mcintosh vs jeff rowland

Try rca instead of balanced into Mac. I am running both from Bryston BDA1 dac, switch on the fly. Mac is not balanced. Not close. But which is better?

I have the model 6's and really cant speak for the newer models. I have had many MAC's, enjoyed their sound...but never quite like the Rowlands.

The McIntosh and the Rowland gear both have their strong points and it is personal preference as much of this hobby is. We all like different things

I owned the MA6900, and the Concentra and Concerto. Aside from system synergy, in general I preferred the Rowlands. Quieter backgrounds, and a bit more detail perhaps. The Mac's are nice, but the Rowland seems to have a bit more musical enjoyment. I went from MC-300/C-15 combo to the Concentra, and later the MA-6900 to the Concerto; in both cases I found it to be an improvement. The Concentra and Concerto (and presumably continuum) also have a different sound. The ICE amps are more neutral and perhaps have better bass, but with the right speakers the Concentra is addictive.

The obvious thing is matching your speakers with the right amp. I would expect both the MA7000 and the Continuum 500 to be excellent units, I'd love to experiement myself.

I have owned two Concentra II's. The first I had I loved and always regretted selling, it was a great match wth the speakers I had. But I replaced the speakers and after doing so I wasn't so pleased, so I played with amps. (It was the speakers, I eventually sold them.)

I later purchased another CII in hopes of selling my spearates, as I had spent a lot on speakers and wanted to even the finances out. My separates were (and are) McIntosh MC402 and C46 and the CII was no match, at least with the speakers I was using.

Above Jimmy mentions the MA6900, which IMO is not on par with the newer MA6600 and MA7000. A friend recently purchased a MA6600 and is extremly pleased with it, replacing Bel Canto mono blocks and pre.

Again, speaker matching is important, but if you have to lean on opinions, Jprice would have to be one of your best sources as he has owned both. After reading his comments, I'd love it if he could have a Continuum placed back in his system, after some more time with the MA7000, and get further thoughts; I am surprised by the lack of 3d with the Mac, a usual strong point for them.