Why No McIntosh Recommendations?

If reliability and security are most important then Mac is an easy recommendation. Sonically it’s not bad stuff it is just not the absolute sound. It gets dissed a lot by people who can’t afford it. It is true that their speakers are generally a nightmare. Great Tuners, a very nice universal disc player. Ok tube stuff, not ARC. 

I once auditioned the C1100 and MC601 in my home. The excitement of owing a cool looking MAC gear quickly wore off by its lifeless sound.

Like @akg_ca said, they failed to stir my senses or soul.

IMHO, McIntosh needs to overhaul their solid state lineup. Their tube gear is reasonably good. 

because..  you get this kind of thread when you do try to talk them up.  Not worth it.  Just enjoy.

They made some nice tunas-MR-71, 74, 67, .......

I have a McIntosh C2500 tube preamp and MC452 solid state power amp, driving a pair of Focal Sopra No2's.  In my search for a new pair of speakers, I found the MC452 was the best match for the Sopra's, brought out the best soundstage, smooth but defined high end, and really well defined midrange.  All the more "modern" amps I've heard driving the Sopra's made them sound "thin" and "lifeless".

My system has all "digital" sources.  I've found that, of all things which are improving the most lately, it's the DAC technology, so I don't use the DAC built into my preamp.  Instead I have a PS Audio DirectStream DAC and transport and their P15 Power Plant, to deliver clean AC power to all my components.

I have a number of audio buddies who poo-poo McIntosh.  Hey, if you like something else, go for it!

When I attended an information session at the Capital Audiofest, one of the presenters said he thought that most of the audio brands of today would go out of business 10 years later.  I suspect that McIntosh will not be in that group.