Speakers to mate with McIntosh gear

Most home speakers don't look too offensive nowadays, but yes, there are some beautiful speakers that come to mind that would really set off a room, and no doubt become instant conversation starters when one walks into a room, take Advantgarde, a pair of $40,000 B+W Nautilus, the MBL Radialstrauler as a few.

I can understand, somthing like a pair of old JBL Voice of the Theaters with a 23" sectional Horn bolted on top of a nasty painted Bass Cab won't have much of a WAF! (wife acceptance factor) no matter how killer hey sound. (great speakers though, if you have a listening room the size of a Gymnasium)

One speaker that I've always admired for their striking beauty, beautiful wood veneers, and reputed build, and sound quality are the Legacy brand. Downside, is I don't believe they have much of a dealer network to see, and here these in person, unless you live close to where they're made. mark

Mcintosh is Crap!!!! Just kidding, I think any mac stuff works real nice with a lot of speakers in general, they even help fix some issues of certain designs, magic dust or something. But really listen to some designs of varying values in speakers, mcintosh seems to be pretty smooth and really never offends on anything I have heard them paired too, almost the safest audio investment both sound and value wise seems to be mcintosh, now I am not saying some stuff is not better in given situations, but.....Just take a listen to some different designs, horns, straight dynamic speakers whatever, they will all be a bit different, but if you want big attack, speed, and volume horns and some full range drive stuff will be the ticket.

CanucksO, I'm not really offended, I just opted for a temporary loss of sanity, to each his own, were good to go!

As far As McIntosh goes, I'm certain I would be correct, that you won't find the most expensive state of the art cutting edge componentry inside of them, but McIntosh seems to be a brand that was at least highly recognized for long lasting equipment. Probably one reason that they always held their value well. (At least the old stuff did, take the MC-240-MC75-MC-275 for example)

Some used to say, just buy a Mac Amp, and you're good to go for 20 years, then after 20 years, just buy another.

I myself have owned two MC-2105's that I bought new 32 years ago, and they have never had a need for servicing. Mucho equipment came, and went, the Macs hung in there, and there must be countless 10's of 1000's of hours of operation on them.

Whether the newer Mac gear will follow suit, I reckon only time will tell. Mark

I don't know what your speaker sound preference is, but if you enjoy dynamics and speakers that will really get you involved in the music, I would suggest you see if you can give a listen to some vintage Altec 604 duplex studio monitors. What you will hear is the reason Altecs were the speaker of choice in recording studio's for many many years. They excel with accoustic and vocals. They are also great with Jazz and can really rock if called upon.

The big Altecs may not have WAF, but that is not what they were made for, they were made to make beautiful top tappin music. I have recently listened to some JMLabs speakers and while they sounded good, they were extremely polite. I prefer my old ALtecs for the boogie factor.

I didn't get into this hobby to make my wife happy. I do it because I enjoy the music. I have been happily married for 27 years and I don't see a wife leaving her husband over a pair of speakers, so I say get what sounds good to you. If she loves you, she will get used to it.

BTW, I power my Altecs with MC40 mono tube amps, and the combination WOW's me on a nightly basis.