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Review 2 of 2
Price Paid:
$4500.00
from Pro Sound in Vegas Summary:
Some consumers believe that power output is directly proportional to quality. This may often be true, but never with a McIntosh amplifier. The 200 watts per channel (4 ohms) delivered by the MC206 is pure McIntosh power, & an ample amount for most listening rooms. IMHO, the MC206 is well-suited for most multichannel home theater systems. This Class A-B amp runs very cool & uses less than one amp when idle. Visually, it's the most beautiful Mac HT amp with its three VU meters glowing.
With "Power Guard" (keeps the amp from going into clipping), I didn't hear (nor see using Mac's MPI-4 oscilloscope) a single harsh clipping characteristic, and it never exhibited any signs of strain even when I stressed the limits of my speakers and understanding neighbor's patience. Reasonable heat dissipation with no need for a fan.
If you like the warm sound similar of tube amps, please make the effort of finding one to "test-drive" in your neighborhood... Strengths:
Very deep low end. Warm smooth midrange & musically acoustic scene with lush attributes similar to a good tube amp. Remarkable clarity. The MC-206 seems quite forgiving of poor quality audio companions. Weaknesses:
No channel bridging -- Mac addressed this issue with me stating size, weigh & cost prevented them from designing the amp to be bridgable. No balanced inputs, though not a big deal. Similar Products Used:
Amps by: Krell, Crown, Marantz, McIntosh, Denon, and Sony.
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