Why the hate for mcintosh amps?

“McIntosh are like elephants, nice to look at, but, I wouldn’t want to have one.”
W. C. Fields 

100% agree with the theme of enjoying what you have. It is hard to stay in the present long enough to appreciate the moment and audiophiles (myself included) seem to often have our feelers out for the next upgrade.

Love my Mac tube gear, sourced with VPI Aries 3, delivered with Magico A5's, supported by a B&W DB3D.

This is an interesting one, and perhaps I have an answer.

I think the "hate" comes from not understanding what McIntosh is best at.  That is room flexibility.  I've never had the luxury of having a dedicated stereo room, so I never could get optimum acoustics.

They even have test equipment at the plant to make their equipment more forgiving.  McIntosh amps and preamps work the best in unoptimized rooms.

Let me explain.  During my solid state days, I tried out a Rowland amp and compared it with my Mac amp at the store.  The Rowland sounded quite a bit better with perfect setup at the store.  I take it home and set it up in my living room--the Rowland sounded a lot worse.  My wife, who has better ears than me and could care less about the equipment, asked me what was wrong with the stereo.

I put the Mac amp back in the system.

Frankly, I don't even want a dedicated stereo room.  It is more fun to share the equipment with family and friends in a more comfortable setting.

I am sitting in my room with one of my systems, and it is wonderful.  Is it as good as the best setups I've heard?  No, but with the Jean Nantais turntable, it is very, very close.  And I can enjoy it while I am working, like right now.  I don't have to sit in a specialized room to enjoy it.

That is probably one reason McIntosh equipment is still quite popular.

I love my McIntosh integrated.  It sounds great to me, is built like a tank, looks fantastic and is made in America.  Of course it has meters, which for me, is a must.  If I didn't have it, I would have an Accuphase, Luxman or a Yamaha with meters. 
I must have meters.  I love them!

roxy544,641 

Ummmm, I didn’t buy it because it is more expensive. Not sure when you last check but McIntosh does make a $90,000.00 amplifier, smh. It’s called the McIntosh MC2kw. See what I mean folks. Homework please, homework, lol.