Mcintosh 601's vs Classe CA-M600's

Elizabeth,
I admit that I am a McIntosh owner/user (several times over) and that will qualify me as being biased, but still, I must say that you are far more sensible than to paint all of the output of an entire brand with a single brushstroke. There may indeed be models that are dark, or veiled (I do think that the house sound is on the darker side) but they really aren't all veiled.

as an opposite I would go with the MC 601's...the SF needs something like the McIntosh color to sing properly......

Now you know my dilemma! The only consensus of everyone I have spoken with is Pass xa200.5 (or 160.5). I would buy those in a second - if not for the massive heat they put off. I live in Florida! It's not enough. I guess the Parasound JC-1's are not in the same class as these other amps? I'm leery of the ML because its a hybrid amp. Not too keen on hybrid/Class-D. In Mike Framers review of the Anthem M1, I think he politely slams the 53's - without exactly saying: http://www.hometheater.com/content/anthem-statement-m1-amplifier
The Classe amps seems to get better reviews than the 28SST2's.

I meant to say, "it's HOT enough!"

Elizabeth - I've always loved reading your posts. Have you heard the Classe CA-M600's?