The nice thing about McIntosh is you buy it once and you keep it for life -- yes their stuff is really made that well! Some will complain about the price, but the fact is, McIntosh equipment holds their value very well. You can buy one of their amps new and trade it in 10 years later and only lose a small amount of money.
How many manufacturers that you send your equiptment back after 30-40 years and the it can still be serviced and repaired? The word for McIntosh is quality! That's exactly what you get to be honest? The compatability of McIntosh gear is second to none
@@DJURBANBG McIntosh is great stuff, no doubt, certainly in the amp/pre amp realm, but for example, I wouldn't buy one of their DAC's... for that, the top of the food chain would be dCS, maybe Linn behind them, or Chord. All three British brands interestingly.
I own several McIntosh components and they’re worth every dollar you spend on them. I wish more American companies would learn from McIntosh about what real American quality is and means.
From Marantz, McIntosh, Threshold, Classe, Mark Levinson, Pass Labs, then I am back to McIntosh last year. Others have many different sweet spot but Mac is natural, detail, and dynamic. My ears will not feel tired after hours of listening.
It's pricy but not overpriced. If you were to try to make one of their products for yourself, it would cost you much more than if you had bought it from them.
I've been an audio geek for over 48 years and have owned or extensively listened to every audio product, both foreign and domestic in that time. The American made amps always seemed a bit if not completely more realistic, satisfying and well rounded in solid engineering and implementation of voice and instruments reproduced to exacting standards of the actual performance. The U.S. can be greatly proud of this heritage. To this point nothing before, since or presently accomplishes this performance better than McIntosh. This is the reason why I own 2 different models and will never part with them until death. The British seem to have the handle on speakers as well as the U.S. and am also a proud owner of B&W's. Back to the amps, the longevity and consistency of performance is also legendary in the McIntosh brand amps as well. Quality, not quantity always seems to come first with them and their build quality and workmanship is second to none. What else needs to be said.
Mile Nestorovic, the Serbian audio wizard, who designed the MC-3500 Amp. and many more, used on Greatfull dead and Woodstock, he launched the Mcintosh into space with his knowledge...
the fact that they refuse to make their stuff in China (and other cheap labor markets) is a huge reason I am a loyal customer and fan... I also own dCS (Digital Conversion Systems) stuff made in the UK.... it's not about America ... it's about quality stuff made by well taken care off and proud employees.
They forgot to mention that they will fix almost any piece they ever made at a very reasonable cost. McIntosh does not use service as a profit center, like many other brands do. Chuck was also very helpful during the hook up of a HT Processor
weiserb I’m currently having issues getting an MC2200 amplifier fixed because some parts are very hard to find - can’t even get them from McIntosh. Some resistor values are extremely hard to find, and not just any output transistor will work.
While they may assemble everything here in the states, they do get many of their boards from Marantz and Denon (China). They build around these to make most of the processors, CD players, most anything that is digital. You're paying for a McIntosh power supply and a few McIntosh pieces that complete them. It is hard to beat the looks of McIntosh glass face, especially if you get an amp with the nice blue analog meters, but you pay a premium for beauty!
"sure, but my quality will suffer, and i dont want that to happen". perfect response. good to see that stuff is still being made where stuff is made properly.
Dear Andrew Ward, My only amp is the Mattes SSP200 that I bought in the 1960's, never a problem and still the most fantastic sound ever as long as you use a straight line preamp. (I use a Carver). I became an audio nut in the early 60's and spent at least twice a month going to the so called high end audio stores for years in Cleveland and Akron Ohio. You'll be hard pressed to find a Mattes these days, they're going for over $200 used on Ebay. Back in the day, Mac only had the 275 to compete with the Mattes at 200 RMS, and I went to the Mattes factory in Chicago and met with the Chief Engineer who bumped my Mattes up to 120 RMS per channel !!!!!!!!!!! WOW! The sound is beyond anything ever made, I don't care what outlandish high price you pay for anything on the market, which is quite a statement for sure, BUT I would love to A-B a test with anything out there to prove what I and few others know!
Back in the day, I had an MC225 power amp, replaced some tubes and the tube cage and was offered a handsome price, above what I paid for the unit & upgrades. I then was able to purchase an MC275, but being in college, could not afford to make the necessary repairs to the unit, which has become a classic. I suspect, if I'd fixed up the MC275 and it was in good condition, it would be worth somewhere north of $5k today!
Marshall makes mainly guitar amps and equipment, different kind of amplifier. That is for live instruments. McIntosh makes home audio equipment. Completely different ballgame. You can't play a CD player through a Marshall stack. Well, you could, but it would sound like crap lol.
I LOVE music, its my biggest passion in life, to sit down and listen to a good CD or Vinyl, and one of my dreams is to own a Mcintosh pre-amp + amp. But with the prices they carry, it will remain a dream, unless i find a goodwilled multi-milionarie that donates them to me. I am currently saving up for a pair or B&W CM8. I wanted a pair of B&W CM10, but they're way too expensive.
I've done it, the MC amps are warmer and control speaker woofers better. I have had TONS of other amps in my house. It's Mc for me. the others aren't bad, but thay all lost to Mac. sure others cost less, but none sound as good to me.
Most people will never get it,the quality and longevity thing.Reality is if a McIntosh cost $100 and some off brand was $95,they would never spend the five bucks thinking how they saved.Fact is,they will never know how they cheated themselves.
thank you health insurers, thank you finance nerds.........for ruining most small companies that made america great. 'that would ruin quality, and I won't allow that to happen'.........WOWZER
I have personally heard the full "Mcintosh Dream System" at a dealer... the most RIDICULOUS, OVERPRICED system I have heard. If you want a real "musical" system, then steer clear of Mcintosh.
@bcdhifi not at all, Technology improves as time moves forward. No company would come out with newer product that under performed compared to their older stuff, that simply wouldn't make sense. I have read there are new standards the new 275 had to comply to in order to be legal to sell here and other places so it really couldn't be made the way the old ones were. I'm not new to audio, tubes add noise.
the "mcAIR"???!! seriously? I get making a wi-fi or bluetooth product for today's demands, but please don't dumb down a classic, reputable, serious company with such a dumb marketing oriented name. If Mcdonald's released a wifi product, they would name it that... I expected more from one of my favorite hi-fi amp companies of all time.
Who cares what they call it. There's another American, mainly headphone amp company that calls themselves Schitt (pronounced shit) with one of their cheapest amps called Fulla. Everyone within the headphone world recognizes that company for making really quality products at an affordable price more than other companies. My point being, it's the reputation you create for your company that precedes you. You can call it whatever you want to but people will judge it by the name you built for yourself and the name McIntosh is very high.
It's all sweet with the whole american legacy thing. But let's not kid ourselves, it is not made overseas, but the parts come from overseas. (china) And that for me, does not make it american. You can get a lot of good value from China. But it comes nowhere close to special designed parts that only Japan can produce.
His quality will sufer??? Sounds like yet another American who has never left his homestate. Never heard of the Japanese Accuphase before for instance. They stay modest and are not such screamers.
McDonalds tastes the same all over the globe, so if they can manage it McIntosh can also. I compare McIntosh not with Sony but with Accuphase or Burmester to name another. They last a lifetime to.
That's some downright bullshit. There are Sony amplifiers built in the 1960s that are still functioning today. If you're talking about modern Sony, they also offer products at roughly the same price point as McIntosh going by the moniker "ES" and I guarantee that they are built as well if not better than equivalent McIntosh gear - especially optical disc and DAC products.
My VanAlstine amps run about 1200-1400W RMS I use 4 in my home stereo, sounds better, and costs less, not paying for goofy boxes, and over glitzy useless meters
@@David-jj9jh Wrong, it was just a name change, same group owns focal, Audio research, and a few others, consolidation, just like car companies trying to survive...expensive audio is a dead industry, this ain't the 50's and 60's, when all there was was a record player
@@David-jj9jh The Fine Sounds Group project took shape in 2007, when the asset management company Quadrivio SGR - main shareholder of the group - acquired the brand Sonus Faber, an Italian company specializing in high-end loudspeakers. In 2009 Mauro Grange joined the group as CEO of Sonus Faber. The "buy and build" strategy carried on by Quadrivio resulted in the acquisition of Audio Research in 2009,[1] Sumiko in 2010,[2] Wadia in 2011[3] and McIntosh Laboratories in 2012,[4] which constitute the holdings of Fine Sounds Group. Through the acquisition of these brands, Fine Sounds Group became a relevant holding company in the sector of high-end audio, with €50 million sales in 2011.[5] The holding company took part in an official event as one unique family for the first time in 2013, with the participation in the Munich High End Show.[6] On 9 May 2014 Mauro Grange and Charlie Randall, president of McIntosh Laboratory, Inc., announced their plans for a management buyout of Fine Sounds Group in partnership with LBO France and Yarpa, including a relocation of the Headquarters from Milan to New York.[7] On 10 August 2016 Fine Sounds Group was officially renamed McIntosh Group.[8] In July 2017 McIntosh Group appointed Jeff Poggi to co-Chief Executive Officer and Board member.[9]
McIntosh is HIDEOUSLY over-priced gear... I have heard/owned a shit-ton of gear over the last 25 years and can honestly say that I have heard/owned audio equipment that was a FRACTION of the price of their gear and sounded better. It's just a name... like Bose. Ever heard a SET tube amp? Then you have not heard beutiful sound yet.... try an 8-watt SET tube amplifier. McIntosh was also bought out recently.