Has anyone heard the new Mcintosh ma7000 ???

"The ma6900 is being replaced by the ma6600" - this is not correct. The MA6500 is replaced by the MA6600, the MA6900 is replaced by the MA7000.
Regards,
Florian Hassel

Thanks Brian for the lead-in! Yes, the 7000 is clearly better than the 6900. It has quite a bit better pace and dynamics but also soundstaging with the 7000 is out of this world. I was extremely impressed with the 7000. I heard it with Avalon Ascents and DALI Euphonia MS4. Source was Meridian G08.

I have to echo Brian's comment about the digitally-controlled analog volume. Too bad the 7000 didn't get it. I have seen the 6600 but not heard it so far.

Arthur

What are you basing this assertion on Florian? The MA6600 is 200 watts with autoformers, like the MA6900; the MA6500 does not have autoformers, there is a new(er) MA6300 w/o autoformers.

Here is a quote I took from a dealer Web page found online, "McIntosh will introduce...their new MA6600, a 2x200W integrated amplifier which will replace the MA6900."

That being said, I am told that while the MA6500 is discontinued, the MA6900 is still being produced.

Brian,

for the last decades McIntosh has always replaced an old model with a slightly more powerful, by renaming the newer one one number higher - e.g. the MA6400 became the 6450, than the MA6500, the MA6800 was followed first by the MA6850, then the MA6900. The MC352 became the 402. The C100 preamp became the C200, followed by the C1000 and C500.
Following this logic, the MA6500 is replaced by the MA6600, the MA6900 is replaced by the MA7000.

After a look at all new models, it seems that McIntosh has changed things a little bit, as indeed the 6600 has autoformers, while the 6500 had not. However, the 6600 has the same bass and treble controls like the 6500 had. It does not have the elaborate five-band-equalizer the 6900 had, and which the 7000 has, too.

The 6300 is no replacement for the 6500, but rather a new model beneath the so far two integrateds - McIntosh product manager Ron Cornelius said as much on a post over on audiokharma, if I am not mistaken. The 6500,which I have owned, offered 200 watts at 4 ohms, whereas the new MA6300 offers only 160 watts.
Regards,
Florian Hassel

Florian, I suppose it matters little which way one views it. I asked Ron directly and he only replied they no longer build the MA6500 but all other models are in production; I assume his response was to point out that nothing has replaced the MA6900 because they still make it.

Brian