McIntosh

McIntosh is an American audio manufacturer founded in 1949 and based in Binghamton, New York. Its blue meters and distinctive casework are familiar, but choosing a McIntosh should start with the model’s circuitry, connections and suitability for your loudspeakers.

Valve, hybrid or solid-state?

McIntosh makes more than one type of amplifier. The MA12000 combines a valve preamplifier with solid-state power amplification. The MA9500 is solid-state. The MA352 is a hybrid with an all-analogue input section. Wanting valves is a useful selection criterion, but it should not become a claim about every McIntosh product.

Included facilities or a modular alternative?

The MA12000 includes a DA2 DAC, MM and MC phono inputs, HDMI ARC for television audio and an eight-band analogue equalizer. Those facilities can simplify a system, but a DAC is not a network streamer and tone controls are not automated room correction. Our McIntosh versus Gryphon: MA12000 or Diablo 333? compares the complete package with Gryphon’s optional-module approach and includes Dan Crick’s listening impressions.

Features differ across the range: the MA352 has MM phono and no built-in DAC, while the MA9500 combines solid-state amplification with DA2 digital inputs and MM/MC phono. We can help decide which facilities you actually need, including whether to retain an existing DAC or phono stage.

McIntosh advice and sales in Bath

Hidden Home Technology is an authorised McIntosh dealer based in Bath. We advise on integrated amplifiers, preamplifiers, power amplifiers and sources as parts of a complete system. Contact Hidden Home Technology with your speakers, room and source requirements to discuss a quotation or audition; we will confirm the equipment and venue before arranging it.

Explore the McIntosh and Franck Muller 75th-anniversary collaboration for another expression of the brand’s distinctive design.