McIntosh

FWIW, I had a disappointing experience with Mcintosh late last year.  My preamp was sent to the dealer, Audio Classics, for a simple repair that required a $10 set of output jacks.   Audio Classics was great, but they were unable to get this part from Mcintosh, which is a short drive from Audio Classics.  Mac wouldn't ship it, and they wouldn't allow Audio Classics to drive over and pick it up, which they tried.

I figured it was a stock issue, but they claimed to have the part in stock.  So, in the end, I called Mac's parts department, and ordered it myself.  It shipped to me in NJ, and I then shipped it up to Audio Classics, which was still waiting for the part from Mac when they received the one I shipped to them.  

Blame the virus?  Or just really disappointing dealer support from Mcintosh?

I still love my preamp, but the love for Mcintosh the company is a bit tarnished at this point.

I wouldn’t panic.  Ask your dealer to check up on it.  I know that several products are indeed on back order.  Just don’t have the staff to fill orders fast enough.  Some products literally have one or two people building them.

My MCT 500 CD Transport was ordered about six weeks ago, and they tell me that they hope to have shipping by the end of the month.

Despite stories, McIntosh has alway been upfront with me about their production issues.  Prices went up a couple years ago because of raw material costs.  Wouldn’t expect any other increases.  Try buying any appliances lately?  

It simply is a supply & demand issue from raw materials to production of products.  The 901 amp is basically made my a single lady that has been working there for some 3-4 decades.  I support her and their business model.  It’s worked for 75 years!

Last year I had my MA252 in an authorized McIntosh service center as my PCM display went out. It took many calls to find out what was going on, to end up finding that McIntosh was waiting on the part to come in from China as the part manufacturing place had closed due to Covid and were running long back orders. It took four months until the repair was completed. 
I then spoke to my dealer in regards to doing a trade up to a MA352 in which the dealer gave me a full trade value for my 252. When they ordered the 352 it was near the holidays so demand was high, and it ended up taking 6 weeks for my new 352 to come in. 
I am very happy with my trade and the MA352. 

Does Best Buy's Magnolia actually sell McIntosh that you can order online from the factory?
Is it less expensive t order it?  (Not that I would ever be interested.  Years ago, at the Fort Lauderdale dealer, I was treated like a pariah for owning something else.  I also did not like the McIntosh speakers they used for the demo, and said so.  I felt like I had driven a Lambo to a Ferrrari dealership. 

I am a McIntosh dealer. They do have their challenges right now. We get a weekly list from our reps with updates and usually there is more on the back order list than than limited or in-stock. This has been the case for the past year. But I've personally not heard of 6-month/1 yr. delivery times on anything. When an item is on backorder the prevailing consensus is more like 4-8 weeks which I think is fair, given the McIntosh manufacturing process and challenges of the day. 

And like any situation where a consumer purchases through a dealer, if your dealer is bad, they're bad. I do also personally own McIntosh. Amp and preamp to be specific. And I like them. But I'd never insinuate that they're the only product to own or that they're inherently better than something someone else likes. And I certainly wouldn't make someone feel bad for walking in to my place of business, for any reason. I think dealers who do this are arrogant and part of the reason this industry has struggled to gain relevance and traction with much of Gen X and younger. 

McIntosh is not a small, mom and pop type manufacturer. And doing business with them does feel different from doing business with the smaller guys. But it's not a bad thing and there's nothing wrong with McIntosh as a company. If you want to own good-sounding, well made gear that also has some nostalgic prestige, I think McIntosh is among the few where that is truly part of the experience. I think it's also probably very much worth a reasonable wait. Hold your dealer to a high standard. That's what having a Hi-Fi dealer needs to be about.