and are built like tanks. I really couldn’t be happier with their sound and lack of distortion. Also, looking at the audio market places, it appears all three of my amps have appreciated since I bought them. 
 

A friend and fellow audio traveller has a stunning system built around a new Mac integrated and Sonus Faber Olympica speakers. Marvelous sound. 

With over 50 years in this hobby, the only piece of equipment I truly regret selling was my MC240 power amp, which I sold to finance my first home theater. I'm now at least 5 upgrades past that in my theater, and would love to still have that MC240 for my 2-Channel rig.

Bottom line: if you're shopping for the long haul, you probably can't do much better than Mcintosh. 

Totally agree in general with: "Can't beat MAC on price/value ratio nor for resale and service..."