McIntosh -- good for show, not for sound, says dealer

After decades of audio foolya' I'm finally, thankfully, at the point that when I can listen for hours on end and the music continues to sound lovely, that's all I care about.  I'm done with endless tube rolling, cable comparisons, this component compared to that component, SS vs Tubes vs Hybrids, and the endless roller coaster of searching for some "holy grail" (if you'll excuse my use of that trite and tired phrase.) Endless anecdotal hyperbole serves no one. Can there be a more subjective hobby than ours?

Now I simply want to listen to the music.  I find it liberating.

What most of you are forgetting is that this site does not have just Americans posting. Macintosh is far less purchased outside of America. It appears that some Americans have a loyalty towards the brand; that’s fine.

As I stated in a previous post in this thread, Macintosh is not for me; it would be pretty close to the bottom in the line of hi fi equipment I would consider.

Hmmm. I could say so many things….but I will not.

Good Morning @laoman 

Please do say many things. Is anything I said inaccurate? Is Macintosh as popular in Asia and Europe as the US? Are the only posters who post on this site of US Nationality? Do some Americans have a loyalty towards the Macintosh brand? Are any of my rhetorical questions wrong?

There's a dealer in Chicago who says that people buy Macs for the blue meters but the performance is not that great. Taken together with all of the unenthusiastic comments about Macs in this forum, I m only conclude that it's all about personal perception. My first "audiophile" level integrated amp (having graduated from a Kenwood receiver circa 1972) was a Mac MA6200, a tidy compact unit that packed tons of features - 5 band equalizer, 2 phono inputs, 3 pairs of speakers, all 3 of which I drove simultaneously in 3 rooms, loudness comp, headphone jack and more, all at 75 watts. It sounded great in my Teal  and Tannoy speakers. Next up was a MA6900 (200 watts), 5-band equalizer  driving my Focal 1027's - sounded great.  Presently I have a MA352 hybrid integrated (200 watts) driving the Focals. with upgraded cables, CD player and DAC,  - it sounds fantastic. . There are many high quality amps, pre-amps and integrateds out there, manufactured by great companies - Mac is one of them, blue meters and all.