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ELECTRONICALLY REPRINTED FROM AUGUST 2004 BIGBIG SOUND, SOUND, BIGGERBIGGER Mozart’s VAVALUELUE Clarinet Concerto McINTOSH'SMcINTOSH'S AUDIOPHILE MC501MC501 SACD AMPLIFIERAMPLIFIER & LP

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JAZZ’ YOUNG MAN www.stereophile.com OF ACTION: JAMIE CULLUM EQUIPMENT REPORT McIntosh MC501

Paul Bolin MONOBLOCK POWER AMPLIFIER

t’s true —you never forget your first love. And no, I’m not talking about little Jackie Lynn Neeck in my second-grade class when I was seven years old. I still remember her, almost as vividly as I remember my first encounter with a fantastic stereo system, and therein hangs a tale. DESCRIPTION Solid-state When I was in my early teens, I studied classical and theater organ for monoblock power amplifier with several years. My teacher, Elaine, and her husband were, to put it mildly, balanced (XLR) and single-ended fanatical about their hobbies. They spent four months slowly moving a (RCA) inputs and “Autoformer’’- moth-eaten, mouse-infested, and utterly non-functional 1925 Wurlitzer pipe coupled output stage. Minimum organI into their basement from its original residence in an Iowa theater. Whatever sinewave continuous average power happened to that Wurlitzer, I do not know; what captivated me lived upstairs: a output: 500W into 8, 4, or 2 ohms three-manual Rodgers Trio theater organ and the most incredible stereo system I’d (27dBW, 24dBW, 21dBW, respective- ever seen. The highlight of my week was to go over and play that beautiful ly). Rated power bandwidth: Rodgers for an hour — at least until the day Elaine introduced me to some new 20Hz–20kHz. THD: 0.005% into 8, 4, music by playing it on that complicated, fascinating-looking, but as yet unheard or 2 ohms, 250mW to rated power system. On that day, my interest in audio was awakened and a lifelong obsession output. IMD: 0.005% maximum if was born. It’s fair to say that without having heard that system, I would not be writ- instantaneous peak output does not ing these words in 2004. exceed twice the rated output for Elaine and Gary’s stereo system was a thing of wonder and awe, and every piece any combination of frequencies, of electronics in it was from McIntosh: a glitzy tubed tuner-preamplifier and two 20Hz–20kHz, into 8, 4, or 2 ohms. 50W tube monoblocks, all driving a pair of Altec-Lansing Voice of the Theater Dynamic headroom: 1.8dB. speakers —the ones with the fancy woodwork, not the black, theater-ready boxes.1 Wideband damping factor: 100 at 8 Hearing Virgil Fox played over that system was like hearing the voice of God. It was ohms (equivalent to a source then that the light was turned on. I had never in my life thought that the sound of impedance of 0.08 ohms). music could come that vividly into a home, and even my skeptical parents were Frequency responses: 20Hz–20kHz, impressed enough to eventually let me pick out my first stereo system and buy it +0/–0.25dB; 10Hz–100kHz, for me.2 +0/–3dB. Sensitivity: 2.1V unbal- For years, until I encountered the High End in the mid-1980s, McIntosh anced input, 4.2V balanced input. remained my Holy Grail — the Best of the Best, the Brand to Aspire To. After Signal/noise ratio: 97dB, A-weighted all, it was Mac gear that had anchored the best system I’d ever heard, so it must (124dB below rated output), unbal- be the best. Even the notoriously picky Grateful Dead used nothing but anced and balanced. Input imped- McIntosh amps in their most ambitious PA systems. Who could argue with ance: 10k ohms unbalanced, 20k those credentials? ohms balanced. As I immersed myself in the High End, first as a hobbyist and eventually as a DIMENSIONS 17.5" W by 9.5" H reviewer, I learned that “real” High-Enders considered McIntosh to be passé and 7 (including feet) by 14 ⁄8" D something of a carriage-trade brand —still well made, supremely reliable, and cool- (including front-panel knobs). looking in their retro way, but nowhere near the state of the art in terms of mod- Weight: 91.5 lbs (41.6kg) net, 105.5 ern, high-performance sound. Bankers and doctors bought McIntosh, not “serious” lbs (48kg) shipping. audiophiles. So ran the conventional wisdom. SERIAL NUMBERS OF UNITS REVIEWED UM 1332, UM 1328. A voice from my past PRICE $8200/pair. Approximate Beginning in the mid-1990s, something began percolating in Binghamton, New number of dealers: 240. MANUFACTURER McIntosh 1 I even remember the turntable — a Rondine Rek-O-Kut with a weird cantilevered arm in which the Pickering Laboratory, Inc., 2 Chambers Street, cartridge was the only vertically pivoting part. Binghamton, NY 13903-2699. Tel: 2 My first proper stereo system was a Sansui AU-222 integrated amplifier, largish Goodmans bookshelf speakers (607) 723-3512. Fax: (607) 724- (they had to be good because they were English, even if they weren’t the more expensive Wharfedales I so shame- lessly coveted), and a PE turntable with a Shure M47 cartridge. I was 15 and was prouder of it than I could have 0549. Web: www.mcintoshlabs.com. imagined. I wish I had it back, if only for the memories.

68Stereophile, August 2004 ERIC SWANSON

Stereophile, August 2004 McIntosh MC501

York.3 It began slowly, when McIntosh of years, the most consistently enjoyable Reacquainting ourselves reissued the classic tube C22 preamp home theater setups I experienced were The design of the MC501 is straightfor- and MC275 power amplifier. The run- in McIntosh’s rooms at various Con- ward and extremely burly. Not only is away success of those Sidney sumer Electronics Shows. Unlike most the amp capable of delivering 500W Corderman–designed pieces seemed manufacturers, Mac always made a point into any load between 8 and 2 ohms, it’s to light a fire under the McIntosh of first demonstrating that their HT sys- also rated to deliver more than 100 design staff. While expanding into a tems were excellent music systems, amperes of output current. It seems ex- remarkably comprehensive range of before moving on to the plane crashes ceedingly unlikely that there is a speak- components for home theater and and dinosaurs. At last year’s Home er that the MC501 could not drive. whole-house systems, two-channel Entertainment Show in San Francisco, McIntosh’s overarching paradigm is audio of the highest quality — both McIntosh had a great-sounding two- maximum linearity and minimal distor- tube and solid-state — once again be- channel room which I visited repeatedly, tion. To this end, the linearity of each came a top priority for the venerable as if to convince myself that a Mac sys- gain stage is maximized before the ap- company. The MC501 ($4100 each) is tem could sound that good. The plication of negative feedback, and all the latest and most powerful expres- megapowered MC501 monoblocks transistors are selected, according to sion of McIntosh’s solid-state thinking. caught my ear, and Mac’s Sally Goff was McIntosh, to have “nearly constant cur- I rediscovered McIntosh via the perfectly happy to send me a pair, along rent gain over the entire current range unlikely route of home theater. Though with the new C200 two-chassis control they must cover.” The output transis- I’m not an enthusiast, I appreciate the center (which I will soon review). So, tors “have matched uniform current fun of home theater, and over a number would my first audio love still curl my gain, high current bandwidth product toes some 30 years later? I couldn’t wait and large active region safe operating 3 As has been extensively chronicled, primarily by to find out. area.” According to the manual, “an the estimable Mr. Tellig in “Sam’s Space” over the last automatic tracking bias system com- 10 years.

M EASUREMENTS its maximum output power. Unusually but he McIntosh MC501 is unusual for a conforming to the specification, the unbal- solid-state amplifier in that it uses anced gains were 6dB higher, meaning that an output transformer. This has unbalanced preamplifiers will not have to three separate taps, one each opti- deliver quite so high an output voltage. Both mizedT for 8, 4, and 2 ohm speakers. I inputs preserved absolute polarity (the XLR hooked up my 8 ohm dummy load to the jack is wired with pin 2 hot), and the input MC501’s 8 ohm tap, and, following my usual impedance at 1kHz measured 9.15k ohms practice, set the amplifier running at one- Fig.1 McIntosh MC501, 8 ohm tap, frequency unbalanced, 18.3k ohms balanced —on the response at 2.83V into (from top to third power for one hour, to see how well it bottom at 2kHz): simulated loudspeaker low side for some capacitor-coupled tube would deal with thermal stress. To my sur- load, 8 ohms, 4 ohms, 2 ohms preamplifiers, such as the BAT models. prise, the McIntosh shut itself off after just (0.5dB/vertical div.). The lower-than-normal gain is associated five minutes —the orange Power Guard LED with an extremely low noise floor. Even the on the front panel illuminated, and the rear- wideband, unweighted figure ref. 1W into 8 panel heatsinks were too hot to touch. After ohms from the 8 ohm tap was 90dB; the amp had cooled down, it turned itself on switching in an A-weighting filter improved again. I tried running it at a lower level, just the figure to 104.6dB. The MC501 is one of

30W into 8 ohms. This time it turned itself the few amplifiers that can match the theo- off after 20 minutes; again, the heatsinks retical dynamic range of such hi-rez digital were too hot to touch. media as SACD and DVD-Audio.

The heatsinks are relatively small for an When I measured the MC501’s output amplifier with a continuous rating of 500W. I Fig.2 McIntosh MC501, 8 ohm tap, impedance, I was surprised to find it to be must assume that McIntosh decided that small-signal 1kHz squarewave into lowest from the 8 ohm tap, at 0.08 ohm, continuous running with sinewaves would 8 ohms. and highest from the 2 ohm tap, at 0.13 be sufficiently rare that they could econo- ohm (both figures include 6' of speaker mize in this area. When this circumstance cable) —the opposite of what I expected. did arise, their Sentry Monitor circuit, which These values held from 20Hz to 1kHz; there monitors heatsink temperature, would pro- was a slight rise from all three taps at the tect the amplifier against thermal runaway. top of the audioband to 0.16 ohm. Measured via its balanced input, the These low source impedances mean that MC501’s voltage gain was low, at 23.3dB any variation in frequency response due to from the 8 ohm tap into 8 ohms, 20.64dB the Ohm’s Law interaction between them from the 4 ohm tap into 4 ohms, and and the variation in impedance with fre-

16.8dB from the 2 ohm tap into 2 ohms. quency of a typical speaker will be ±0.1dB Fig.3 McIntosh MC501, 8 ohm tap, Several volts will therefore be required from small-signal 10kHz squarewave into or less, as can be seen from the top trace in a balanced preamplifier to drive the Mac to 8 ohms. fig.1. This graph shows the family of

Stereophile, August 2004 pletely eliminates any trace of crossover ed to a load that is lower than optimum stage, allows the amp to work within distortion,” and “precision metal-film causes more output current to flow, its comfort range virtually all of the resistors and low-dielectric absorption which results in extra heat being gen- time. No performance sacrifices are film capacitors are used in all critical necessary, says McIntosh, as the circuit locations.” Autoformer’s frequency response The ’501’s circuitry is described as “exceeds that of the output circuit Double-Balanced Push-Pull. Each half THE BASIS OF itself, and extends well beyond the of the amplifier is fully balanced from audible range.” input to output. I’ve never seen each MCINTOSH’S PATENTED McIntosh’s Power Guard circuit, a phase of a signal rendered in balanced waveform comparator, monitors input configuration before, but there you go. AUTOFORMER CONCEPT and output waveforms. When the amp The four output signals of the two bal- is overdriven, the Power Guard notices anced circuits are all reunited at the IS THAT TRANSISTORS, any difference in the two waveforms Autoformer coupling transformer. LIKE TUBES, that exceeds 0.3% harmonic distortion, The most unusual feature of and engages a dynamic attenuator at the McIntosh solid-state amps is, of course, PERFORM BEST amp’s input to reduce the signal just that Autoformer. The basis of the enough to prevent any further distortion patented Autoformer concept is that INTO AN OPTIMUM LOAD. reaching the speaker. This is not limited transistors, like tubes, perform best to the amp’s rated output power; the into an optimum load. According to manual states that the MC501 will actu- Mac, “this optimum load may vary erated in the power output stage.” The ally produce distortion-free output well considerably from what a loudspeaker Autoformer, by creating an optimal above its rated power.4 requires ...a power amplifier connect- match between speaker and output

measurements, continued responses from the 8 ohm tap. The amplifier’s bandwidth decreases 225W into 2 ohms (17.5dBW), for example, while the 4 ohm tap with decreasing load impedances, but when the output tap is delivered 1000W (24dBW), the 2 ohm tap 630W (22dBW). matched to the load, the –3dB point lies at 120kHz (8 ohm tap), The big power meter on the front-panel didn’t appear to be that 100kHz (4 ohm tap), and 68kHz (2 ohm tap). This is superb perfor- accurately calibrated. An indicated “50W” was equivalent to an actu- mance for an amplifier with an output transformer. As a result of this al 30W into 4 ohms from the 4 ohm tap, for example. wide bandwidth, the MC501’s reproduction of 1kHz (fig.2) and The McIntosh also featured extremely low levels of harmonic dis- 10kHz (fig.3) squarewaves was essentially perfect. tortion in its output. Taking a clue from the plots of THD+noise per- The McIntosh’s maximum output power centage against power in figs.4–6, I depended on the output tap chosen and measured the THD+N percentage against the load, but when the tap was matched to frequency at a high power level of 240W the load, the amplifier easily exceeded its from each of the output taps into a matched specified 500W at our 1% THD definition of load (fig.7). Yes, a very slight rise in THD can clipping. The 8 ohm tap delivered no less be seen above the audioband, but the than 720W into 8 ohms (28.6dBW), for McIntosh is otherwise extremely linear. example (fig.4), with similar deliveries into 4 What harmonic content is present is pri- and 2 ohms from their respective taps marily third harmonic, but as the output cur- (figs.5 and 6). Despite the slight increase in rent increases, a very small amount of higher source impedance, the MC501’s ability to harmonics appears at the signal’s zero-cross- deliver current into the speaker load did Fig.4 McIntosh MC501, 8 ohm tap, distortion ing points (fig.8). Note that to even see this increase with the decreasing output trans- (%) vs 1kHz continuous output power distortion waveform on the storage oscillo- into (from bottom to top at 10W): former tap. The 8 ohm tap was limited to 8 ohms, 4 ohms, 2 ohms. scope screen, I had to run the MC501 at

Fig.7 McIntosh MC501, 4 ohm tap, THD+N Fig.5 McIntosh MC501, 4 ohm tap, distortion Fig.6 McIntosh MC501, 2 ohm tap, distortion (%) vs frequency at 240W from (from (%) vs 1kHz continuous output power (%) vs 1kHz continuous output power bottom to top): 8 ohm tap into into (from bottom to top at 10W): into (from bottom to top at 10W): 8 ohms; 4 ohm tap into 4 ohms; 8 ohms, 4 ohms, 2 ohms. 8 ohms, 4 ohms, 2 ohms. 2 ohm tap into 2 ohms.

Stereophile, August 2004 McIntosh MC501

Unwrapping and getting glass carries that gorgeous, remarkably connections. The package is completed comfortable informative power meter and two with three massive sets of WBT binding McIntosh’s packaging is the best I’ve switches, one for On/Off/Remote posts (they look identical to those used seen for electronics short of the custom- turn-on, and one that turns off the on the Nova Utopia speakers) for the made Anvil-style cases provided by meter’s lights and selects its function — Autoformer’s 8, 4, and 2 ohm outputs. Halcro and Lamm’s massive wooden peak hold or real-time readout of watts. The ’501s were settled atop the usual crates. Each MC501 is bolted to a The switch legends and traditional Grand Prix Audio Monaco amplifier wooden plinth and a thick foam pad, McIntosh logo glow an almost tropical stands, and I used Siltech SPX-30 then surrounded by foam packing with- green, while the meter is illuminated in Classic power cables for the first part of in multiple heavy cardboard boxes. soft blue. Very sexy. auditioning. Some interesting things Even UPS might not be able to bang up Around back are some large heat- happened when Shunyata’s Hydra 2 one of these amps. The instruction sinks and, at the top rearmost edge of power conditioners arrived, with a manual is exemplary — it’s easy to the chassis, an AC power input, fuse, matching set of Anaconda and understand, and even includes welcome excellent-quality XLR (pin 2 hot) and Anaconda Vx power cables to run from instructions on how to re-pack the RCA jacks, a selector to switch between wall to Hydra 2 to Mac (see sidebar, brutes. Brutes they are: each MC501 inputs, and sockets for remote turn-on “Shunyata Research Power Products’’). weighs a truss-busting 105.5 lbs in its Siltech SQ-110 Classic and Acoustic box and a barely more manageable 92 Zen Silver Reference interconnects saw lbs out of it. 4 I shudder to think what kind of volume levels or cat- principal duty, with Nordost Valhalla astrophic malfunction would be necessary to trigger the Styling is a smoothly modern update Power Guard. With the Focal-JMlab Nova Utopia Be and Siltech LS-188 Classic speaker that remains true to Mac tradition: these loudspeakers, the meters seldom registered over 150W cables. During my time with them, the or so on peaks of immensely powerful music played at amps look like something Bryan Ferry Stupid-Approved levels, and the MC501s’ heatsinks MC501s showed all the diva tempera- might own. A sleek front panel of black never became more than slightly warm. ment and high-maintenance character of a pair of manhole covers —exactly what you’d expect from a Mac. Much to my surprise, the ’501s re- quired surprisingly little break-in time, their performance changing barely at all 480W into 4 ohms from the 4 ohm tap and an output transformer. within the first 100 hours or so. The average 64 individual captures to lift the I thought the McIntosh amplifiers sound- only detectable changes of significance harmonic content out of the noise. (I trig- ed simply superb when I auditioned them were that the overall dynamic response gered the ’scope with the unfiltered in Paul Bolin’s system in the spring. Nothing became a little more open across the sinewave to ensure that each pass captured in the MC501’s measured performance spectrum, and the whole presentation the same slice of the waveform.) This causes me to doubt what I heard. sounded a bit more relaxed. This was a superb linearity is shown in the frequency — John Atkinson wonderful change from the usual domain in fig.9, the spectrum of a 50Hz lengthy break-in procedure required sinewave driven at 470W into 4 ohms from with a big solid-state amplifier. the 8 ohm tap. The third harmonic lies at A couple of other seldom-acknowl- just –93dB (0.0021%), with almost all the edged facts: I gather that McIntosh higher harmonics at or below –100dB products hold their value better than (0.001%). any others in the business. That the co- Finally, even at close to the MC501’s mpany has been around for 55 years is specified output power, the 1kHz difference hugely reassuring, and their matchless component resulting from an equal mix of reputation for reliability and standing 19kHz and 20kHz tones lay below –100dB behind their products has been earned (fig.10) —extraordinarily good performance over time for good reason. from any amplifier, let alone from one with Fig.9 McIntosh MC501, 4 ohm tap, spectrum of 50Hz sinewave, DC–1kHz, at 470W Rekindling the flame into 4 ohms (linear frequency scale). Right from the get-go, the MC501s showed their basic character. From first listen, they exhibited sound that was totally relaxed yet completely con- trolled. They could easily manage mighty peaks with no apparent effort,

and had superb bass control. The Nova Utopias demand an iron fist in a velvet glove for best sound below 60Hz, and the Macs handled those large ported woofers with ease. Fig.8 McIntosh MC501, 4 ohm tap, 1kHz The ’501s’ bass was something dif- waveform at 480W into 4 ohms (top), Fig.10 McIntosh MC501, 4 ohm tap, HF ferent from the norm of powerful 0.00075% THD+N; distortion and noise intermodulation spectrum, DC–24kHz, solid-state amps. As John Atkinson ob- waveform with fundamental notched 19+20kHz at 500W into 4 ohms (linear out (bottom, not to scale). frequency scale). served on hearing the Macs in my sys-

Stereophile, August 2004 McIntosh MC501 tem, they define the leading edge of more like that of the best tube amps on Armin van Buuren’s “Burned With bass transients in an especially lifelike than that of any but the very finest Desire,” from 76 (CD, Ultra L 1168-2), way: to the ear, the transients of bass solid-state amplifiers. Its greatest and the deliciously soulful and luscious instruments are seemingly slower but virtues were perfect echoes of those voices of Furler and no less precise than those of upper- provided by fire bottles. Voices, espe- on “Destiny,” from ’s Simple midrange and treble instruments. The cially women’s voices, were fabulously Things (CD, Quango/Palm QMG Macs perfectly captured this quality. snared. On The Cropredy Box (UK CD, 5007-2), melted me into a small puddle An industry friend burned me a Castle Music CMETD815), the live in my listening chair. Posh, plush, lush, copy of a demo disc he uses at shows, document of ’s and generous are the words that best and one of the most impressive tracks 30th-anniversary concert at their annu- describe the MC501’s midrange. on it is Eleanor McAvoy’s “I’ve Got al festival, Vikki Clayton’s unnerving The Mac’s ace in the hole was that You to See Me Through,” from her channeling of the late on this intoxicating loveliness was not Yola CD (Market Square 113). Apart “Come All Ye,” “Reynardine,” and bought at the price of diminished from being one of the finest grownup “” was an “I’m there with dynamic nuance or retrieval of detail. love songs I’ve heard in ages, it’s ex- a pint in each hand” experience. Strings were as persuasively wonderful quisitely recorded, and the five-string Clayton’s vocal resemblance to Denny as voices. Sir Granville Bantock’s Celtic bass guitar was fabulously convincing. was at times so complete that it was as Symphony, performed by Vernon Through the Macs, the bass rolled into though Sandy were still with us. The Handley and the Royal Philharmonic the room — it didn’t jump or snap into Macs served up Fairport in the finest (CD, Hyperion CDA664501), is a the space as if it were gated. Bass guitar fashion, with richness, soul, and every- silken glory; the Mac was more than should sound exactly so when played thing but the smell of Cropredy. up to the task. On the other side of the with the fingers rather than a pick. On Justine Suissa’s opulently sexy vocal orchestral spectrum, Ravel’s Rapsodie the McAvoy track, it bloomed beau- Espagnole (LP, Vox Box QSVBX 5133), tifully and was sensationally convinc- performed by Stanislaw ing, not to mention deep — the low Skrowaczewski and the Minnesota C set loose objects abuzz in my ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT Orchestra, had the crisply defined room. sound and deftly located images that Listening to Steve Swallow’s ANALOG SOURCE SOTA Cosmos are typical of Minneapolis’ Orchestra supremely expressive playing on the Series III turntable, Graham 2.2 Hall. The venue’s defining characteris- title track of Carla Bley’s Nite-glo (LP, tonearm, Dynavector XV-1S cartridge. tic is clarity, not a round glow, and the WATT 16) was very illuminating. DIGITAL SOURCE Classé Omega MC501s came through with flying col- Swallow plays with a heavily worn CD/SACD player. ors without shorting my hometown brass pick, and the minute scrape of PREAMPLIFICATION Manley Labs hall’s ability to blend sounds into an the pick against the bass’s strings was Steelhead, Aesthetix Io Signature atmospheric whole. still there, though less highlighted phono stages; VTL TL-7.5 Reference, The Mac did something very few and more of a piece with each note BAT VK-51 SE line stages; McIntosh solid-state amps can do — it breathed, than with most other amps, particu- C200 (as line stage), Halcro dm10 with sometimes long and languorous larly solid-state ones. The tautly preamplifiers. pauses. The ’501 caught attacks and drawn, relentlessly pulsing synth bass LOUDSPEAKERS Focal-JMlab Nova decays with the tempered variety of on Majestic 12’s remix of Kelis’ Utopia Be. intensities that one seldom hears from “Milkshake,” from Ultra.Trance:3 (CD, CABLES Phono: Hovland Music audio components, however expensive Ultra UL1180-2), was waaay too cool Groove 2. Interconnect: Acoustic Zen or exotic, but that’s heard every day on the Macs — one of the few things Silver Reference, Nordost Valhalla, from real instruments and voices. I’ve ever heard that actually made me Siltech SQ-110 Classic. Speaker: The Mac’s treble performance was want to get up and do the goofy- Nordost Valhalla, Siltech LS-188 something of an enigma. It never white-guy funky chicken. Classic. AC: Shunyata Anaconda seemed to have the purely unfettered The stygian depths of Sugar’s Alpha & Anaconda vX, Siltech SPX-30 extension of such amps as the Halcro “Let’s Feel the Music,” from Shine Classic, Wireworld Silver Electra III+. dm58 or Edge NL-12, but when I at- (Korean CD, Starworld/BMG PD- ACCESSORIES Shunyata Hydra 8 tempted to identify what it was lacking 6621), and the stomping, bugged-out (front end) & Hydra 2 (amps) power I always came up empty. When I “Dream” from their new Double distribution & conditioning, Walker looked for maximal spatial resolution Rainbow (Japanese CD, Toys Factory Audio Ultimate High Definition Links; on recordings such as the Ravel and TFCC-81650),5 were nothing less Grand Prix Audio Monaco stands, Bantock, it was there. There may not than definitive. Whatever I asked the Ultra Resolution Technologies have been the precise description of Macs to do in the bottom two Bedrock stand, Ganymede & every mouse hole in the wainscoting octaves, they did. There was no StillPoints isolation footers; Caig that the Halcro dm58s so effortlessly drama unless the music demanded it, Labs Pro Gold contact cleaner; no “Hey, listen to what I can do” Walker Audio SST contact enhancer; exaggeration, and no wussing out. Ayre/Cardas IBE system-enhance- 5 The one English word other than “baby” that I clear- ly caught in this song, which is an unlisted Easter egg at There was only what I would de- ment CD, Cardas Frequency track 39 and sung in Japanese by the Korean Sugar girls, scribe in a person as complete and Sweep/Burn-In LP; Argent Room was “dream,” so “Dream” it is. If you can dig an exotic unqualified professional excellence. Lenses, Disc Doctor & LAST Labs stew of Euro-Japanese techno dance, Joe Satriani-styled guitar work, and Rick Wakemanesque church organ, The MC501’s midrange was far record-care products. — Paul Bolin you’d best check it out immediately.

Posted with permission from the August 2004 issue of Stereophile ® www.stereophile.com. Copyright 2004, PRIMEDIA Inc. All rights reserved. For more information about reprints from Stereophile, contact Wright’s Reprints at 877-652-5295 McIntosh MC501 summon, but neither was anything was not the case that the Macs were back when more beautiful than ever, meaningful missing. Ride cymbals had unable to resolve subtle and revealing she was successful, available, and asked a feathery and polished sound of brass detail. They did so without breaking a me out to dinner. So sue me, I fell in — no dullness, no harshness or white- sweat. The question was one of degree, love all over again — the big Macs were noisey nasties — the MC501 was true not of kind. I always seemed caught by an unstinting delight to live with with and right. So did the fault lay within the feeling that the Halcros and all types of music. As noted, they may the Mac or within my conditioned Lamms resolved a worthwhile bit not deliver the last, infinitely minute audiophile responses? The longer I lis- more than the Macs managed, but at degrees of resolution and palpability tened, the more I came to believe it the same time, the ’501s seemed to be that the much more-expensive Halcro was the latter. I heard never so much as lacking nothing that made music so and Lamm amps manage to find, but a hint of glare, grain, or glassiness meaningful. It’s possible that the slight they deliver more than enough to make unless it had been engineered into the difference in resolution between the the experience of music deeply reward- recording. Macs and the Halcros and Lamms is ing to the inner man, not just the cere- The Macs’ soundstaging was compa- due to the Macs’ use of negative feed- bral audiophile. They brought musical rable to the very finest — [cough] back. Contrariwise, the drawbacks joy by the truckload. I’ve never had a Halcro — that I have heard. There was associated with negative feedback — an harder time taking off my music lover’s sometimes a smidgen less depth, but obvious darkness on top and lack of hat and putting on my reviewer’s mor- width was superlative, and so was the treble dynamics — didn’t exist when I tarboard (dunce cap?) than when listen- Macs’ sense of place. Say what you will listened to the MC501s. Perhaps the ing to the Macs. about modern studio recordings — enormous collective experience of the I have never experienced as much sensitive and intelligent musicians and McIntosh design team has given the pure musical pleasure as I did when engineers do some mind-bending company an institutional memory of the MC501s were teamed with the things with electronic virtual space. how to resolve these seemingly eternal VTL TL-7.5 Reference line stage and Ron van den Beuken’s “Clokx” (a dra- matic and mesmerizing remix of the piano intro to Coldplay’s “Clocks’’) and THE BIG MACS WERE AN UNSTINTING DELIGHT “Timeless” (both from Ultra.Trance:3) threw colossal and wholly plausible TO LIVE WITH WITH ALL TYPES OF MUSIC. soundstages into my room. Depth was abyssal, and breadth was Cinerama spectacular. contradictions. the Focal-JMlab Nova Utopia Be Images were placed in space with an The best reflection on the overall speakers. I have heard marginally — I authority and solidity so great that character and presentation of the stress marginally — better in absolute there was no electronic artifice to MC501s is that I constantly found sonic terms, but if it were my own notice. Things were just there, without myself listening to whole CDs and money being spent at retail, the big exaggeration or underplaying. The LPs, not just isolated cuts. The Macs Macs would be my no-brainer choice Macs’ dynamic performance was ex- were so uniform and consistent from as my amplifier to own for the long emplary. They never seemed to work top to bottom, and so continuously run. At their price of $8200/pair, hard at all, even on material designed good, that they politely escorted hi-fi they’re untouchable, and only a few to break an amplifier’s will — such as concerns out of the listening room and amps at any price offer such a reward- the Poem of Chinese Drums, from the invited back in the love of music for its ing combination of power, reputation, third Burmester demo CD. Low-level own sake — but with no loss of what build quality, and overall sonic acu- dynamics were as refined and delicate- are considered to be the “audio” men. Like the Legacy Audio Focus ly nuanced as ever I have heard, and on virtues. 20/20 loudspeaker I reviewed in all types of music. January 2004, the McIntosh MC501 What made me think about the Where shall we honeymoon? offers a singular combination of value MC501s so hard my head hurt was Listening to and living with the and performance. their ultimate ability to resolve the McIntosh MC501s was rather like Thomas Wolfe was wrong. You can smallest details that I’ve heard from the going to a high school reunion and hit- indeed go home again, at least likes of the Halcro dm58 ($27,990/pair) ting the trifecta. Not only was the beau- when the amps at home are from and Lamm ML1.1 ($22,690/pair). It tiful girl I had the terrible crush on way McIntosh. ■■

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