As London’s largest McIntosh dealer, we are proud to keep an unrivalled selection of their best products in our Central London store available for demonstration.
The McIntosh range is constantly evolving. Few manufacturers in the world have such an extensive range of products from Bluetooth receivers to 2KW mono blocks. Two of the most popular items in the last few years have been the MA9000 integrated amplifier and the C1100 two-piece valve preamp. Both these products have now been updated with the release of the MA9500 and C12000.
Filter capacity in the MA9500 has been doubled compared to the MA9000 which has produced a significant increase in dynamic headroom from 1.8dB to 2.8dB, giving the MA9500 greater ability to reproduce musical peaks with less distortion.
While the MA9000 included McIntosh’s DA1 Digital Audio Module, the MA9500 comes standard with the DA2 Digital Audio Module. The DA2 offers 7 digital inputs: 2 coaxial, 2 optical, 1 USB, 1 MCT, and 1 audio-only HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC)1 connection. The DA2 is powered by an audiophile-grade, Quad Balanced, 8-channel, 32-bit Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) that has improvements in both dynamic range and total harmonic distortion compared to the DAC in the DA1.
The C12000 Preamplifier is the next generation of the acclaimed two-chassis preamplifier design. The two-chassis design allows the audio section to be completely separated from the control and power sections. The absolute isolation of a preamplifier’s two main functions – control and sound – is achieved by this unusual but effective design.
The C12000 Preamplifier module offers both vacuum tube and solid-state output, allowing you to decide which to use based on the music being played, the audio components in the rest of your home audio system, and your sound preferences. All outputs are driven by discrete amplifiers. For vacuum tube output, six tubes or valves power the high-level preamplifier section with two 12AT7 tubes and one 12AX7A tube assigned to each the left and right channel. Solid-state output is via a discrete balanced op-amp.
We have also added the MA352 Hybrid amplifier. This is the bigger brother of the extremely popular MA252 which we have been showcasing for many years now. These integrated amps offer a great bridge between the valve and solid state sound and come with a host of features like DAC, headphone amp and MM phono stage.
An all analogue design, the MA352 has a vacuum tube preamplifier section that is powered by a pair of 12AX7A and a pair of 12AT7 vacuum tubes; its output stage is a direct coupled solid state amplifier that outputs 200 Watts per channel into 8 Ohm speakers or 320 Watts per channel into 4 Ohm speakers – enough power to properly drive virtually any set of loudspeakers.
Hi-Fi World magazine reviewed the MA352 glowingly and concluded – “The MA352 is an amplifier that we thought was glorious in both appearance and sound.”
If you would like to audition these products or any of the other McIntosh products we have available in store, please get in touch and arrange a demonstration.