Nice post, i agree. Mcintosh for me was a dream of mine since my mates and i looked at hi-fi magazines/home cinema mags ( we couldn't reach the top shelf LOL) back in the 80's,"what was that green glow sign thingy we were seeing" legend pieces of kit, along with Krull, Levinson, lexicon,it was hard to get hold of macintosh back then in the uk,( and i could no way afford it ) this year i thought hell why not it's my 50th, sooo pleased with my MA252, have a Linn AXIS, and just rpl the cart with the super OM, and OMG what a difference from the standard OM cart, has moved the volume up at least 10 notches, but the star of the show is the mc, just great hi fi, and will last me my lifetime I'm sure
Understated? like the green glow at he front of all there gear( come on )Naim is lovely hi fi for sure, i had a Linn set up, much like Naim in quality of sound, but as soon as i bought my MA252, my Linn was gone, it just didn't have the punch of the mcintosh, or clarity IMO, and you keep turning up the volume on a Mcintosh, and you won't get distortion of sound, not sure Naim can do that, but nice gear to own for sure.
Those green lights (logo and buttons, etc) on the Naim really aren't very bright. They are definitely understated compared to the Mac gear. If I dim the room lights while playing music they don't draw attention. The non-logo lights can be disabled (e.g. buttons and on preamp and streamer, display on streamer). My speakers present a difficult 4Ω load to amps, and like lots of current. My Naim amp is definitely up to the task and meets that challenge just fine. I can crank it up and play it loud, or I can play it softly, and it always sounds great. What I like about Naim is that it sounds so good at low and medium volumes. Dynamic, detailed, musical. It's great if you love your Mac. I'm happy to have choices. I had Mac, now I have Naim. That suits me better.
And volume won't distort no matter how loud you turn it up, and thats where the difference lies, there built like tanks, you simply can't have a tiny weenie amp and push it to the max without it over heating and prob blowing up, my linn was good for 70-80% volume, but after that not so good, I'm to frightened to push the mcintosh in fear of losing the roof of the house( the amp will be fine, the house not so much )
Another brand that seems to be in the Macintosh arena is Luxman. Expensive like the Mac stuff but seems to have a very faithful bunch of customers. I’d love to get one of their integrated amps with the meters but their just too expensive for me. Plus the synergy of the budget gear I have now ( Emotiva pre and amp) just kicks ass, I can’t find any fault with it. Sounds incredible. Beave
I’m happy for the both of you! It’s all about what floats your boat, it’s a good thing when an audio nut finds gold, wherever it might be. beave
Id have to sell our house/mums house/mother in laws house/and would still need more cash for the speakers, lovely set up,"now where can i find 3 for sale signs"
I do like Naim gear, honestly out side of the mcintosh for me id have prob gone for Naim, i do like a bit of green glow, it was my 50 this year, so treated myself to the Mcintosh, and you know what, i didn't even get to listen before i bought it, mad A, i have never spent that much on anything other than a car, funny thing is i had the choice of another car or amp, so i chose the amp, enjoy your Naim
I retire in another 15 months, so I have spent the last few years upgrading my equipment. Much of it I bought used, so I couldn't hear what I bought in advance, although it was generally moving up the range within the sane product line, so I wasn't worried, and have never been disappointed. After I retire, if we ever decide to sell our house and downsize, I will probably replace my Naim separates with a Boulder integrated, streamer and phonostage.
I purchased my Mcintosh equipment based on the advice of my raquetball partner back in the late 1980’s. I always had Onkyo , and then a Yamaha CR 640 receiver. A friend of mine , a Surgical Nurse , Called me one Saturday morning and asked i f I was interested in playing a Neurosurgeon , whose regular partner was ill. He ended up to be a regular guy, and shared a love of music that I had since I was a child. He liked my style of play, and ask me to play every Tuesday afternoon, and occasional Saturdays, and I agreed. We played matches for several years before I had to move away from the area. Talking music between matches one day, the conversation shifted to speakers and equipment. His suggestion was to “ go down to the Mac store and purchase some used Mc gear .” I had some familiarity with the Mcintosh brand, having worked for Lafayette Electronics in the early 1970’s. They didn’t sell Mcintosh to my knowledge , but they sold plenty of other gear and speakers. The exposure to the audio world got me to read more about other products and manufacturers. Being fortunate to have a Mcintosh dealer 20 minutes from home made it easy to drive over and look around. So in 1990 , I ended up with a pre owned C28 andMC 2105 Amp. $ 1500 for both out the door, with a warranty. I didn’t even listen to any equipment. I brought it home and connected it to my JBL L 100 speakers that I had purchased new in 1973. I couldn’t believe how much better it sounded, compared to the Yamaha and Onkyo. Ten years went by, and the only repair was for a volume control for the C 28 in 1996. My recollection was that it cost around $ 250.00 for the repair. The C28 worked well, used every single day, until 2 or so years ago, when a low frequency hum appeared. I might have gotten carried away one day, and I ended up blowing the woofer on one of the JBLs, and the channel of the 2105 that drove it died. That was in 2000, so I traded in the MC 2105 and purchased a new MC 162. I was given a $ 400 trade in credit for the 2105. In hindsight I wish I would have had it repaired and kept it , along with the MC 162. So now I had the C 28 with the MC 162, and it sounded glorious. Since the JBL needed repair, I bought a pair of Def Tech BP10. When I connected them to the Mcintosh , I was in another world. So my C 28 lasted from 1990 until 2018 , with one repair. I took it out of service, and wasn’t sure what direction I would go. I used a few other pre amps, an older Nikko , and the pre from a Marantz SR 7000, and I could hear the difference. Luckily for me , my Brother in Law gifted me a C-15 that needed repairs and a Mcintosh Tuner that was in near perfect condition. The C 15 is now connected to the 20 year old Mc 162 , still solid as the day it went on the shelf. After having the C 28 on the shelf for two years , I brought it in last week for repair. It will not be inexpensive for sure, but I am now thinking of starting another Mcintosh system in my home. Being retired, and with the current situation, I am listening to music all the time. I will be looking at Amplifiers , maybe using the old JBL 100’s again until I think about speakers. To be fair, over the course of time I have not auditioned many different amplifiers and systems. Back in my youth, we used to go to audio stores and listen , even though we couldn’t afford most of it, I am a love of music first , and the equipment and speakers are just a conduit. Yes, it has to be above “ consumer audio” grade most of the time, but that under the right conditions and mood, I still listen to equipment in that category that I own. For me Mcintosh was the right choice, I continue to enjoy what I have, and am really not motivated to start making changes . I will most likely look at Mcintosh amps. Too much work to go in another direction.
I had vintage restored McIntosh equipment. A C29 preamp and MC2105 amp. I sold it to a really fine gentleman who is a member here before I made an out of state move year before last. Definitely the finest amp and preamp that I had owned since I became interested in this hobby 49 years ago.
Resale is the one area where McIntosh reigns supreme. Fortunately there is a hardcore cadre of fans along with the folks for whom Mc is the “ultimate”. Many of these folks never bother to listen to anything else. More power to them! I wish it was that easy for many of us.
What's baffling to me is that they put a $400 cartridge (Sumiko BPS2)on their $5000 turntable. Can you order it bare?
I have 3 McIntosh tuners. They are nice and look cool. No real interest in any other Mac gear really....
I used to have an MA6900 integrated amp, and I'm still listening to an MCD301 cd player. Both of them are very good machines. The amp sounded really good in my room, and I owned it for seven, maybe eight years. My opinion about McIntosh is based on these two products, and is a really good one. But, there is one thing I'll never really understand: McIntosh using those "sticky", "melting" remotes (info can be found in the web)...You maybe know that feeling...You spend thousands over thousands of euros / usd / gbp...and you are still having that really, really cheap experience. Maybe no biggie for some. And: I never use the remotes found in the boxes, I only use a Logitech Harmony for my gear, but they melted all the same. With all that being said - sorry for the rant - both MA600 and MCD 301 are really good hifi products, good looking and well built, in my opinion.
McIntosh make reliable gear good for the long-haul. You can buy it and keep it. The company has great customer support and the resale value is tremendous. I used to have McIntosh gear( all tube stuff except integrated amp) but eventually sold it when I was looking for college tuition cash.
Nothing at all wrong with Emotiva gear. I use their generation one XPA-2, 250-Watt power amp for my front Polk LSiM towers and a 250-Watt mono version for the Polk center channel (when in the HT mode). A smaller Emotiva stereo amp powers the rear towers. These amps are used for both stereo and HT. Here is a video by Paul McGowan of PS Audio, of his personal HT. Equipment closet is shown after the 5-minute mark. My high sensitivity speakers are powered by tube amplification, mostly by single ended amps that Mac appears to avoid.
It depends on what you're buying, obviously, but having owned a few of their components I will say they are a real value for the money and a wonderful aesthetic.
The first Mac gear I ever owned was the C220 preamp and it was, and still is, the most incredible upgrade I ever made in my (continually evolving) system. I eventually upgraded that to the C2500 in the picture you allude to and that too was a significant upgrade, although not quite as cataclysmic! Buy their gear without fear.
I started my Mc journey with a c2500 tube pre and MC452 solid state stereo amp. I ended up upgrading to a c1100 tube pre with MC601 mono blocks and later added the d1100. Needless to say, I love my Mc gear. I will say I have found their support disappointing. I read a lot about how great it is, and I just have not experienced that. They have been non responsive, pretentious, and refuse to acknowledge known problems with things more than once. If I didn’t own an all Mc system, and especially the c1100 I wouldn’t have a d1100, and after some experience, I would avoid anything that is not an amp or preamp. I love how my system looks and sounds, and definitely there is a pride in ownership for me
