Why No McIntosh Recommendations?

I do have one complaint about McIntosh equipment and I hope someone at McIntosh is monitoring this post.  Please get rid of the glass front panels and replace with Lexan (plastic).  The black plastic laminate in front panels de-laminate over time especially around the head phone jack and near the corners/edges and any repair is impossible and futile without costly replacement of the panel.  I know that lexan is a good alternative.  I bought a C24 pre with a glass panel that was destroyed in shipping. Since this is one of the few parts from Mac or Audio Classics that is N/A, I took the trouble and found a manufacturer in Hong Kong that made other lexan repro panels for Mac (not a licensee), sent him the broken pieces and they were able to make a perfect reproduction in lexan with all of the correct graphics and colors. It is so perfect it would defy anyone at Mac to tell the difference from their factory panel.

I’ve had numerous Pass Labs, ARC, and many others. Listened to Krell, Levinson, PSA, etc while working for a major dealer in the Midwest for a few years. McIntosh is just as good sound wise as any, it’s just a matter of opinion which you prefer. Reliability wise, it’s been better than most in my opinion.
ARC sounds good, but in my experience it’s exploding crap. Maybe I’ll start an ARC bashing thread

      McIntosh always reminds me of equipment owned by a middle aged guy who listens to Sinatra or Perry Como lps on still dressed in his work suit in the evening with a cocktail and maybe smoking a cigar or pipe.  He'd usually also have a new or newer Buick, Olds or Caddy sedan parked in the driveway.  
     I first started to get interested in stereo gear when I was about twelve in 1970 and I noticed a lot of my friends' dads had McIntosh.  I remember them all sounding very good and being told by everyone not to touch any of it. 
    I've always thought of it as good gear that lasts a lifetime and kind of looks like it.  As I starting building my own systems, I never really considered McIntosh gear seriously because I considered it not very exciting, kind of like your old man's equipment.

   All stereotypes I know. But I still have the same impression even though I'm now a dad and middle aged.  No offense intended and I know it's mainly good stuff because some of my more conservative friends own new and even classic older McIntosh gear.


Tim 

I have listened to numerous McIntosh products through the years. I've also had 'heart-to-heart' talks with McIntosh dealers. Bottom line is that McIntosh tube products tend to sound much better than their solid state counterparts. Overall, if a comparison was to be made between the product lines of McIntosh and Audio Research, Boulder, Rowland, or several others; McIntosh would consistently come up short. McIntosh looks good and reliability is a strength, but to say that McIntosh is in the same league as the aforementioned companies is simply not true. 

@tlong1958

By all means, start any thread you like. I don't own Audio Research gear presently but I have, like McIntosh, owned some in the past, very recently as a matter of fact. While you didn't mention in what role you worked at the dealer, "exploding crap" may be a bit strong don't you think? While I have never experienced one single failure of any Audio Research item I have owned in over 20 years, they did service a piece for me once that had a minor shipping mishap. Like McIntosh, their service is exemplary. I have heard of some ARC owners who have experienced a tube failure where it took out a resistor but I also never ran the tubes to zero, so I never experienced that. It's my understanding that was how it was designed though. Neither ARC nor McIntosh have handled USB perfectly though. Its a shame that the group has basically mishandled the Wadia part of their portfolio, its all but a footnote in the digital world now.

@stevecutler

I agree with you regarding the glass/silkscreen. At least they went to fiber lighting a few years ago which solved the bulb changing requirements.