Mcintosh sound

I recently auditioned these amps and was very impressed. The 6300 and 7000 integrated amps I listened to are finely designed and, to my ears, offer a more neutral solid state sound versus a traditional warm and tubey sound that McIntosh was known for in the past.

They throw a wonderful sound stage and can play quiet or loud with a wide variety of speakers. I personally like them with DeVore 8s and 9s and ATC 7 and 11s, which match well with your music tastes. Because they are more neutral than warm, you want a more precise or smooth sounding speaker.

They have a wonderfully quiet and high quality built-in MM phono stage (sounds great with the Clearaudio Maestro series of MM cartridge), a better than average headphone jack (try these with good headphones), and offer more line stages than you can attach potential devices to. Build is rugged. The 7000 allows you to adjust the frequency range tonalities so you can better match a "desired sound" against poorly recorded material. As Theo says above, their resell is second to none.

My father had the legendary 275 amp for 40 years with no problems. The company has a tremendous pedigree, that was almost lost thru a series of bad buyouts starting two decades ago. The current Japanese capital group, plus their US engineering talent, has brought them back to their original audiophile roots and the new products are brilliant for their pure musicality. I would say that only Luxman out of Japan can match their integrated amps around similar dimensions.

Tone Audio, an online journal, has written several recent reviews, as well as www.sonicflair.com.

Bongofury rightly mentions that Macs newer stuff is much more neutral than past gear. I would classify it as neutral with a natural warmth and slightly rolled off at the extreemes. I don't think you will get "Krell-like" bass slam, but you "should" get a very enjoyable and musical presentation.

Brian

Brian & Bongofury, Thank you, now these are a very good comparision that I was looking to find out about! Now should I take it that the newer Mac integrateds have a tighter control over the bass region yet still retain the smoothness and warmth of ealier Macs? What is the autoformer function as well, I didn't find info at the Mac sight and I don't know what it does? Mac sounds like a real contenter in my search for my "last" change in a peice I can add it to MF, NAD (I've gotta listen to NAD yet)and I think I've now exclued Krell and Bel Canto, so this has certianly helped butI still gotta find a way to hear 'em yet Mac that is)!

Rsjm80

I have been in the pro music touring space for 30 years and have no financial ties to the companies listed below.

Mcintosh: In simplistic terms, the circuitry you mention protects the internal electronics from overload and smooths out the transients when outputting the signal to the speakers.

The amps are very smooth in their delivery top to bottom, and for that reason, match well with other smooth sounding speakers like KEF Reference, Pioneer EX, DeVore and Harbeth. The 7000 has a purer solid state sound and will pair well with precise studio speakers like ATC monitors, which can take advantage of meaty bass and drums or full orchestra productions.

I have been a three decade user of NAD products at home and at work. The first products were designed in Europe and made in Taiwan, and distributed with KEF studio monitors (the classic BBC sound). Build was remarkably good--I had one amp, the 3200, for 20 years. Later, they sold the company to a Canadian concern and moved production to China. They are brilliant designed and engineered products, but the newest models have had quality issues associated with China. You should read the numerous strings about these problems here in this blog. I started with the legendary 3020 amp in 1982, had the 3200 power envelope in 1987, and have the M3 at the office studio for two years. These amps throw a wide soundstage, are great in the lower to middle ranges, but lag a little in the upper ranges in detail. The 3020 and 3200 had a faintly warm and romantic sound, while the new Masters Series M3 is very quiet and solid state like in its neutral qualities. My understanding is that the new 375 amp released this month takes all of the advanced Masters technology and delivers it in package at 1/2 to 1/3 the price of a M3. I personally have never had problems but Chinese production can be hit and miss.

McIntosh in NY and Luxman of Japan are still made onshore. The ss engineering is brilliant and they stand behind the product with well thought detail. You will likely be very happy.

I can also recommend the tube integrated amps by Leben, a Japanese company with a rabid cult following, and Shindo Labs, if you are looking for a warmer sound. Both sound incredible with the genres you love. Tube maintenance is the only issue with these products--the musicality is second to none.

If you want a pure solid state sound, I would also look at LFD products, made in the UK with an incredible level of attention to build detail. They are relatively low powered (60 watts) so you need to match your speakers well. For a more powerful product, I would also look at Bryston out of Canada, which offers a 20 year warranty on their product line.

Bongofury, Thanks for your explaination and (IMO) objective assesment of other manufactures. I'm trying to make that last change in my integrated amp and have struggled with who to look at as well as finance and want to be in position when I decide to make that "last" move. I do have shps that carry some of the above mentioned product laines but.... they don't have a display to listen to and do an order only as requested. That doesn't seem like good business to me but they have to pay the bills. Thanks again for your opinions and help, I'll post again later when I decide on one.