McIntosh MA 6500

Hello Nomail...
I had the Rotel 1072 CD player here for a couple months. The Rotel is a good all-rounder but I would call it very polite and unexciting...if you have a chance to try another CD player I would highly recommend it.

Thanks all for trying to help! I finally gave up and went back to the Rotel. Maybe something was wrong with it, not sure. The dealer was going to get another one but I told him if something is wrong with it, should not have ever passed McIntosh quality control to leave their factory. He said it sounds normal to him when he listened to it on my setup, so I don't see any point in getting another in if it's going to sound too refined in my case?? Oh well, atleast I tried. Thanks again all.

Digging up an old thread. I figure, better to reply to one existing than create a new one. I have a pair of Monitor Audio Silver 9i speakers that are presently in my HT setup with some M&K surrounds. I am starting to seriously consider finishing out my HT in M&K and moving the Silver 9i's into a dedicated stereo setup. Is something like the 6500 going to be a good fit for my Monitor Audio 9i's? Would I be limiting myself in any way with a Mac integrated rather than a pre/amp setup? Or on the flip side, is a Mac integrated paired to my Monitors going to be silly? I think my MAs are really nice speakers, but I don't want to overdo it. If a Mac connected to them is like having a Ferrari engine in a stock '78 Rabbit (sure it would be more responsive than stock, but you could not take full advantage of that 4.3 V8) maybe I need to aim my sights lower. I personally doubt this, as I think they're pretty good speakers.

I figure, I can get into this integrated for probably less than comparable preamp/amp setups, but I could be wrong. What else should I look at? I have heard these speakers work *very* well with tubes, but my knowledge of tube systems is not great, and I really know nothing of where the price/performance of a tube exceeds its SS cousin. If I can get better sound out of a 2500 dollar tube pre/amp or integrated, it is certainly going to be investigated.

I don't know if this will help, but I mostly listen to CDs. At present I have no dedicated player, but I am looking at a modded Oppo or something from NAD. Am I providing a major weak link in this little chain so far? It should also be noted, I have a decent vinyl collection, but I have never had a phono stage. This would rectify that.