McIntosh - is it that great?

the older McIntosh tubes amps, The MC30, The MC225, MC240, and MC275 are music lovers amps.  They just sound like real music and you can listen all day long.

I have always thought the looks are very cool, in an old school retro kind of way.  In a friend's system I heard the sound seemed pretty soft and romantic to my ears but I don't know if that was a result of the Mac preamp and amp being used.

Back in the late 70's/early 80's I worked in the high end audio business and always loved the McIntosh equipment we sold, but thought I'd never be able to afford to own it.

Fast forward a few decades and I enjoy a McIntosh tube preamp and solid state power amp, which pair very well with the other equipment I own.

I do have a stack of PS Audio equipment, as I enjoy the SQ of their DirectStream DAC and their power conditioning equipment, it also pairs well with the McIntosh separates.

I've heard other setups driving the Focal speakers I own and (IMO) the McIntosh amp I own drives them better.

ejr1953,

nice system there. I use a MC462 (with two JL e112 subs) on a pair of Thiels and I imagine the Sopra 2 is a perfect match. I am looking to pick up a pair of used Sopra 2s or Revel 228be/328be sometime this year. The revels match well with Mac gear too.

To the original poster. Yes I think Mac gear is worth it, if you don’t mind spending money on looks (I don’t to a point). It sounds nice, is built well and looks nice. It has pride of ownership which is part of highend. 

It’s iconically great-sounding gear and THAT’S the reason its value is comparatively inflation-proof. Like Nak’s analog cassette decks, it’s the target at which other brands (Sunfire, PL, Carver, Pioneer SPEC, Superscope Marantz, etc) have paid the ultimate compliment by similarly voicing (and designing) their gear. Essentially, they gave the rest of the industry something at which to "plink away". These other manufacturer’s best efforts are similarly collectible now, but along with a few other first-gen designers (Avery Fisher, Saul Marantz’ first designs, et al) "no them-no whomever else-you fill in the blank" that has come along since, is pretty close to being an inarguably self-evident truth. These other (also esteemed) manufacturers exploited the economies of scale. To momentarily argue the flip side of that narrative, the appearance/ergonomics and, deadweight-metric-tonnage build quality is at least 50% of the attraction for most buyers. That annoys McPurists and I’m one of them. But whether it’s the icing or the cake under the icing is for each of us to decide for ourselves.