Jc51373,
the quote "I was disappointed when I first got it. The bass was there alright, but the highs sounded harsh, voices sharp." is correct - but not the context. As I wrote as well, and mentioned in this thread, all this completely changed after the amp was burned in. Otherwise, I obviously would not have kept the 402.
I want to make a few more points.
First, I am not at all an offended Mac-owner. Like Mike, I was astonished to see your comments, because it it just the opposite what McIntosh-users, listeners and reviewers experience all over the world.
There is valid criticism of McIntosh to be made -e.g. that they are not the most detailed amps. This is true from what I have heard myself, when I exchanged my 402 for a Densen power amp. I was able to hear a detail I could not hear with the Mac.
Otherwise, however, the Densen was inferior in the areas that matter to me: a musical, weighty bass, a natural presentation, and so on. The points you make seem to be completely out of line of the typical experience, and so I highly doubt that these are valid points in general.
Moreover, I get very critical when I hear, or see, people writing in absolute terms:
"It is my belief McIntosh and Krell are in two completely diffent classes" or "I basically think the Mac is a tier below what I thought it would be, nice entry-level amp, but not for someone looking to move up from a Krell piece."
This kind of sweeping, generalizing statement is something I would never make - at least not today. My experience in two decades as an audiophile is that absolute statements of this kind are usually nonsense.
Amps, like everything else, depend on a lot of factors to work successful: cables, preamp, room acouctics, you name it. One thing I have learned is that even the own listening experiences have to be taken with a large grain of salt, and that they are not generally valid.
One example: I like LAT International cables a lot, and have recommended them to many a friend, to their benefit. Once, however, I tried the LATs in the system of a friend, who has the same speakers - Shahinian Diapason - but other equipment. The LATs, in his system, were not as good as in mine. Likewise, he gave me some Goertz Alphacore cable to try, which sounded shrill and awful in my system - but wonderful in his.
When I wrote " you may lack the experience necessary to judge components on their own merit", I did not mean you lacked the experience of listenening to the 402, but that you lack the experience of putting it into context. I stay with that statement.
And lastly: Yes, I have listened to a Krell amp in my system, I found it to offer amazing bass, but not sounding as musical as the Mac. But I do not think Mac makes the "better" amp - it is different, and works better in my system, for my taste.
Regards,
Florian Hassel
