2. amps-preamps
  3. 1006995105

Why do no audio enthusiasts use McIntosh?

With the exception of some of there tube gear, not many really use this stuff(or admit to it anyway), I am mainly referring to there amps. They look pleasant, they look good on paper and have the price of high end gear, but I seldom hear anyone claiming to like or one day dreaming of owning McIntosh. I have never really listened to there stuff, no good word of mouth sort of scares me away from it, the only people who like it are those who sell it, an uncanny coincidence? I don’t know. Sorry it this has been covered many times in the past, I ran a search and could not find anything.
tireguy
ebm
5,165 posts
 
Many audiophiles jump on mac as its way cool!!
judgmentday
21 posts
 
Every body’s amp is the best in the world. A Mark Levinson amp owner will claim that this amp is the best sounding amp in the world, same for an Audio Research amp owner, Bryston’s amp owner, Krell’s amp owner, Ayre’s Amp owner, CJ’s amp owner, McIntosh’s amp owner, Pass Labs’ amp owner, Classe, Rotel, PS Audio, etc. at the end of the day all do the same if they have good specs and good electronics.
kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 
I'm with @georgehifi . In essence, what they're doing is degeneration the snot out of the output stage to keep it very well behaved. Not a bad option for low impedance, benign speakers. My old ESS sounded great on a Mc.  My F5 has a very different character which I prefer, at least with my Focals. I think the Mc got the best sound from the ESS though. 
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,333 posts
 
@kosst_amojan


Adding autotransfomers to SS amps sounds “crazy” as George Hifi points out.

Mcintosh made a strategic choice there to craft the sound of their SS amps to be more tube like. Purists hate this but some may like the sound with the added convenience of SS.

Frankly a tube Mcintosh is up there with other great tube amps. Whether you like the sound probably has as much to do with component matching as it does to the individual tubes selected. Most folks would agree that the first thing to do is to replace the Mcintosh stock JJ or Chinese tubes. Perhaps this is a major drawback to what are relatively expensive amplifiers. Or perhaps Mcintosh know or expect that purists will replace tubes anyway and therefore they voice the amp with cheap tubes that are warm and not so transparent. Perhaps they voice their gear for a jazz trio or quartet - the typical casual well heeled audiophile test CD - you know the type of folks who think a really large collection is over 50 albums. Whatever Mcintosh does - it has worked for over 60 years....perhaps their biggest mistake was stopping tube amp production for a while.....


vahes
44 posts
 

I have been a Mac user for nearly 50 years.

Two things that I do not like about McIntosh, one is the excessive weight of their power amps thanks to autoformers, as I am getting older it is a massive effort to lift these little monsters, and the other is excessive numbers of control knobs on their preamps, I never use tone controls and over time due to non use they become problematic and introduce noise in the system.

Other than that I am staying with Mac.

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