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RE: Auditioned a McIntosh MAC5200 yesterday

Posted by RGA (R) on November 11, 2017 at 22:19:30

In Reply to: RE: Auditioned a McIntosh MAC5200 yesterday posted by PAR on November 10, 2017 at 16:59:23:

My preferred brand makes more of their parts than anyone else in the audio industry so if one goes down this road of who makes the parts then it really just becomes a matter of degrees. Many audio companies make the casework and have their product label on the front and that's about it - including many of the big name audiophile brands. Amplifiers are the transformers and caps and the resistors and the wiring. Similar to a fine watch - Omega buys the movement from Swatch(Omega is now owned by the Swatch group) - but you don't pay Swatch prices you pay near Rolex prices. If you are going to pay the premium I prefer to pay the premium for the company that actually makes the movement not the one buying it and slapping their logo on the front.

Now if I am NOT paying the premium price this is absolutely fine. You can buy a Monoprice Monoloth amplifier for much less money than an ATI so why not get the no name for a lower price - same for several Chinese labels that make high end audio brands - if you figure it out you could buy Shengya, Jungson, Line Magnetic (who make several other brands) for considerably less money.

McIntosh turntable being made by Clearaudio is fine because there is no direct equal from Clearaudio - perhaps the co-production McIntosh/clearaudio sounds better? Or just as good as a more expensive Clearaudio. I have less issue with McIntosh going to a very reputable brand like Clearaudio to make a turntable.

My old NAD 533 was a Rega P2 Clone - exact same turntable with the same Rega 250 tone arm and Goldring cartridge but NAD added a cartridge and it was $50 less than a Rega p2 without a cart. So if you did your research - you should have bought the NAD and saved at least $50 + whatever you would pay for a cart.

This stuff has gone on for decades - I remember my dad's Ford Aerostar - when the interior door panel pulled off it had Nissan or Mazda (I forget which) stamped on it. My Honda Civic had a GM battery (Delco I think).

So all of this is fairly common. And even the brand I like that makes more internal parts than anyone else STILL has to source parts especially on the affordable range of the line. It is too cost prohibitive especially if you want to make it in non slave labour countries.

I also would not get too brand biased - Take each product on its own merit because you may well not like any given product from a manufacturer but you may like a different one. This is especially true of tube makers where you may love the EL34 amp and not their KT88 even though both use the same quality parts and even roughly the same price.

With McIntosh - they make SS, OTL and tube amps - they don't sound alike. Thus it stands to reason you will like some and dislike others.

Having a style (whether one likes it or not) doesn't mean it automatically sucks either.

I suppose the thing to do is just compare the given McIntosh model to what else you can buy for similar money and decide - but not make that decision in a big box chain.

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