Why so negative about McIntosh speakers?

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.

All the above comments are quite pertinent on Mac speakers. If you have access to the McIntosh book "For The Love Of Music", their speakers and developement by Roger Russell is quite interesting. I personally have never heard their speakers, but sure would like to. I've owned their electronics since 1978, and I'm very happy with them. Like it was mentioned, if you like what you have, stay with them, and forget any negative babble you read about. Mac has taken quite a few hits over the years, mostly by folks who've never heard their gear.