Would you rather have a Dodge Demon or a Volvo sedan? The Dodge will give you more of a thrill, will burn more fuel, and get you there faster in the short run. The Volvo has a proven reputation of getting you there with, style, grace, beauty and safety. And twenty or 30 years from now the style and performance of the Volvo will be something for you still enjoy. The Dodge will most likely either be in a junk yard or being driven by some kid to impress his girl.
Davie Obrien use to say back in the 70's there was no reason other manufacturers couldn't match Mcintosh's performance and dependability if they wanted to do so by other means. He still felt Mcintoshs superiority in producing transformers and autoformers was the extra Ace in their pocket. My oldiest piece of Mac is 49 years old and has been rebuilt once 5 years ago. The second oldest which will be 47 or 48 this Spring has never been touched except replacing a few light bulbs. (MC2505). It doesn't perform near as well as their current stuff and a lot of Marantz early SS owners felt it did not sound as good. And for some folks I guess it didn't. But hind sight has proven to be 20/20 and the little 2505 with its supposed colored sound is still in demand. Now I admit I didn't pay full retail for it. But if I had it still would have only cost me $10.00 a year for great sound and freedom from repairs.
Having been in the broadcast, Communication, and Sound industries for over 40years, the last thing I ever wanted was to have my system in the shop. Having owned, Crown, Ampex, Fisher, Scott, Nakamichi, Revox, Sony, Mitsubishi, Marantz, DBX, Pioneer, Pioneer Elite, Dolby, Ortofon, Shure, Stanton, London, SME, Thorens, Technics, Miracord, Dual, Neumann, AKG, Sennheiser, Koss, Signet, Rabco, Bozak, Altec, Klipsch, UREI, etc. Only three names have provided equal as satisfying service with freedom from maintenance issues. Thorens, Bozak, and Klipsch. In this case none of them were electronics. My current Dynavector is very satisfying, but it will wear out by its very nature. A lot of people slam Mcintosh, because of seemingly short comings. The big one being cost.
My reply to that is if it weren't for Mcintosh prices other top tier products would a lot higher, because its Mcintosh with its sound engineering, long service life, reputation for making the customer happy, and being priced fairly keeps the other guys honest. Look at ARC prices, or Boulder, Accuphase, etc. Look at Klipsch, people are always critsizing their sound. But if you want full concert level in the home, with out having to pay big bucks for power Klipsch is the value leader. There're better TT out there than Thorens, but for the dollars spent and the performance given in return can you really can't criticize Thorens. If Technics had stayed the coarse and built their SL TT with a little more stamina I might include them as a valued product. I would like to include Marantz and Citation, but they are here in name only. There products from the 60's aren't supported today.
I'm some times an instant gratification guy, but you learn over the years when you find a selection of anything that makes you happy you keep it. If it fails you all to often then you replace it with something better. I owned almost every piece Mac, Marantz, and a lot of Scott and Fisher in the 60's and early 70's. And I learned the hard way that Mcintosh is the value leader giving the best and most consistent performance over the long hall. So now being retired and not being able to buy the latest from Mac on a whim, I haven't needed to do so in over 38 years. My 207's, 206, MX 151, MR-80, MPI-4 MC 2505, MP100, C-34, RFD2, MR 7084, MR 78, MX 120, MVP-861 AND MVP 891 are all great pieces. So were all my MC 60's, 275's, 240's, MC 754, MC 2125, MA 230, C-20,C-22, C-28, C-29, MR71, MR-67, MR-74, MR-77, MC 2100, MC2200, MC 2250, and I should have waited for MC 7200's but I didn't. If I had bought 4 MC-3500's I guarantee I would still have them. Of course I would have to have a C500 T to go with them.
When I had to be involved with consumer electronics I hated seeing customers who became friends throw their money away on product I knew would fail them all to soon. I always wanted them to buy Mcintosh. Those that did still thank me if I happen to see them at gatherings or on the street. No other brand that originated that long ago has given satisfying, consistent, high quality sound reproduction, while standing behind every piece whether under warranty or not. If it hadn't, the company would have disappeared long ago and demand would've disappeared. Mcintosh is not just about the stylish sound being produced at a current moment in time. Its like owning A Stradivarius, A Steinway, A Duisenberg, an Aston Martin or a Rolls.