McIntosh MA6500 Integrated amp

The MA6500 and 6900 do NOT sound the same. The 6900 is the better unit, sounding more tube-like when called for, sounding more convincing with voices and instruments. Having said that, the 6500 is a terrific amp, which I owned myself. The only downside in my system with Shahinian speakers was that the 6500 did not control the bass as well as other amps (e.g. Plinius, Densen). If your speakers are easy loads, however, you can hardly go wrong with both amps. I would, however, go for a 6900 used.

Why do they carry 2 Integrateds with the same power output I wonder?

Why do they carry 2 Integrateds with the same power output I wonder?

At 8ohms, the MA6500 is 120W, while the MA6900 is 200W.

Some people are willing to spend the extra money for the autoformers so McIntosh takes advantage of the situation. Many long-time McIntosh owners do not what to part with the perceived advantage of the autoformers. I toured the McIntosh lab before purchasing my MA6500 and confirmed with the engineers that the MA6900 and MA6500 sounded the same.

Williammeredith,
You cannot confirm with the engineers, but with your ears only. This I have done, and these amps sound different, as experienced by others who have compared them - see the thread mentioned above. As far as Mac´s engineers are concerned, they are very much from the measurement-school. Chuck Hinton e.g. told me it did not pay to bother with speaker cables, "as they sound all the same". However, changing speaker cables has made one of the most noticable differences in my present Mac-system.