McIntosh SS Amps - Old vs New - Sonics

I can't speak from experience of direct comparison. But if we eliminate the 252 from your list of the newer models. The 352 and 402 have a "double balanced push-pull" output on the 352 that Mcintosh renamed "quad differntial" of the 402. This is said to reduce the noise floor. I own both a 352 and 7205. There I have really noticed the difference between the autoformer output and the non-autoformer. And how much of the differnce is due the "double balanced push pull" circuit. I would speculate that the differences between the 2205/2200 and the current models would definite improvement due what ever technology McIntosh Labs have developed since those were new models. I am sure that I will be upgrading someday as well.

The 2200 and 2205 are at least 25 years old now. Their caps probably need to be replaced and device technology has moved forward since those days. Just due to these two points, the newer Mcs will sound better (i.e. more transparent). I used to have a 2125 and it didn't sound nearly as good as my 7200. I am not yet convinced that autoformers are the end all but the 402 sounds absolutely incredible.

Arthur

I recently heard the 402 and (being a tube guy myself) it sounded darn good and I can not believe the old stuff can touch it in any way - though I did not compare it to any of their old gear.

I've heard Mac 402, 501 on Zu Definitions in my own system, and 252, 402, 501, 1201 on a system I am familiar with using Sonus Faber Cremonas. I've also heard the MA6900 integrated on both, as well as on a system with Sonus Faber Cremona Auditors.

Preamps used have been C46, Audion Premier 1.0, Django TVC, Klimo Merlino Gold, Audiopax Model 5.

The Mac quad-differential amps are unfailingly musical, rich in satisfying, realistic tone, very wideband and dynamically convincing. All this is a real turnaround from Mac solid state amps from the first through about 1990, when Mac solid state amps sounded smooth but dark and uninspiring. Quite antiseptic and atonal. The designs produced from around 1990 through 1996 or 98 were transitional in moving toward the sound McIntosh has achieved today, but still held back by the old sonics, to some degree.

Today, even the non-autoformer amps, like the 6300 and 6500 integrateds sound good, but the autoformer amps are the ticket to tone, with the quad-differential or double-balanced amps performing at a premium above that.

I own single-ended tube amps, dynamic and musical, and my 101db/w/m speakers don't really demand more than what I have in dynamic power. But more couldn't hurt if clarity and tone doesn't suffer, right? If I invest more in amplification than what I have, MC1201 monoblocks would be serious contenders. A 402 puts you just within the same family sound.

One thing these Mac amps have is the muscle and control to get an unruly speaker talking in one voice. The bigger the better -- you will hear better driver integration and if you go high enough in the line, crossover effects will begin to be mitigated. There are just a handful of transistor amps I'd consider listening to today -- McIntosh autoformer units, Pass and First Watt, Lavardin and maybe Channel Island -- and MC402 and above are front and center. I am certain you will hear a compelling difference between even an MC252 over a 2200/2205, but the step from there to a 352 or 402 is easily discerned as being worth the improvement in tone, expression and dynamic realism.

Phil