McIntosh MC462 Stereo Amplifier Review (by ErinsAudioCorner.com)

[pma]

This is really bad....
It performs the worst right in the power range that is supposedly used the most, from about 2 to 100 watts
(I don't think you buy a two kw amplifier to use it normally at 1 watt or less, but maybe at 5/50 continuous)

It looks like they have “audiophile” topology with no or low global negative feedback - thus the crossover distortion bow and visible crossover distortion on the oscilloscope distortion residual. And the flat (but high) distortion vs frequency also indicates to no or low feedback, as well as high output impedance.

 

[tomtoo]

The green light is a little less sharp in real life but I can't get enough of the looks for myself. It really suites my aesthetic taste.

I'm glad to see the Mcintosh amp measures well enough since I purchased one. I got the Revel F328bes paired with it because of the good reception from Amir and Gene.

I'm surprised more Mcintosh isn't sent in for testing.

I started reading german hifi magazines when i was around 14. And Mcintosh was always in the top. Now thats more than 40 years ago, i still think Mcintosh is in the top. But one thing also never changed in this time, i dont like the look.
From the look i always would prefer a accuphase.
Who likes to send in expensive gear?

Hey i also never liked the look of rolls royce.

 

[Schollaudio]

Worth noting they use output transformers (autotransformers), that's why they have individual pairs of binding posts for 2ohm, 4ohm and 8ohm load, and also the reason why power to 2/4/8ohm is similar. There must be a piece of engineering behind these autotransformers to get the parameters they have.

View attachment 278954

That is noteworthy considering the specs are quite good and that's probably the week link. Or is it?

 

[mdsimon2]

Guys, please try to be exact, at least sometimes. Erin does not tell the measuring bandwidth of THD+N. We do not know what we compare, apples and oranges. Both SINAD and THD+N numbers without declaring measuring BW are pointless numbers. More, Atkinson used various combinations, like 2ohm taps with 4ohm load. Again, apples x oranges. And, the difference in SINAD of this kind has no effect to audibility. FR with complex load would have.
Let's try not to be amateurish, at least sometimes.
Stereophile measurements

Erin specifies test bandwidth, it is 22 kHz. Otherwise agree with your points about comparison.



Michael

 

[egellings]

I think this is the single most cool feature of these MacIntosh amps. It is truly amazing how linear and low distortion they still are with these transformers!

Interestingly, they choose not to use the transformers for the Hypex-based products like MI502, etc. Would be interesting to see how they would perform when coupled with an autoformer.

A nice fringe benny of the autoformer is that should the amplifier suffer an output transistor failure, the low DCR of the autoformer will shunt the DC to ground and save the speaker the indignity of a burned-out voice coil.

 

[CDMC]

Expensive, yes. Can you get the same power and audible performance for less, yes. Overpriced, probably not. It is a well engineered piece with a nice design that is made to last decades by a manufacture that has 50+ year history of supporting all the products it has ever made.

The comparisons to the Class D amps are interesting. An apple to apple comparison would be the M1502 McIntosh. It uses Hypex NC500OEM modules (it appears in two per channel to run in bridged mode) for $4,500. While this is not inexpensive, the NAD M22v2 I use (which I would argue has a nicer case and better cooling) runs NC400 modules and retailed for $3,300. The replacement NAD M23 with Purifi (which has about 1/2 the power of the Mac) is $3,750.

 

[petezapie]

I'm having a hard time understanding this speech. I believed that at ASR, we railed against snake oil, not high-end super high quality products.
Compared to the purifi it delivers double the power, it has a name that is a guarantee of quality and durability over the decades, it is a product that in ten years time will still have a very high market value. on a technical level it offers SOTA amplification performance.
How much is all of this worth?
This added value does not change even if the audio performances were indistinguishable. But then again, it has twice the power.

and its made in the US

 

[petezapie]

The green light is a little less sharp in real life but I can't get enough of the looks for myself. It really suites my aesthetic taste.

I'm glad to see the Mcintosh amp measures well enough since I purchased one. I got the Revel F328bes paired with it because of the good reception from Amir and Gene.

I'm surprised more Mcintosh isn't sent in for testing.

at 120lbs the shipping cost and risk of damage is too high

 

[petezapie]

Without having seen one of their amps in person, I think I'd find those meters too distracting. Do they move all the time, can you dim them out? Someone around here is sounding like the fox about the grapes, but I really can't decide if I like the look or not, they are like the Harley-Davidson's of amps for some reason to me, and I''m not fond of them.

It's nice they deliver though, for those that have got them, one more reason to feel good about their system.

as being one of those persons with "more money than common sense" because I own a 462 , i can say the meters are not distracting and can easily be turned off with the switch on the front. The unit is truly a beast with amazing power and sound quality.

 

[ieatfishburritos]

Purchased this as my "end game" amp and its exceeded my expectations. There is a nice versatility here, low noise / no hissing with high sensitivity speakers plus the ability to drive power hungry speakers effortlessly. I'm using it with Cornwall IV's which I owned prior to purchasing and only need a few watts, but I wanted to be able to also use power hungry speakers in the future. My wife isn't a fan of my hifi hobby, but after a few weeks she said it was the best purchase I've ever made. It's a spectacular amp.

 

[Piatnik]

I own this amplifier for several years. It's powerful and reliable. But I sold it (and the speakers) for Genelec 8361 + W371. Now I have room correction and way more power to control the basses.

Night and day setup.

 

[Boss96]

Fwiw, I work for a McIntosh service center in Houston Texas and have worked on this model as well as most of the others.
A few years ago I went to Binghamton for a factory tour and was pretty impressed.
They fabricate their own stainless steel chassis's, cut and etch the glass front panels, build their own transformers (the same coilwinders they've been using since the beginning.
Their circuit boards are made in house I believe but I could be wrong. They certainly don't look like anyone else's boards.
They use name brand parts like you would find on Mouser electronic parts.
As far as I can tell they are hand made.
Parts are for the most part always available and have very good tech support.
This mostly applies to their amplifiers, AV processors, CD players, etc will use other manufacturers parts, at one time they were using Denon HDMI boards although now they look like they are in house.
My opinion is that they may not actually sound better than something cheaper but you are indeed getting your money's worth for all the reasons others have mentioned.
Many of the other similar looking high end brands tend to go out of business, and therefore no parts availability, or pretty much one or two man shows with limited tech support.
I remember working on a Classe amp, very impressive build quality, needed a standby power transformer, company out of business, manufacturer of transformer would not sell one to me, only to Classe, even though I told them they were out of business.

 

[tmukh]

I saw Jesse splurge and purchase McIntosh in Breaking Bad. That was when I came to know about this brand and figured this must be some cool high-end uber-expensive gear.

 

[Ilkless]

Fwiw, I work for a McIntosh service center in Houston Texas and have worked on this model as well as most of the others.
A few years ago I went to Binghamton for a factory tour and was pretty impressed.
They fabricate their own stainless steel chassis's, cut and etch the glass front panels, build their own transformers (the same coilwinders they've been using since the beginning.
Their circuit boards are made in house I believe but I could be wrong. They certainly don't look like anyone else's boards.
They use name brand parts like you would find on Mouser electronic parts.
As far as I can tell they are hand made.
Parts are for the most part always available and have very good tech support.
This mostly applies to their amplifiers, AV processors, CD players, etc will use other manufacturers parts, at one time they were using Denon HDMI boards although now they look like they are in house.
My opinion is that they may not actually sound better than something cheaper but you are indeed getting your money's worth for all the reasons others have mentioned.
Many of the other similar looking high end brands tend to go out of business, and therefore no parts availability, or pretty much one or two man shows with limited tech support.
I remember working on a Classe amp, very impressive build quality, needed a standby power transformer, company out of business, manufacturer of transformer would not sell one to me, only to Classe, even though I told them they were out of business.

Frankly I don't understand why people spend more than McIntosh money for 1 or 2-man shows with nowhere near the economies of scale for materials and build.

 

[egellings]

Frankly I don't understand why people spend more than McIntosh money for 1 or 2-man shows with nowhere near the economies of scale for materials and build.

Such expenditures are belief-driven, and not based on any kind of relevant knowledge.

 

[anmpr1]

Such expenditures are belief-driven, and not based on any kind of relevant knowledge.

No. For some maybe, but their upcharge is the price of making something in the USA, supporting a dealer network. To compare, Benchmark amps are likely about the cheapest anyone in the USA can get away with, and still sell a quality product.

I have personal issues with some of Mac's obviously idiotic marketing decisions (thousand dollar boxes that don't do anything, green LED tube sockets and so forth), but a Mac amp will always be worth owning, long term.

Let's be honest. USA manufacturing is never going to be cheap. But that is what prospective buyers are paying for. From a kind of related industry, recently Phil McKnight of Badlands Guitars stated up front that a one thousand dollar Asian made Schecter will be as good, QC-wise, as his three thousand dollar OEM California guitar. But that's not what he's selling. In contrast, a handmade in the USA Suhr guitar begins at about four large. So in a way, Phil is selling at 'bargain' prices. Back to audio, McIntosh is a hell of a lot cheaper than a USA Boulder amplifier. And I don't really understand how Benchmark can do it, at their 'moderate' pricing. But they've been able to more or less keep the price down.

McIntosh has, by the way, always been expensive, compared to whatever else you could buy.

 

[TonyJZX]

Frankly I don't understand why people spend more than McIntosh money for 1 or 2-man shows with nowhere near the economies of scale for materials and build.

I think if you're building plain A/B amps then what technology do you realistically need and what backup do you need?

if you want to buy say a Gryphon or d'Agostino then you're moving from Rolex to say... AP? Patek? something ridiculous?

I do get where people are coming from... McIntosh is sort of at the same level of Accuphase? Luxman? Sort of cottage industry but they have the backing of some conglomo or CV fund.

 

[egellings]

No. For some maybe, but their upcharge is the price of making something in the USA, supporting a dealer network. To compare, Benchmark amps are likely about the cheapest anyone in the USA can get away with, and still sell a quality product.

I have personal issues with some of Mac's obviously idiotic marketing decisions (thousand dollar boxes that don't do anything, green LED tube sockets and so forth), but a Mac amp will always be worth owning, long term.

Let's be honest. USA manufacturing is never going to be cheap. But that is what prospective buyers are paying for. From a kind of related industry, recently Phil McKnight of Badlands Guitars stated up front that a one thousand dollar Asian made Schecter will be as good, QC-wise, as his three thousand dollar OEM California guitar. But that's not what he's selling. In contrast, a handmade in the USA Suhr guitar begins at about four large. So in a way, Phil is selling at 'bargain' prices. Back to audio, McIntosh is a hell of a lot cheaper than a USA Boulder amplifier. And I don't really understand how Benchmark can do it, at their 'moderate' pricing. But they've been able to more or less keep the price down.

McIntosh has, by the way, always been expensive, compared to whatever else you could buy.

Agree McIntosh is expensive, but well made, and you'll likely never need to buy a replacement. Then there's the whole cache of ownership of a well-known brand, too.

 

[TonyJZX]

i'm putting it out there than an end game amp at 50kg or 120lb w/ 450w for $10k is probably... ok?

i mean that's not unreasonable at all

 

[egellings]

i'm putting it out there than an end game amp at 50kg or 120lb w/ 450w for $10k is probably... ok?

i mean that's not unreasonable at all

...until a little hand-held switch-mode amp for $129.95 comes along and blows it away.