Has Anyone Compared the 2 McIntosh Integrateds?

I recently purchased the MA6500 and have been very happy. According to an email response from McIntosh tech support, the MA6500 is a combination "C15 preamp and direct coupled version of the MC202 amp." The MA6900 is described as a combination of features from the C42 and MC202. I have not been able to audition the MA6900. I would think any sound quality difference would be more dependent on the type of speaker used and its impedence plot. I would think the 6900 would handle low impedence / low sensitivity speakers better because of the autoformers. With easy to drive speakers (I'm using Spendor s3/5 - 8 ohm) I can not see the benefit of the autoformers outside of DC protection. The Sam Tellig review in Stereophile claims that the MA6900's output transitors "look for a load of 2.9 ohms before the signal goes to the autoformers." Therefore, for easy to drive speakers 4 ohm or greater, I would expect less benefit from the autoformer. Again, this is only confirmed with audition. Either integrated delivers more power than I need. As I leave tone controls in bypass mode, the c42 based preamp is not a personal need.

Thanks for the insightful response!

Hey! I have listened to both and I find that for the cost savings, the 6500 is the way to go. Both are incredibly sweet and the 6900 is a tad more so but I feel it is not worth $1500 more (do you need an equalizer?). Of course, if I could afford either one, I would be tempted to get autoformers since that is one thing Mcintosh is famous for (as well as Finao1's mentioning of better low z control). Having said that, I own one of their direct-coupled amps (MC7100) and I find it is highly underrated. I just love it - it beats my previous Krells to bits in terms of liquidity and balance across the band. Either way for the integrateds since you cannot go wrong with McIntosh IMO.

This post could not have come at a better time for me as I am considering just these two integrateds. I would rather not spend the extra 1500 on the 6900 but am so tempted given the fact that I would one day (probably way in the future) like to own a big pair of Magnepans (like the 3.6R). Can the 6500 drive the maggies?

Right now I am very happy with my Thiel CS2.3's (4 Ohm) which I think could easily be driven by the 6500, I think. One thing I wonder about is on the 6500 the 4 Ohm output is said to be 200 watts even though the amp is rated at 150 wattsfor 8 Ohms. I can live without the equalizer. And if I'm right, on the 6500, you can defeat the tone controls by keeping them in the flat (12 o'clock position) -- is that right? I would greatly appreciate any detailed feedback any of you could offer on my deliberations.........can ya get a price break on this stuff anywhere?

Thank you!