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September 6, 2008 - 2:02pm
#1
The $6k Boom Box
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Looks like a toy, a VERY expensive toy.
Why, when you could buy a Meridian/Ferrari and have enough money left over for some decent cables for your vinyl rig??
Mac tubes for less the $6k?! It's a deal. I bet it weighs more that any toy you've played with.
Mac took a severe sonic beating today, I love it when I'm RIGHT!!! AVA wins, Mc looses,
A good boat anchor should weigh a lot.....
Actually, for my 6K, I went with two of the Ferraris and run each one with one channel...I get much better imaging with two.
Best 6K I ever pissed away for no reason.
I can't really say I'm surprised. Mac's marketing strategy has always been to sell their existing, devoted user base more stuff as apposed to trying to expand it's customer base. Their turntable is a perfect example of that strategy.
. . .and McIntosh does not believe in any kind of cables having a sonic impact. That is, of course until they start marketing McIntosh branded cables.
Just another high priced "gadget" for the well-heeled gadget lover.
Isn't that a lot like pretening the Mercedes hood ornament is in fact a mercedes. They need to first prove the thing sounds good and next, if it does, explain why all the rest of their gear costs so much more.
No, it's like saying that a Mercedes is a Mercedes even if it's smaller than the Mercedes you drive to the vacation home on the weekends.
As to the rest of your statement, Mac doesn't have to prove anything to anyone. You either like Mac or you don't. You can either afford Mac or you can't. McIntosh has never shied away from admitting who their customer base is, they practically invented the idea of "Doctor/Lawyer" marketing. There are more than a few audiophiles who got started down the road by seeing and hearing a MC275 amplifier. So, if you don't understand why Mac is not cheap, just keep on walkin'. There's an Adcom amplifier in your future.
http://www.roger-russell.com/mcglobal1.htm
http://www.roger-russell.com/mcglobal2.htm
Sorry, keeping the car analogy alive, it is more like expecting a Mercedes and instead getting a Yugo with a Mercedes logo, sort of like the old VWRR crosses:
[image]http://www.bobsliberace.com/what's%20new/newmuseum/2002/rrjrt1.jpg[/image]
It takes more than a logo to make a piece of euqipment. Mac needs to demonstrate this $6K item is more than a very expensive boombox.
I don't think they need to demonstrate, explain or prove anything. When you are ready to throw down money for any product, it's your choice and your responsibility to make sure you are getting/paying what you want.
I dont understand how a company is supposed to prove they can manufacture to a certain price point by public acclamation. Buyers set the market when they vote with their $$$.
To push the car analogy, when Mercedes brought out the C class, it hurt them. They lost a lot of sales to Audi and BMW because the low quality affected perception of the whole line. Would McIntosh do the same? If so, the market will respond.
Not an Adcom, an AVA The comment by the dude who has the Million dollar home theater, cool system BUT, his comment that if there was something better than the Mc $45K speaker he would buy it, 90% of Mc stuff is tops in it's class....WRONG WRONG WRONG. There is better for much much less. Mc do looks good, with their trademark blue meters etc. The warm sound the reporter heard in the factory, is in fact a blurred fuzzy inarticulate sound, hardly hi fi, but a coloration of the recording. Not good, not real. For $45K I know a pair of speakers that would clobber anything Mc puts out, wanna bet? Any Mc amp or pre amp is easily beaten sound wise by ones that cost much less. And both are made in the U.S., like Mc is keeping it's factory going here, which is cool. Doesn't that Reid dude have Legacy speakers?
Right, as it will with any product. I still contend nothing of low value survives in the market place without good reason. Rack systems and Bose are examples. They aren't the highest in quality but the buyer perceives high value.
Mac is under new ownership and they are introducing new products. More than likely some will survive and some will not. However, as has been pointed out here, Mac buyers are a very loyal group. That counts for a lot.
Mac has always been just a step or two away from becoming Bose or B&O. Mac heavily markets "lifestyle" and enjoys a perception of quality as many with money have bought into the marketing. This has also led to a loyal following.
Thus, there are Mac products, such as its recent music server, that are much less than impressive; grossly overpriced and underperforming.
Mac has produced some wonderful products, but the mere fact that the Mac name is on it is not assurance of quality. The buyer needs to choose carefully if buying Mac.
Now this is true. I worded my point poorly. A better way to put it would be to say that this is enough of a departure from their normal fare that a review or so would be in order to see if the Mac quality shines through or not.
First of all, I would disagree that Bose and B&O belong together in any discussion of quality of construction, innovation or engineering talent.
Then I would strongly disagree with your statement since a quite large proportion of McIntosh sales still go to installations outside the home audio market. Mac gear is sold to laboratory installations in the technical and medical fields.
However, what top o'the line consumer audio product does not promote "lifestyle"? Wilson? Audio Research? Even Rowland respects the "lifestyle" of their typical clientelle. Of course these lines promote a lifestyle that is in keeping with the expectations of their client base. Going back to the Mercedes line, you wouldn't expect to see an advertisement for a CL65 AMG in a magazine such as "Guns and Ammo". "Lifestyle" is nothing more than well placed marketing until Bose sues you for copyright infringement.
Really? Where/why in the medical fields?
Kal
Because doctors like music too.
I've seen plenty of CD players and iPods in operating rooms - but nothing with blue dials.
When I was selling McIntosh they had the lion's share of audiologists. The meters were the most precise available for what an Audiologist requires and the Mac reliability went a long way toward sealing the deal. No doubt there were a number of audiologists who updated their office gear on a regular basis just so they could move their old equipment into a nice, secure position in their living room.
That does not mean that they are being used in the medical field any more than sales to Olympic swimmers would mean they are used in aquatics. Mebbe it is just that medical doctors, as a group, are more able to afford them than can the general public.
I've been working in neuroscience in medical centers for almost 40 years and I have never seen a Mac in any lab application, although they would certainly be OK for audio amplification, if needed. I have seen one or two used for music in an office.
Kal
It may have appealed to them but the Mac meters are totally inadequate for audiological measurements or calibration.
Kal
I never questioned an audiologist as to how they specifically used the meters on the amplifiers. I doubt they relied on them for much more than intial calibration and set up. After that the meters were probably only used for recehecking settings on a regular schedule. Still, the Mac meters were the most precise meters available for what the audiologists needed - that is what I stated. If nothing else that should be taken to say the other manufacturer's meters were not very good for anything, not even a constant level set. But I don't think a doctor would gather information or make a diagnosis based on the meters on the amplifier and not on the other equipment in the system any more than levels are set in a studio from the amplifier in the rack and not from the mixer.
OTH, Mac was popular in the audologist's offices long before they began placing meters on their equipment. Here in Dallas we have the Callier Center for Communication Disorders. I did some work out there in the 1980's as they were switching out some of their original equipment for new solid state gear. I was given a Mac MC40 that was taken out of their rack. The tech apologized he only had the one left as the other eleven had been sent to the dumpster along with quite a bit of other vintage McIntosh gear taken from the offices.