McIntosh - is it that great?

I question whether this post will make it here, and I'm no krell basher at all, but I read the comments about McIntosh Gear being considerably overpriced, but yet rarely ever read a comment about krell, or Levinson gear being overpriced.

Usually I note that many krell owners spring $9K, $12K, and up, but something like a 600, 650, 750 Amp, and in four months, the Amp is back at Krell getting some "latest greatest" improvement/upgrade.

I realize that perhaps some in the hobby have more money than sense when they buy ultra-expensive gear, and maybe go out, and buy $75K worth of gear just like they'll go out and buy a $70K BMW, as a "status symbol", but, I don't clearly understand the reasoning behind these owners quickly sending the gear back for some mod? If the equipment is so good (which it probably no doubt is) whay are many of these Krell owners so compelled to rush this gear back to improve it? At it's cost, is should be able to stand on its own laurels, without needed some hot mod/update every few months? My reasoning is they "hopefully" bought the gear because they liked the sound. Evidently a few months later some must be coming to conclusions that thier sound is NOT satisfying them? Mark

I have listened to Mac gear for almost all of my 54 years on the planet and I couldn't imagine life without a piece of McIntosh gear somewhere in the house.

When asked about my idea of a "dream system" I reply that I really want four: A big Genesis/IRS type system for large scale orchestral music in a great sounding room big enough to support it all, a tube/Quad system for gentle chamber and acoustic folk music in another good sounding, but smaller room, old KLH model 21's everywhere in the house for background music and in the party room: a Mac C-20, an MR-71, a pair of MC 240's in mono and a pair of Altec 604E's. I own that last system, and while it is not as accurate as my "big rig reference" (SOTA, Theta, cj, Bryston, Infinity RS2B's) system, everytime I fire it up it makes music and lots of it, the kind that makes me smile and very sorry I have to turn it off to go to bed or work. It's a fun system to listen to.

If I was limited to owning and listening to just one system for the rest of my life, I'd probably pick my old Mac gear, because it's proven itself to be extremely musical, enjoyable and reliable over the long haul (and you've got to agree that forty years with many more to come is a very long haul).

Nice reply Decibelcat...that was fun to read and almost gave me the upgrade bug but I fought it off!

Mac gear has weathered the test of time. To this day the older pieces particularly the tuners sound wonderful.

All Mac components are built to almost industrial standards; most parts are still available and should the need for repairs and/or alignments arise both the Mac factory and companies such as Audio Classics provide professional service.

And they look cool as hell.

If you want something that is all but bullet-proof, and will last as long as you care to have it, buy McIntosh, especially the amplifiers. I have an MC2255, one of the greatest amplifiers they ever built. I also have an MC352. I worked for an audio dealer while getting my Bachelor's degree and someone brought in a MC2255 that came in for service. It had be dropped and had several heavy items dropped on it. I looked terrible, but it was put on a bench and worked perfectly and sounded great, regardless of all the damage done to it. After is was restored it was an absolutely beautiful amplifier. I decided then that oneday I was going to buy one. I've had mine for probably 10 years now without it ever having any issue. The last one was made in 1984 and sold for about $2500 new. Mine, which shows just a bit of it's age, cosmetically, is worth more over 20 years later than it was new. There aren't many pieces of electronics that can boast that.

Did you know the U.S. Navy uses McIntosh amplifiers to drive their sonar? Why, because they need something they can rely on and doesn't fail. Considering the price tag of a nuclear submarine, seems the navy could have just about anything they want. McIntosh was obviously what they wanted.