McIntosh Sonus Faber love affair, alternatives?

It depends on the sound qualities you are going for. From my experience and taste, Audio Research and Sonus Faber are a much better match. Macintosh is very mid range and bass heavy, notably lacking detail and treble. Audio Research is highly detailed with great midrange bloom , musical with natural rhythm and pace, so these are the great combination.

While I slowly migrated towards this combination over my fifty years of pursuing the high end, only after assembling these together did I hear this is one of the great synergistic combinations: Audio Research, Sonus Faber, and Transparent cabling. I have heard the combination of Mac + SF many times, but it is not at all appealing to me. It may appeal to folks that love rock… although that combo is bested by Mac and B&W.

I've heard Rogue do extremely well with SF along with Audio Research as  mentioned. 

Sans tubes, I'd suggest Bel Canto as an alternate to  Mac.  My humble Bel Canto c5i paired with Sonus  Faber Concerto Domus is an absolute pleasure to listen to. 

@emergingsoul   Oh the irony:  "I am interested in exploring an option involving infidelity."  Nice post.

@abnerjack ,thanks for pointing that out professor,NOBODY else noticed it & chose not to make a big deal about it!

Borresen  x3 Loudspeaker for example work very well with McIntosh.