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Mac gear "Slow" or others "Fast"

When auditioning amps I A/B'd Mac and Classe models and noticed the Classe's were more immediate. Classe bass had more impact, but also decayed much quicker. At that time I assumed the Macs were slow and bought Cam 350's and Para S8's. Since then I've heard much of the community agrees that Mac gear is slow, however I'm now questioning that. Mac tells me others up the gain a bit to "pump-up" the sound and that they(mac)present the original track as recorded. Opinions please? I'm trying to decide on a pre-amp- MacC200 or ML320s. Great forum! Thanks
llong
hassel
248 posts
 

Well, Matrix, having compared, among others, Classe, McIntosh, Linn, Naim, Densen-amps, and McIntoshs, all connected to my McIntosh C200-preamp, let me tell you that every amp has its own sonic signature. Secondly, after comparison with Krell, Jeff Rowland and Mark Levinson, not to speak of the like of Halcro, I´d say that McIntosh is one of the cheapest and most price-worthy of all big highend manufacturers.
bigjoe's avatar
bigjoe
693 posts
 
prozak , hahahaha what a laugh.........not!

it never fails,there is always some shmuk who chimes in with somthing stupid to say about mac gear all the while they dont put up a single pic of what their running in their system, why is that ?

every time i see a guy like you post i invision a chineese made 40 watt intergrated from ebay hooked up to a pair of altec 14's,now thats bliss!

mike.
wemcl's avatar
wemcl
6 posts
 
AFTER OWNING A PAIR OF KRELLS AUDIO STANDARDS I BOUGHT A PAIR OF MCINTOSH MC-1201s AND NEVER LOOKED BACK THE MACS BEAT THEM ON EVERYTHING AT A THIRD OF THE PRICE 10-YEARS LATER.THE KRELLS ARE SLOW TO ME NOW.
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,467 posts
 
Bigjoe is soooooooooo right here. I own the MC402 amp and just love it. It is the finest amp I have put into my system. So effortless and natural. Anyone who has owned this amp knows it is world class. Forget the brand, forget your bias, forget the price, forget how it looks - I forgot my point:-)

Oh, just listen to it man! I have owned Thor, JC1's,Classe,Blue Circle, Bruce Moore, Joule, CJ,Cary,Wright Sound and on and on over many years. The MC402 is the real deal even with the polarizing Mac brand name on it.

Some things are subjective and sometimes things are just plain true. The truth is this amp from Mac is a top contender. Any honest audiophile after hearing it cannot say otherwise. I am one of those who thought Mcintosh was old school and not real high end, but rather make pretend high end for those who like the looks and history of Mac. I was wrong - big time wrong.

No , it's not slow. It is wonderful sounding. Yep, sounds like music to my ears.

Bill
gmood1
1,251 posts
 
The newer Mac gear seems much more refined than it's older brothren. The old Mac did sound slow and fuzzy too me. The new stuff like the 1201, 602, 501 sound pretty darn good.
I'm I fevering to own one..not hardly ..as always YMMV.

I have yet to hear any two amplifiers that sound the same..I guess it's my imagination.LOL
As usual everything is system dependent.

Good luck
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