How good is the McIntosh MC-2300 vs modern SS amplifiers?

The Mc 2300 was horrible ,the pots Mac used get dirty easily & begin to scratch when gain levels are changed and I'm not the 1st to experience that problem ,I'm a huge McIntosh fan/collector but the Mc-2300 performs as good as it dosent look ,I've got mig welders that look nicer .

Well EXCUSE ME (Steve Martin). I guess its too much to ask to clean the pots of a 40 year old amplifier. FYI dirty pots can cause lots of contact (diode) distortion. You must have some very nice looking MIG welders. how do they sound?

How impartial of you to listen to and judge an amplifier that obviously has dirty pots. Any amp of that many years deserves a full checkout and bench test given its age. I have measured distortion go down by 100x just cleaning a pot. It also deserves respect for still working.

 It always puts a smile on my face any time I read a discussion about what the best  is  in sound systems. Mostly it's all tainted by testosterone. Every says "oh this one is the best sound"  Here is the reality check. If you buy components for system that are decent quality ( we all know the names) and I am not talking Best Buy stuff, it is possible to find a sound you really love by mix and match process. I am an older audiophile and am fairly new to all the fancy gear.  Over the last 4 years I have been assembling my system comprised of 2 SS Mcintosh power set ups (one MC 2300 and 2 MC 2200's running at 400 w/each.) One new MC275 and a Krell integrated 300 watt. Pre's are Anthem, MX113 and an ARC LS-7.  Have the sacd, the Mc DVD player and vinyl but rarely use those as I stream Spotify.  Each channel has a CV DX-9 with a CV AT-15 paralleled behind it. Running 2.6 ohm per channel. A home made speaker switching box allows my to pick which set up I want to listen to that day. Ok, here is the meat of my story.  For me being extremely OCD music has been a huge part of my life since I was a little kid, so were talking over 50 yrs  lol.   Each set up has it's own voice and it's hard to say which one is better but I do enjoy all to the fullest each time I play music.  Part is due to the fact that I bought every piece used (cpt MC 275 and TT) and shopped them on Ebay.  That adds alot of pride as many are shocked I will spend thousands for a 40 yr amp on Ebay!  It seems risky but I can tell you that people that sell McIntosh and other high end are usually music lovers themselves and are good folks. So for me when I play my music it does sound as if this IS that way it should be and puts a chill up my spine and that is all that matters. I can see how many ruin the experience but wondering "OMG do I have the best speaker, amp, etc"  Is there any better, can I afford it, lol. I read a story of a guy buying 2 MC 1.2 k monos only cause it was better than his neighbors set up.  Now he wants to sell because 1 he was not a music lover and 2 he was a narcissist lol  So have fun picking the names YOU want for your set up and just enjoy, let the music move you, don't let the testosterone ruin your fun.

I like the MC2255 in my living room quite a bit. I haven't compared it with the amplifiers listed in this admittedly old thread, but I would prefer to upgrade my Avalon NP2s before upgrading the amp.

But, to address the amp in question, on Saturday night I was loaned an MC2300 to power my bass rig at the Aggie Theater in Fort Collins in Colorado. I've played through all kinds of high power amps (my regular amp is a Quilter that is rated at 800 watts into 4 ohms and I've also used the large Crest amps rated at 500wpc into 8 ohms) and this sounded really, really good. I doubt I'd bring it into my living room and I definitely need roadies to schlep it, but it would be my amp of choice. And yes, we are a Grateful Dead band, so with a '67 Starfire with Alembic guts and Alembic preamps, it does a certain thing with perfection.