Ric Schultz makes some great amps at a low price point. That's where I'd look if I wanted to get high power, high damping and a great price.

Dave

Lots of people like Mac. I liken it to Gibson guitars vs. all others, particularly Heritage guitars that are made in the original Gibson plant in Kalamazoo. Gibson is a "safe" name, despite its lack of demonstratable superiority vs. others, like Heritage.

Let's not impose our opinions on others. The industry satisfies almost all needs. I'd recommend Mac to one set of friends, Ric Schultz to other friends and Jeff Rowland to others. If someone MUST have tubes but can't spend Mac-money, I'd send them to Cayin.

There's room for everybody. The choice of the "right" system varies a lot from person to person. My own outlook changes to a high degree as my bankroll changes. I always seek the best bang for the buck, but when I get into the area of diminishing returns, my attitude toward spending a lot of money to gain a small increment changes.

I spent 17-years as an auditor and the last 20-years in risk management, so I do a lot of cost-benefit analyses involving my own money and others. I've learned that no matter how powerful the intellectual argument, MOST decisions are made with the ego. You can't let it bother you. Just expect it and deal with it.

I've known some very brilliant people that were almost totally ego-driven, sometimes leading to their failures. Still, all I can do is try to steer people away from mistakes, but ultimately it's their own choices that will decide their fate. Audiophilism is a microcosm of the larger "real world." I often find no difference in the decision process for a $1000-decision vs. a $100 million decision. Ego can always get in the way of logic and we'll never stop that from happening.

Dave

dup, you really seem to be loosing it. I figured it would take you a bit longer after your return to get to this point. I use your own references to prove you wrong and you go postal! So now here you are, after being banned twice for being a PITA, starting a thread that directly insults me and obviously misquotes me. Why don't you just step away from the forum for a while and cool down, li'l fella. I hear Marriane and Ginger got some good dope. Mellow out a bit. It was only the hingepin of all your screeds that I proved was wrong - with your help!

Oh, yeah, my Mac tube amps are forty five years young and going great every damn day. I've owned them for the past twenty five years 'cause I like them, they play as loud as I require and they look way cooler than some black box full of sand. The amp they share circuits with - but not output tube selection - is still a Class A Recommended Product by Stereophile.

dup, I'm not going down this road with you again. I have, over the past two years offered you the chance to simply say we can both be right for what we want. You've pissed on every offer I've made and come back with more insults. I'm done! You have no facts to back up what you say and you cannot read what's put in front of you. You say someone has a prejudice and then use them in a sorry attempt to prove you're not still wrong on other shit. I'm pretty well conviced this last ban has really pushed you over the edge and you are now just F'ing nuts.

Nobody on this forum wants to read this crap you keep pulling out of your butt. Nobody wants to read the two of us going at it again. I'm done making peace with you but you need to just shut the hell up and act like a normal person. Take the damn hint, guy. Discuss something with basic logic and without insults and don't just post the same old crap over and over. It ain't working and nobody cares!

I own McIntosh products and I like what Mac stands for. That doesn't mean I agree with everything Mac does but I know they believe there are more than a few customers who want transistors and those who have always wanted McIntosh tubes. That's why they are building tubes products along with solid state. Different strokes for different folks, dup. That's the one thing you cannot get through your thick skull. If you ever did, this forum would be a whole lot more pleasant to be on.

The fact remains my amps and the MC275's share circuits and transformers and the big Mac is still a Class A Recommended Product by Stereophile.

Your amps, well, as you say, "Most of my stuff is shunned by the audiophile mags".

Now just drop it, dup.

C'mon guys, kiss and make up and vote for Obama. Lotsa intellectual watts
more power teh run teh country.

And, he kinda looks like a tube.

Why did you address that as a reply to me? I've made my offers of reconciliation and they've gone nowhere. I am not the one who started this thread in response to being proven wrong by my own link. You're one of dup's followers, talk to him. If you don't want to see this end up in the ditch, do something.

Hi

Ive been reading the forums for a while now and have started a few threads myself concerning power, "hifi v proaudio " etc. These threads have created lively discussion with well expressed and sometimes conflicting viewpoints. It just seems as if everytime DUP gets into a thread it becomes confrontational as a level that is just not necessary.

I have had no problems in threads with my comments that a lot of expensive hifi doesnt sound very good to my ears, this is because I accept that our whole hobby is very subjective and there is no right and wrong. I express my thoughts but i also listen respectfully to others even if I dont share them, DUP seems to take opposing thoughts as a challange to his manhood.

With DUP around it is not possible to have a sensible discussion based purely on the merits of an issue.

I agree with JV, during my recent threads JV posted some contrary views to my own and vice versa but it didnt result in a personnal attack. Its time that DUP either plays nice or plays somewhere else.

Alan

Once again, I suspect DUP will be gone in a few days. Is their a three-strike rule at Stereophile?

Dave

"F'ing nuts" is an observation, dup, not an attack.

"If you can comprehend this" is an attack.

But I could and you couldn't and here we are again, with you drivin' the F'ing Nuts Express over the cliff.

I am not anyone's follower, JV. I suggest you lighten up and develop a sense of humor.

I don't know why you guys let DUP get to you .

BTW I meant my reply for both you and DUP, c'mon, let's have a kumbaya moment. I'll play guitar and you and DUP can harmonize

Quote:
I suggest you lighten up and develop a sense of humor.

Yeah, I remember you suggested that right after you called on all of the dup groupies to gang up on me until Stephen let dup off his second ban. I don't think you and I have the same idea of what humor is.

I'm not looking for another fight, why don't you and I just forget this one? I've made my offer to dup and he didn't seem to think it was beneficial for him to call a truce.

you are easy to forget, I will give you that.

While you are like a rash that won't go away, I'll give you that.

Can we start a "ban JV" thread? I think if there was a law against annoying people, JV would be on death row.

Pull the lever, DUP! Pull that lever!!

Dude... You take the bait every time! It's time to push the Ignore button if Preacha' DUP is too much for you without raising your blood pressure. It's not healthy man- and think about: you don't even know the guy! He's just an on-screen personality with no true bearing on you or anything else in your life. But, it's like Stephen said, you seem to get some sort of masochistic thrill out of engaging with him. Either you can engage him with a sense of humor or you'll end up jumping out a window screaming.

Seriously... hit the Ignore, and let it all go.

Quote:
... harmonizing isn't in my capabilities.

Where's the emoticon for rolling on the floor laughing until your guts spill out?