McIntosh -- good for show, not for sound, says dealer

Blanket statements pro and con miss more relevant points, such as "not all Mc is created equal". Their legacy tube designs are beautifully made, and typically warm (someone said "wet blanket") :-)  Its rarely state of the art, but it is solid, backed by a solid company, etc.

Some of their newer designs, including the SS ones and hybrids, are, IMO, quite inferior. for DACs, well, its not their thing (again IMO, YMMV).

All products are trade-offs.

I recently demoed McIntosh + Wilson Alexia, vs Rockport + Gryphon Diablo, vs  SF Olympia III + Musical Fidelity.

To my ears, the McIntosh + Wilson combo was the least appealing.

That said the McIntosh amps were the only amplifiers prominently displayed. 

He better not mess with my JBL 4350's. 

Of course if you want to reproduce recorded music accurately, there are pretty much unlimited other choices, but hey, if looks is your thing and not music, well, go for it!

Cheers!

Congrats richopp, another stupid post...

Mac amps tend to have low damping so speakers that need alot of damping might not sound good. All about component matching. My mc462 sounds fantastic on my tektons... let the haters begin. LOL.