Why the hate for mcintosh amps?

That’s what I like about McIntosh, not only they look good with the blue meter, but they also sound incredible.

‘No discernible diff between components’?

A high quality revealing system will reveal differences. Try eliminating reverbs in room, makes it easier to hear component quality changes.  
Not rocket science.

Not what I meant by my comment at all. 

femoore12 - by logic that means you would rather have inferior SQ to a better looking component for the same money. Remember, nothing is ever exactly equal when comparing the SQ of two products.

Are you an interior decorator or something?

Best sound should be the norm on this forum.

Dagostino is very pretty. Wilson speakers are kinda ugly. GAT from conrad johnson is dated. Mac can be too iluminated. Tubes are cool. Nagra preamp is industrial, yuck. Audio research is cool. Lumin x1 is sleek and nice looking.