What are your feelings about McIntosh?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Lebowski, Sep 28, 2019.

  1. MichaelArcane

    MichaelArcane Purveyor of Terrible Opinions

    Location:
    Memphis, TN
    Wrong. Your $15 Casio keeps BETTER time than a $15,000 Rolex.

    But there you're comparing the merits of quartz vs mechanical, which on that level is like comparing tube amps to solid state amps, or Vinyl to Digital. That's an underlying technology comparison, not a brand comparison. Brand-wise there's lots of similarities between Rolx and their placement in the watch market and McIntosh and their placement in the Hi-Fi market.
     
  2. souladdikt

    souladdikt Forum Resident

    I suspect many of us have friends and loved ones who think about our audiophile gear the same way. FWIW, I like McIntosh gear--the vintage stuff especially--even though most of my gear is not mainstream (turntables excluded). Also, my daily is a $10 quartz Casio.
     
  3. MichaelArcane

    MichaelArcane Purveyor of Terrible Opinions

    Location:
    Memphis, TN
    My wife. The grand total of her assessment of my stereo system is "it sounds good" and she definitely preferred her iWatch to her Rolex. Meanwhile, I was actually filled with glee the day she accidentally smashed that abomination on a door jam. God I loathe Apple products.
     
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  4. Rolltide

    Rolltide Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vallejo, CA
    For sure - I want to be clear that I'm not disparaging the watch crowd at all. It's just not something I can wrap my head around for reasons stated well above - an expensive stereo sounds better then a cheap stereo, where as a cheap watch (or the phones we all have in our pocket anyway) actually performs the primary function better then the luxury tier watches.

    But a big reason I like my idler wheel turntables is I consider them marvels of mechanical engineering, so I can relate to that aspect.
     
  5. MichaelArcane

    MichaelArcane Purveyor of Terrible Opinions

    Location:
    Memphis, TN
    Disparage away, we deserve it. We literally spend thousands of dollars on a vastly inferior technology that became obsolete 50 YEARS AGO. And on top of that, generally the more complicated and delicate that movement is, we'll pay even more for it. All the while, there's a timepiece that can be had for 1/1000th the cost that outperforms it in every performance aspect there is, and we cruise right past it to plunk down luxury car money on the one that has to be serviced every five years or so. We pretty much deserve all the disparagement we can get :nyah:

    Now if there' s a real parallel to be drawn between that insanity and the audiophile word, it's turntables. Fight me.
     
  6. Rolltide

    Rolltide Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vallejo, CA
    Like I said, I insist on listening to music on a turntable made in 1954 utilizing forgotten technology. If somebody asked me what I liked about it, my answer would be suspiciously similar to "the motion". I've fully abdicated my right to accuse anybody of eccentricity.
     
  7. EdogawaRampo

    EdogawaRampo Senior Member

    I had the "reissue" (1995?) Mac C-22 hybrid SS/tube preamp some years back and ended up selling it. I preferred the sound the "vintage" (1982 or so) Accuphase pre I'm using currently -- more detail over the McIntosh, yet still every bit as 'musical' IMO. The McIntosh seemed too 'cloudy' or 'mushy' ... pleasant, but to my ears too hazy with detail.

    I still have a giant McIntosh-2300 power amp that will coming out of storage in the next couple of months and I guess I have to say I'm pretty excited to hear how it sounds paired with a set of early '80s AR-9 speakers. I expect it to be a powerhouse. I'm a Teledyne/AR fan so I already know what to expect from the speakers, but the power amp is an unknown for me, except that it should be up to the task of powering those super inefficient speakers. We'll see.
     
  8. MichaelArcane

    MichaelArcane Purveyor of Terrible Opinions

    Location:
    Memphis, TN
    The honest answer to both (mechanical watches, vinyl/turntables) is the same. It's simply romantic.
     
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  9. Jujigatame

    Jujigatame Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey, USA
    We really are crazy people.
     
  10. Chris C

    Chris C Music was my first love and it will be my last!

    Location:
    Ohio
    I just bought a pair of AR-9 speakers and I hooked them up to my McIntosh c-2300 pre-amp (tube) and mc-452 amp (SS) and I don't need to tell you just how great they all sound together!!! Dig your old 2300 out soon and turn up the tunes!
     
  11. souladdikt

    souladdikt Forum Resident

    I didn't think you were being disparaging toward the watch crowd. I also think this thread has become a pretty fascinating discussion on why we like the things we like.
     
  12. Jimi Floyd

    Jimi Floyd Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pisa, Italy
    [​IMG]

    Marvin Gaye
     
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  13. BayouTiger

    BayouTiger Forum Resident

    I don't really consider fancy watches to have any utilitarian purpose, They are jewelry, plain and simple. If my wife were to ever point out anything about the cost of my habit (she might roll her eyes a bit, but would never complain about it) I would just take her on a tour of her jewelry safe and point out the thousands "invested" in pieces that are worn maybe once every couple years.

    I am sure most of us have worked plenty hard to allow us the frivolities that we choose to imbibe in.
     
  14. Jujigatame

    Jujigatame Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey, USA
    Oh come on, I can take my Rolex Deep Sea Sea Dweller down to the bottom of the ocean... of course I've only ever taken it snorkeling, BUT I COULD!!!
     
  15. MichaelArcane

    MichaelArcane Purveyor of Terrible Opinions

    Location:
    Memphis, TN
    At least Rolex figured out a way to not make their helium escape valve be an eyesore (I'm looking at you again, Omega.)
     
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  16. 360-12

    360-12 Forum Resident

    Can't do that with my McIntosh!
     
  17. snorker

    snorker Big Daddy

    Don’t fall for it! There’s a reason he wants to sell you the gold one. It’s not worth as much. If you ever want to sell it easily – and for at least what you paid – NEVER buy anything but a steel sports Rolex, like a Submariner, Daytona, GMT, etc. At the rate they raise prices and artificially constrain supply, you cannot go wrong with those steel versions.
     
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  18. Bingo Bongo

    Bingo Bongo Music gives me Eargasms

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    You had me at: big tube amps with the nice blue meters. :righton:
     
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  19. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    Sure, some people are looking at the visual aestetic of the gear, some at the room, some at the nameplate, but some are looking like the quote below.

    Some people marvel at engineering. I like home audio looking amps, but my preferences tend toward the Western Electric, vintage Altec and commercial look of Line Magnetic amps.

    Just like in a painting, we each interpret what we see with different eyes.
     
  20. Uglyversal

    Uglyversal Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney
    These days a lot of early digital watches fit perfectly right in the romantic domain and in fact they are a rarity. At least I don't see many pure digital watches around.

    [​IMG]
     
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  21. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    A bit of thread crapping, but an amusing Rolex story.

    I used to wear a gold dress watch that was a gift from my father everyday. Some friends of mine were doing some remodeling work on a Jeweler's house. We were in his shop one day any he mentioned that I should preserve my dress watch for other occasions.

    I told him that I would like to find a plain utility watch that was durable. He showed my a used stainless steel Rolex Oyster Perpetual DateJust. I bought it for about $600. I had no idea, what a Rolex was, it just appeared to be a durable watch.

    Later, my father's watch broke and I gave it to him.

    I decided to advance my scuba diving and was talking to the guy who ran the dive shop and told him that if he came across anyone who wanted to sell a Rolex dive watch to let me know.

    A few weeks later he gave me a call. As I worked at another store in the strip mall, I walked over to the dive shop and was introduced to the man selling the Submariner (water resistant to a depth of 1,000').

    It was in perfect condition, not even any little scratches on the stainless steel band. The price was right, so I bought it.

    I had seen this man in the dive shop, filling his air tanks all of the time. I decided to ask him why (since he was obviously a diver) he was selling his Rolex? What better watch could he want. He explained that he had wanted the Sea Dweller which was not in stock when he bought the Submariner. After a bit of buyer's remorse, he decided to purchase the Sea Dweller (water resistant to 4,000') and he showed me his Sea Dweller 4000, which is at present around $15k in stainless steel.

    [​IMG]

    A regular Rolex dress watch is clunky enough, a diver's watch, even more so, but this was a big, thick heavy watch.

    After the seller left the dive shop, I asked the manager what he did for a living, figuring he worked with Cousteau or someone along those lines.

    As it turned out, as a profession, he retrieved golf balls out of golf course ponds...
     
  22. Jim N.

    Jim N. Just another day in what was once Paradise...

    Location:
    So Cal
    I lusted after it for years. When I finally had the money to buy it I bought something else (small companies that sold internet direct).
     
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  23. snorker

    snorker Big Daddy

    That’s great! :laugh:

    As others have alluded to in this thread, mechanical watches have become about the only acceptable jewelry a man can wear, aside from a wedding ring. Given the technology available for actual time-keeping and other such functions, that’s all they are today: jewelry.

    Nonetheless, while they are not state-of-the-art – same as turntables and air-cooled Porsche’s – I have an appreciation of mechanical watches and enjoy them.
     
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  24. Uglyversal

    Uglyversal Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney
    That sounds very old fashion.
     
  25. Lebowski

    Lebowski Hey, careful man, there's a beverage here! Thread Starter

    Location:
    Greater Boston
    Okay, y’all are getting off topic now...
     
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