Is McIntosh a stepping stone into HI/FI?

07-01-11: Tzh21y
Great stuff. I own one MC275 and I just keep putting record after record on, and before you know it half the day has gone. I have never listened to my records and music so much.

To quote Napoleon Dynamite, "Luck-eee!"

How long have you been spinning vinyl through this rig? I read the test report on the current reissue MC275 and I"m amazed at how competitive that amp still is, even by the measured numbers, such as a power bandwidth that doesn't hit -3dB until nearly 100 KHz. And it has the square wave (rise time) response to go with it. Clean, fast, *and* tubular midrange--what more could one want?

I think MAC gear is first rate, and especially so regarding intangibles, like
service, pride-of-ownership, and owning a piece of an american audio icon -
like owning a Harley. As previously mentioned "old school"
styling may have hurt for a while among the audiophile crowd, and maybe
the fact that while excellent gear, it was also owned by many folks that were
not necessarily audiophiles at the core - they have some money, want a
good system, and they know the brand - where as that simply does not
happen with other hi-end brands to the same extent. That says something
about MAC demographic reach, but very little about the quality of the gear,
which is IMHO, very good gear indeed in terms of build and sound.

Mac makes some very nice equipment. Like everything else, the end result is how happy are you with what's coming out of your speakers. I own all Ayre equipment with Vandersteen 5A's, but just recently heard Vandersteen 5A's driven with Mac, and it was very pleasant indeed.

Stringreen please do elaborate on the Mac gear compared to the Ayre. I've found Ayre to be a little more focused and clear while retaining the musicality if that makes sense.

FWIW I haven't heard Mac beyond the 352 and similar pre.

I listened to Mac gear all through childhood and love it but find Joule, Ayre, and many more terribly expensive brands to be great as well.

Bj...what I heard with the mac was that the highs particularly were more rounded off...seductive... It was like sitting in back of the hall rather than the mid hall presentation of the Ayre. I guess I hear more music with Ayre, the Mac seemed slower...Ayre had more rosin on the bow, however, I could live with the Mac very well.