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

Another McIntosh thread 🤣. Pretty much similar to a cable thread. Gets old but bottom line you like Mac or you don’t. Most haven’t either heard Mac or properly matched. However, if you don’t like the sound move on. Pretty simple, but I can think the same about an amp another audiophile raves over. Why trash or make disparaging remarks? Overall, McIntosh isn’t overpriced when you compare it to higher end gear that doesn’t sound much better. It actually is quite the bargain. There’s a very interesting YouTube review of the McIntosh MC452. He does a fantastic but fair assessment that made me realize what a great amp it is. Not everyone will agree but made me realize performance per dollar is quite high.

Well I have many pieces a d from ma y of the top end. Brands I have Krell mark Levinson,Ayre,audio research, sonic frontier, transparent,canary,harbeth,neat,and equation. But among my stereo pieces I have two McIntosh tuners. I love them and I find them fun to listen to. I have an mr71 and a mr73. In many ways and I feel like I should duck after I say this but I prefer the mr73. It maybe just plays better with the rest of the equipment in that system. I have a solid state system with an all tube front end. And I have a tube system with a solid state from end. I enjoyed the mix of the two. I really don't care what anyone thinks of my system or the other system. They have been thought out and pieces auditioned and I liked what I bought and how it sounds in each case. So if that fellow doesn't like McIntosh so be it. I love both of my tuners and in my opinion I have never heard better and I have no need to change either one of them no matter what anyone says. In fact the main problem up here is the FM stations have gone down hill big-time. I  happy with my decision s and if I decide I want a little bit more I will go looking yet there is no yen to do that at the moment. 

Regards Tom

I know much of this thread and speaking of McIntosh sound, the conversations are mostly centered around their Amps. What  about their preamps?

How do people feel newer preamps like the C52 and C53 stack up?

Perhaps because I'm old school, I like that there is some onboard sound shaping provided.  Or is that a monkey wrench with added garbage in the audio path?

I imagine there's some number of ways to look at it.