Spectral vs. McIntosh

Spencer,
the McIntosh-gear I use is all solid state, I was just wondering about hearing from people who have heard, or owned, both McIntosh and Spectral.

VERY different house sounds with quite a bit of differences in how each "camp" views things. A Spectral based system has to be VERY carefully matched whereas the Mac will be more forgiving. Chances are, if you REALLY like one of these brands / house sound's a lot, you probably won't really care for the other.

If you were used to the sound of one of these and then listened to the other, you might really like some aspects of the new one due to changes in presentation. Whether or not you could live with those changes long term is another story.

This is where many people fall prey to hi-fi demo's and salesmen as they get sucked into the initial differences in presentation. That is, the presentations ARE different but not necessarily a step forward from what one already has. Whether or not one would consider any component / brand change to be "better" boils down to personal taste / system synergy and one's hearing acuity. Sean
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PS... Ever listen to someone else's system and a familiar disc and say "wow, i've never heard that before"? Then you go home and listen to your system with the same disc and that same passage is as plain as day? I know i have, so don't be fooled by initial impressions. This is why most stress "long term" listening as the only way to really get to know how something sounds / works in your system. Yes, initial impressions do count, but "different" isn't necessarily "better" and short-term auditions can be misleading. You're right in wanting to know the opinions of those that have used both brands under similar circumstances.

Sean,
You just described my Spectral ownership experience, and that was w/the whole shebang: RadianHCs, DMA180, DMC120II, MIT all-around! Wow in the store, then I sobered up at home. After 30 minutes of music, I was always bored. When I went back to a tube system, I listened for hours at a time w/o fatigue.
Guess that's why they say, "Different strokes...". Cheers,
Spencer

Exactly Sbank! Every time I go into my favorite salon they do the same thing to me. I was there recently and bought an analog front end from them and I thought an entry level sumiko with tube preamp...can't remember the amp with midline audio physics sounded more like real music than the big system you mention in the big room. Sure the Spectral, Avalons, MIT MA's sounded great, imaged like crazy, pinpoint....all the other audiophile traits we dig but ultimately, I get bored. The other system, 10% of the cost, just sounded like the truth....music to my ears.

Sbank and Sean, instead of repeating that Spectral sounds very different, could you please elaborate on HOW it sounds different from Mac?