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I have seen some Interesting comments about Mcintosh lately

These comments come from here and a couple of other sites.

1.The only people that buy Mcintosh gear are one's that just don't listen.
2. Mcintosh is what rich people buy just like Mercedes Benz.
3. Mcintosh relies on generational buyers as a business plan.
4. Mcintosh is known for rebranding products and putting there name on it.
5. Mcintosh has great looks but uses cheap off the bin parts.

I can't think of another high-end company that have so many stereotypes about the brand. On the other hand I can't think of another audio company that has been in business as long.


taters
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
Tube reliability. Now, there’s an oxymoron for ya. It’s because they are inherently UNreliable that you don’t see any more tube gear in military or commercial aviation. That all went away in the ’80s. Why? Reliability. The reason that old McIntosh tube stuff demands high prices today is not because of reliability. It’s because of sound quality. Sound you can reach out and touch. It's always the reason there are so many tube electronics available today to audiophiles.  Sound quality.  But if it's reliability you crave, it looks like it's gonna be transistors for you. Reliability is a number.

tubegroover
2,279 posts
 
Thanks for your explanation bdp. While I never considered most McIntosh gear past the 70's "cutting edge" I really feel quite differently about some of their earlier products of the 50's and 60's. I've listened to some quite incredible Mac systems based on some of these earlier designs. One in particular back in the late 80's had me searching for a nice pair of MC60s which I located and still have to this day although not in regular use. While I DO agree that their early designs are rather conservative there is MUCH that can be done to improve performance. After all, they still have those marvelous unity coupled transformers!
wbs
42 posts
 

I've been a Mac fan since the sixties.  Couldn't afford  it until the eighties.  I used to read the US stereo mags, particularly Stereo and HiFi back then, and I remember that around 1970 or so, Mac stopped being mentioned in the magazines.  The story was that one of the mac guys (maybe Gordon Gow?) became incensed at an article published in a magazine by one of the big reviewers (I can't remember who, but he was one of the major names at the time) and pulled Mac completely out of the hifi mags.  No advertising, and no reviews.  This lasted many years and effectively moved Mac out of the headlights of the highend community, and fostered the attitude about Mac that has persisted.


In the nineties that story was repeated to me by a salesman at a store that carried Mac, supporting my memory of events.

Bill

missioncoonery
732 posts
 

I know the Mcintosh people hate to hear it but I think bdp24 really nailed it.Enter your text ...


Your absolutely correct,IMO

dtc's avatar
dtc
1,024 posts
 
Fine Sounds now owns McIntosh as well as Sonus Faber, Audio Research, Wadia, Sumiko and Fine Sounds Asia. The company started in 2007 when an investment company (Quadrivio) bought Sonus Faber. Mauro Grange became CEO of Sonus Faber in 2009. In 2012 they bought McIntosh. In 2014 Grange and Charlie Randall, President of McIntosh, along with LBO France and Yarpa, bought out Fine Sounds management. Grange is Group CEO and Randall is COO and President of McIntosh. I believe they have moved the headquarters to NY.

In the US, Fine Sounds has partnered with Magnolia to put high end Magnolia stores in selected Best Buys. Time will tell, but this may well sour many independent stores on carrying both Sonus Faber and McIntosh. My local Best Buy/Magnolia has both Sonus Faber and McInosh on display, but they do not know much about it and are not up to task of selling it, except to novice customers. When I went in, they had 4 demo disks that I could listen to and were just thinking they might hook up a computer system to it. They were not sure if the amp they were using was class D or tubes. They knew little about the history of the companies. I told them I had some older Sonus Faber Cremona speakers, driven by a Cary SLP-05 pre-amp and Levinson 432 amp and the salesman said he had not heard of them. I have not been back.
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