Does Mc Intosh make reference gear

In the beginning....

No Al did NOT however invent the Klipschorn or found ALtec or JBL, which is probably where the high end really started, with large high efficiency speakers that worked quite well with the tube amps that were predominant in the early years of high end audio.

Yep..Al Gore cleared the way for Spectron and got their patents approved for the first Class D amp in 1974.

YEs, tube amps were the dawn of high end audio civilzation, especially driving large high efficiency horn speakers.

THen came the middle ages of largely eh Class A/B SS amps that opened up some new doors in terms of getting bigger better sound out of smaller packages, but things tended to mostly muddle along for years.

Then came high efficiency Class D amps and the dawn of a new era. Class G came and went offering decent sound in a smaller package, but this was the real deal.....a path into the future.

Now we are at the dawn of a new era, the Class D amp era....all thanks mostly of course to that great inventor and humanitarian, Al Gore....

BTW, I think even McIntosh has come out with some new CLass D amp products of late that still looks like Mc gear. That Al Gore......

Not enough credit is given to Al Gore. He started the first penal colony down under, spawning all that cheap labor which eventually found its way to a small group of hobbyists who happened to dabble in audio.

Al then successfully led the Aussie invasion onto American shores (after handily defeating the Japanese, but that's another story) under the guise of some free trade agreement planting the seeds of audio dissent. Slowly they took hold, casting doubt and dispersion amongst audiophiles, opening avenues of choices they never knew they had.

The plan worked brilliantly as no one actually knew the genesis of doubt that took hold in audiophiles. Reviews picked up, debate ensued, and no one could agree on what sounded best. That resulted in a flanking maneuver clearing a path for headphones and headphone amps, thus undercutting and weakening the hold that home systems had.

Al then quietly retired with his fortune, preferring to listen through Burson headphone amps in the seclusion of his 10,000 sq ft mansion, never to have achieved the fame he deserved. The price Al paid was a great one, but some heros prefer to remain anonymous.

All the best,
Nonoise

Is Al gore a McIntosh fan?