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Hail to Mcintosh

In respnse to another thread about why audiophiles dont' pick Mac.I think (in my humble opinion) is unfounded. Not everyone (as this is a BIG world) spend their time on audiogon or any other forum "playing expert in hearing sound reproduction". Sound is subjective.In the guitar amp world many players choose their amps for different reasons....some monetary,others by what their heros played and some by what their ears are hearing, build quality or a combination of things. I've owned many boutique,vintage fender and clone amps of famous designs....,to me ,nothing beats the sound of a 60's Marshall w/ a Strat or LesPaul guitar. And many would agree......but not everyone. SO WHAT!! Now getting to Hi-FI..... When I was 16 or so (I'm 43) I heard my friends Uncles stereo I was BLOWN away,much like seeing a rock concert when the band Has that......MAGIC and everything flows. I wanted it! It was some Mac tube gear and Klipschorns. The passed 3 years I've listened to MANY systems tube and solidstate and to my ears the Horn loaded speakers w/ tube gear does it for me . Doesn't matter whether Rock,blues jazz or folk. I've chosen Mcintosh first for sound,quality ,history,looks and convenience of my dealer ...Audioclassics.com. I live 1 hr away from both the factory and them! I bought my Mac gear from them used (MC 2102's, MC2000 amps,C2200 preamp,Rosewood Khorns,ect..)My C2200 went awry,I explained my problem to "Ryan" at audioclassics and he contacted Mcintosh,they never encountered the problem I described. I thought to myself "OH brother" NO stereo for awhile......WRONG!! Ryan drove down to my house with a Brand new factory sealed C2200 and said "here, its yours" and took the other one back. No, it was not a loaner but an exchange,what company or dealer does that??? Nuff said!
128x128tjnif
rhyno's avatar
rhyno
649 posts
 
Flyski had it nailed when he said: "Some people say McIntosh does not have the last bit of resolution, to them I say, keep your resolution, my system is warm, analog sounding with a spacious soundstage, midrange to die for and it makes music sound like music not some analytical collection of sounds which you get tired of in a month."

the thing is, the mc 501s (my point of reference) exert such a strong influence (read: coloration) on the overall presentation (which Flyski partly IDs, and i cover a bit on dagogo.com) that the whole system's synergy and holistic performance falls in line with their voicing. whereas other amps require tweaks, careful system matching, etc in order to get, at best, slightly better sound, though if the whole system is out of kilter, other amps sound inferior.

2 things: 1) the 501s are not the best amps out there, not by a long shot. 2) they're so easy to use and so good regardless that they're an ideal amp for music lovers, but less so for audiophiles (who enjoy the tweaks and absolute performance).

for those who love this brand, i salute you for getting off the merry-go-round. just don't say they're the "absolute" best.

rc
audioi's avatar
audioi
3 posts
 
Lets face it, McIntosh has been around so long that our grandfathers owned it but its still some of the best built, best sounding product on the planet. I only wish the U.S. had more companies like it !
Mike
kehut's avatar
kehut
668 posts
 
Rhyno,

Excellent! I think your post also nailed this..

Ken
boa2's avatar
boa2
1,551 posts
 
for those who love this brand, i salute you for getting off the merry-go-round. just don't say they're the "absolute" best.
Being that the "best" is arbitrary, I have to say that McIntosh has been the best for me, and for no other reason than because it did get me off the merry-go-round. Will it beat all comers on the audiophile's sonic checklist? Not to my ear, no. But if the synergy is right, it can easily turn off the analytical and get you in touch with the musical. For me, there's nothing more enjoyable about this hobby than taking the work out of it. And McIntosh has been berry, berry good to me in dat reegard.
flyski
40 posts
 
Rhyno, I don't recall claiming that 501 monoblocks are the "absolute best", what ever that means. I did say that to me they sound like music because they do so many things right, especially in the midrange. Having owned quite a few tube amps and prefering that type of sound, I find that 501's give me that sonic quality while also being able to drive my speakers well and recreate virtually any type of music at realistic levels with their superior "dynamic" abilities over tube amps. The term "absolute best" if a very illusive term indeed. One man's best is another man's torture. The 501's suit my sonic preference, power output, dynamic abilites and pride and enjoyment of ownership. As far as coloration goes, everything outside the original recording instance is a coloration including, mikes, mike cables, recording equipment, your playback system and especially your speakers and room's acoustic response/interaction with speakers. So you see, coloration is a very illusive term as well. If the 501 are "colored" and add their own color to the painting, then so be it, I am very happy with these painters and their work.
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