Why so negative about McIntosh speakers?

LOL. There are a lot of fine speakers that get tons on criticism in these pages. But since you don't own them and probably haven't heard them, you just assume that it is all warranted.

I've read folks talking negatively about speakers they have 1)never heard, just read reviews and looked at pictures and graphs, 2)heard at trade shows 3)heard in stores with dubious set up discipline, and 4)have never heard properly set up and driven. Their lack of a properly informed opinion doesn't slow them down a tad.

Bottom line. If you like your Mac's and it bothers you to read negative comments about them just don't read about them. They're for listening to music anyway. :-)

agree with newbee....enjoy the macs

There are certain brands that seem to elicit very polarized (my side vs. your side) opinions, and McIntosh is one of them. I have been a long time Mac amp user, based on the fact that I like the way they sound, but I have met people, and read comments by people who are only vaguely familiar if at all with Mac gear who repeat the same old boring criticisms and myths about Mac. No big deal. It reminds me of an incident I had in the late eighties at a high end dealer's place in Princeton NJ. We were listening to, and talking about speakers. I told him that I was using TDL Monitor M speakers, and he immediatly commented that they (transmission lines) are all about boomy bass. I had been using them in a rather small room with suspended wood flooring for a couple of years with no booming problems whatsoever. He had never heard thease speakers himself, but was simply repeating a myth that he had heard somewhere else.

For many years McIntosh dealers sold Bozak speakers as the complement to their electronics line. Then McIntosh tried to market its own brand of speakers. This happened about the same time that Marantz, and other competition began to reduce the market share of McIntosh. Dealers blamed McIntosh speakers for reducing their profits at this critical time, and the speakers were discontinued after disappointing sales. The electronics line lost many dealers and only in recent years regained its reputation. I wonder if the speakers ever got a fair evaluation on their own.

I don't know about the later ones but the earlier ones were BAD. A friend of mine paid $1000 , then big money, for a pair to use with his Marantz 7C and model 9s. He kept them a few months and sold them for $500. He later admitted he never liked them but hated to admit he had been taken.