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What is it about McIntosh?
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mhardy6647
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Appendix:
They work well as radios.
They sound pretty good.
Sub-appendix (of little or no incremental merit - but I feel like typing):
The one flavor of Mac product rhat I like is (was) their tuners. At least through the MR78.
The one Mac product I have and actually use (sometimes) is a tuner (MR67).
They work well as radios.
They sound pretty good.
Sub-appendix (of little or no incremental merit - but I feel like typing):
The one flavor of Mac product rhat I like is (was) their tuners. At least through the MR78.
The one Mac product I have and actually use (sometimes) is a tuner (MR67).
ribonucleic
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Brand psychology is a fascinating thing. I don't know why the green logo and blue meters should produce such an ineffable sense of "hi-fi lifestyle" but they do. I would find pleasure during a listening session by gazing upon one of their amps in a way that I would not were it a Benchmark - even though I have greater esteem for the latter as a piece of engineering, even though I would judge a Benchmark owner the deeper adept of audio fancy.
Ironically, the thing that prevents the Mac from being even my lottery fantasy amplifier is one of its hallmarks: its leviathan mass. Even if I hired a younger, stronger man to install it upon a suitably adamantine stand, I would feel cowed by the knowledge that I could never budge it again.
Ironically, the thing that prevents the Mac from being even my lottery fantasy amplifier is one of its hallmarks: its leviathan mass. Even if I hired a younger, stronger man to install it upon a suitably adamantine stand, I would feel cowed by the knowledge that I could never budge it again.
I sold McIntosh for about 30 years starting in 1969. I can't tell you how many customers would say"my dad always had McIntosh, now I can afford it" It had nothing to do with performance or any other normal buying criteria. The same thing with Klipsch.
Haha, I would say this is the power of brand value. People wants McIntosh because it's McIntosh.
For myself, I am more of fan of krell. Not the current one but the old one when Dan was around. Back then I could never afford krell gear, now I am slowly collecting old krell gears, because its Kell.
But for Dan's new Amps, they are way too expensive for me.. haha, so just the old krell.
Having said that, I would still love to be able to buy a McIntosh one day.
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Astoneroad
Major Contributor
There's also current value to be had. I picked up a 300 wpc MC 7300, fully restored, from the original owner for $2300. I'm sure that I'm paying for aesthetic, but not much when looking at similar performing "modern" amps.
Tom C
Major Contributor
Very Nice!
mrz80
New Member
I was in Audio Classics earlier this year and a fellow walked in and told the guys at the counter basically, "I have $35,000 in my pocket and I've always wanted McIntosh gear. Show me some."
Steven Holt
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I love Yamaha gear, and I love vintage Marantz gear. But if God ever blessed me with money, I would buy McIntosh in a heartbeat. And keeping with the Harley-Davidson mystique, they once had a T-Shirt. It said : If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand. True with Harley, and true with Mac.
Must be nice, life is good for some of us.I was in Audio Classics earlier this year and a fellow walked in and told the guys at the counter basically, "I have $35,000 in my pocket and I've always wanted McIntosh gear. Show me some."
norman bates
Active Member
METERS !!!!!!
pretty meters !!!!!!!
I do love their videos of their factory !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Honestly, I've been lusting for mc stuff, but stuff that is reachable is 40-50 years old.
I like the mc152, but $5,500 is too big of a pill to swallow.
And they got the mi254 class d ($5,000) that I'm a bit more tempted due to all I read on these forums.
www.audiosciencereview.com
"The amplification duty is handled by four Hypex NC500 OEM modules. The fact that it is powered by Hypex, along with great reviews, combined with the blue power meters made it an instant buy for me."
I believe big PA manufacturers went to class D for a while, but they went back to big transformers due to reliability and ease of repair (told from djk, rip).
pretty meters !!!!!!!
I do love their videos of their factory !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Honestly, I've been lusting for mc stuff, but stuff that is reachable is 40-50 years old.
I like the mc152, but $5,500 is too big of a pill to swallow.
And they got the mi254 class d ($5,000) that I'm a bit more tempted due to all I read on these forums.
McIntosh MI254 Power Amplifier Teardown
Greetings, fellow ASR readers. Long time lurker, first time poster here. This is a quick teardown of a McIntosh MI254 4-channel power amplifier. This amp is used as a supplement to the Marantz SR6014 AVR for home theater duty. It is powering two front channels and two surround channels. I...
www.audiosciencereview.com
"The amplification duty is handled by four Hypex NC500 OEM modules. The fact that it is powered by Hypex, along with great reviews, combined with the blue power meters made it an instant buy for me."
I believe big PA manufacturers went to class D for a while, but they went back to big transformers due to reliability and ease of repair (told from djk, rip).
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On what planet did that supposedly occur?
It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing.
norman bates
Active Member
McIntosh MI502
Just wondering if anyone has tried this new amplifier from McIntosh. I know they are advertising it for AV purposes; however, it is in fact a 2-channel Purifier amp. I was thinking if I ever decide to move to a new Mc this might be a worth try.
www.audioshark.org
(post #8)
"After talking with McIntosh techs, I decided to go with their standard line A/B amplifiers. He said that the Class D amps are nice, but for a music only system the standard line A/B amplifiers sound better. I really like the MC152 that I ended up getting!"
Vacceo
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They will sound the same.McIntosh MI502
Just wondering if anyone has tried this new amplifier from McIntosh. I know they are advertising it for AV purposes; however, it is in fact a 2-channel Purifier amp. I was thinking if I ever decide to move to a new Mc this might be a worth try.
(post #8)
"After talking with McIntosh techs, I decided to go with their standard line A/B amplifiers. He said that the Class D amps are nice, but for a music only system the standard line A/B amplifiers sound better. I really like the MC152 that I ended up getting!"
At the same power, and considering that Mac uses hypex modules for class D, you will notice no difference.
"Class D" and "big transformers," the latter being possibly associated with linear power supplies as opposed to SMPS, are two ortogonal things. You can have Class AB or Class D, both with either liner power supplies or SMPS.
mhardy6647
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Never underestimate the audiophile market's gullibility: there's certainly a market for Class D amps with SMPS... with big transformers.
PS I think they call this sort of thing product differentiation.
PS I think they call this sort of thing product differentiation.
What's with the transformer fetish, anyway?Never underestimate the audiophile market's gullibility: there's certainly a market for Class D amps with SMPS... with big transformers.
PS I think they call this sort of thing product differentiation.
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