McIntosh with Aerial speakers

Your question is very specific and I have not heard a Mac driving Aerial. But I have heard quite a few cases that Mac sounded soft when matched to wrong speakers. So at this level, I think you better audition it yourself before making a decision.

BTW, which Mac are you considering?

At this point I was looking at the new MC452 that is do out shortly. I'm not sure this would have enough oomph for the Aerials, but I thought this would be a good amp to start with. If I like it then I would move up to a pair of 1.2KW's.

MAC will be fine. Our local Aerial dealer has MAC gear on 20t's and they sound great together.

However I think there may be better choices. I bi-amped 20t's w/ Rowland after trying many things and they really blossomed with the extra drive. I was using a 304 4 channel amp.

Since you stated bass control is critical, I think you may also appreciate the Rowland or something similar.