Why the hate for mcintosh amps?

My med. doctor had an MC2105 and a C29.

When I saw the C29 for the first time, i knew that some day I would go for this. What a look! A real gem.
And one day my local dealer displayed one in his showcase.
After 8 or 9 weeks of sneaking around it was still there and I dared asking for a reasonable price- and I got it!

It was my holy grail for two years or so when I bit by bit
realized it did not offer that kind of sound I had always been looking for.
The sound was integral, nothing excelled. Good mids, the bass strong but a little rounded, but a lack of decay, resolution and detail.

I suspect the developers intended to find a successor for their tube gear that would do no harm to the listener's ears, but so they created amps that would deliver a rounded sound lacking impact and deep dimension picture in the high and upper mid frequencies.

So finally I sold the C29 to a friend. A review in an audiophile magazine had the verdict "good" for the C29 (but a "very good" for the contemporary Audio Research preamp)…funny enough, 30 years later I got an AR tube pre that is still in my line-up and delivers all the rich sound that I want. It is carefully tweaked and gives me everything I missed with the C29.

McIntosh of today? I dislike the green lights as much as I loved the turquoise lights. I think the magical look has vanished with this change. No reason to get one...

Jan

I still think that serious listeners should go back to older gear from time to time- just to find out that sound has not bettered through the years, maybe utmost.

Jan

So dont tube preamps offer worthwhile sound influence along with a ss amp?  

I think they do...
There are guys out there who recommend the use of tubed preamps with ss power amps as tubes are better for voltage amplification and power amps for current purposes.
I use tube amps and ss amps for the latter, but a tube pre is mandatory IMHO.

Jan

But since tubes are en vogue again there is a lot of junk out there on the market.
The influence of the power supply is much higher with tube gear than with ss-based (pre-)amps.
An improved ps will do magic if you know where to install/change capacitors either in the output stage or in the ps.
My AR pre now shows all the virtues of a modern construction, but still with the magic only tubes can do- decay, resolution, soundstage, imaging.
I will definitely not go back to transistorized preamps.