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| Model: | MC402 |
| Category: | Amplifier (SS) |
| Suggested Retail Price: | $5100. |
| Description: | 400 WPC stereo amplifier |
| Manufacturer URL: | McIntosh |
| Review by Lemoco on April 13, 2008 at 19:57:09 IP Address: 63.105.17.107 | Add Your Review for the MC402 |
I’m a second-generation audiophile. When I was ten years old, my father would take me on Saturday to his favorite high-end stereo store to ogle at the McIntosh gear. That was nearly forty-seven years ago, and I’ll bet that sanctuary of components my father and I worshiped at all of those years ago are still being bought and sold on eBay for more money than they went for originally – and still working!
Since then I’ve been around the HiFi block. I’ve owned ridiculous systems that reproduced the decibel levels and sound quality of a public address system, and boutique components that, while amazing on paper, had no soul. The hucksters at the audio boutiques said problem was my cables; my room treatments; speaker placement; synergies; the slight wobble of a star in a near by galaxy – I needed an anti-stellar isolation device ($9,995.99 in rosewood).
Rather than attempting to achieve unification between my stereo and the expanding universe, I decided to take my dad’s advice and buy McIntosh gear. I bought a new C2200 tube preamp and the MC402 solid-state power amplifier. I connected the two with a pair of Audioquest Columbia balanced cables with DBS. Right out of the box, these components had soul – they are truly soul brothers.
The sound stage is huge, and decidedly three-dimensional. The attack component of each note – regardless of the frequency – is crisp and defined, without being strident. The bass is strong, resolved and controlled, but not polite. Recordings with thundering bass reproduce thundering bass. When Leroy Vinegar walks his stand-up bass, I hear steel, wood and flesh with every note. I hate components that achieve transparency by tippy-toeing around the signal. MC402 shoots you in the chest with it. The music emanates from absolute blackness and that’s how I listen to it – with the light off.
| Product Weakness: | None |
| Product Strengths: | Top Quality, US Made |
| Amplifier: | McIntosh MC402 |
| Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): | McIntosh C2200 |
| Sources (CDP/Turntable): | VPI Scout w/ Grado Master |
| Speakers: | Paradigm Reference Studio 100 |
| Cables/Interconnects: | Audioquest Columbia |
| Music Used (Genre/Selections): | Jazz, Funk |
| Other (Power Conditioner etc.): | Panamax 5500 |
| Type of Audition/Review: | Product Owner |
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