new look for McIntosh?

[whoaru99]

I guess the HT market and the two channel market have different aesthetics that appeal to its users. We like classic timeless designs and they like butt ugly amplifiers! hahaha I'm kidding of course.

I don't own any Mc gear, but I do have HT and all my stuff with lights (except the TV) is at the back of the room. In this regard, most of my gear is purchased on function over form. Not trying to imply that Mc is less functional in any way, but to me a bunch of big blue meters lighting up the place, particularly up by the TV, defeats the effect of a HT system.

Perhaps Mc has heard something similar from their HT customers.

 

[motorstereo]

I'd like a show of hands of all the Mac owners that hide their equipment in a cabinet where no one can see it.

No hands here. My one and only Mac piece (mc2500) is front and center and gets most of the attention as it rightfully should.

 

[tuberadios69]

My MC240 has its back to the room. I don't like the ugly looks of the front.
Seriously.
Same with my Citation II's.

Steve

Yikes! You'd rather look at the truly uglier back of a Citation II with speaker wires and input cables showing versus the front? I guess you simply don't like the looks of tubes. My Mac tube amps are all front and center on my lowboy audio racks and look gorgeous, especially when illuminated at night by the tubes. Of course, you do see the speaker cables too since they are all side connected on the Mac amps, lol. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

 

[Westy56]

Yikes! You'd rather look at the truly uglier back of a Citation II with speaker wires and input cables showing versus the front? I guess you simply don't like the looks of tubes. My Mac tube amps are all front and center on my lowboy audio racks and look gorgeous, especially when illuminated at night by the tubes. Of course, you do see the speaker cables too since they are all side connected on the Mac amps, lol. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Your right about me not liking the way most tube amps look, although, the potted transformers are very sexy.

If I still had my 2105 or my unabtained 2255, they would be front row center. :yes:


Steve

 

[NativeTexan]

Well here is my two cents as a McIntosh dealer from what I know and what I have heard. There are also things that I have been sworn to secrecy.
People that like the classic style are going to have plenty of product in that style but Mcintosh HAS to be compeditive in the market. Many new buyers are not as married to the classic look as long time fans. As for the MC207, every customer I have sold one has the meters turned OFF all the time because they are so bright in a dark media room so I think the new meters are a plus. There is a hugh market for electronics of high performance in the price range of 1/2 to 1/3 the standard Mcintosh pricing. Why not have two price ranges of product. It doesn't mean they will be lower performing units. I can assure you that the MX121 and the new 7 channel unit are going to have an incredable sound. Wait until they come out and LISTEN TO THEM. Then make your judgement.

 

[c_dk]

After 30 years, don't own or manage a storefront anymore, so do not have to contrive an explanation (excuse) to my sales guys either... trying to remember a "budget" Mcintosh that has had sales success... Stereotech? MC2002? MC2120/2200 MC2150/2250? 4275/4280? Mini chassis 500/700series? More???

I think it is called line deliniation..Somewhere buried in my stuff is a tape of Gordon Gow at a sales meeting, warning about this, from the experience of his failures in extending the line.

 

[jlovda]

If the new stuff will sound just as good at 1/2 to 1/3 the price, why would I want to buy the expensive models except to impress my friends? I guess we will see some models from China. I don't know how else they could do it.

 

[MikeSp]

If the new stuff will sound just as good at 1/2 to 1/3 the price, why would I want to buy the expensive models except to impress my friends? I guess we will see some models from China. I don't know how else they could do it.

Perhaps rebadging Marantz or Denon pieces from McIntosh's sister companies...??? Otherwise how could McIntosh come up with the MX121 with Audyssey in such a short time at a lower price point when it took them so long to come up with the MX150 with Room Perfect? McIntosh just does not move that fast in the digital realm from scratch as in the case of the MX121, with brand new digital technologies (to McIntosh) involved. As for rebadging, I would probably have been just as happy with a rebadged Denon AVP with its upgradeability as I am with my MX150 that cannot be upgraded -- and I AM happy with it.

MikeSp

 

[Gregory]

I think solid state meters are a good idea - I just hate the color of those meter bezels. Violet? Really? A mostly dark meter face allows the meters to be left illuminated in a home theater application so output levels can be checked yet not unduly distract from the video images being displayed.

Are those really solid state meters? Must look back in the archives where I suggested that some time ago. Will hold further comments until its confirmed.


-Gregory

 

[JWJW]

Well here is my two cents as a McIntosh dealer from what I know and what I have heard. There are also things that I have been sworn to secrecy.
People that like the classic style are going to have plenty of product in that style but Mcintosh HAS to be compeditive in the market. Many new buyers are not as married to the classic look as long time fans. As for the MC207, every customer I have sold one has the meters turned OFF all the time because they are so bright in a dark media room so I think the new meters are a plus. There is a hugh market for electronics of high performance in the price range of 1/2 to 1/3 the standard Mcintosh pricing. Why not have two price ranges of product. It doesn't mean they will be lower performing units. I can assure you that the MX121 and the new 7 channel unit are going to have an incredable sound. Wait until they come out and LISTEN TO THEM. Then make your judgement.

"1/2 to 1/3 the standard Mcintosh pricing"......
MC207 = $8,000 & MC8207 = $6,000. Not exactly 1/3 or 1/2 and really, not much of savings. Just buy a lightly used MC207 for $6,000 off A-gon and be done with it. :scratch2:

 

[NativeTexan]

As for Gordon Gow's business approach it worked for years. However this is now. It is still the audio video BUSINESS and if you are doing business the same way you did five years ago.... you are probably out of business. I guess some would rather see them close than survive in an ever faster pace, changing business environment.

I look at the difference in how we conduct business and the demands placed on us by our customers over the last ten years and the changes are striking. If you think marketing a high end audio product should the same way it was done in 1985, you are just wrong.

McIntosh is going to have to adapt to a changing AV business environment like every other company. Some customers may embrace it, others may think it is a sell out. McIntosh is making decisions that they think is best for their company and a changing customer base.

If you don't like it........start your own company and show them how it is done!

 

[c_dk]

I hope I inserted this link to Billboard's Backbeat correctly. Is this the new McIntosh marketing....hanging out with designers and producers???

Back in the day McIntosh's marketing team put their effort into making their dealers better to serve customers better....learning from the past is not glamorous but there is a reason for history class.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/indu...y-visconti-talks-bowie-t-rex-1005374622.story

 

[robbanks]

As for Gordon Gow's business approach it worked for years. However this is now. It is still the audio video BUSINESS and if you are doing business the same way you did five years ago.... you are probably out of business. I guess some would rather see them close than survive in an ever faster pace, changing business environment.

I look at the difference in how we conduct business and the demands placed on us by our customers over the last ten years and the changes are striking. If you think marketing a high end audio product should the same way it was done in 1985, you are just wrong.

McIntosh is going to have to adapt to a changing AV business environment like every other company. Some customers may embrace it, others may think it is a sell out. McIntosh is making decisions that they think is best for their company and a changing customer base.

If you don't like it........start your own company and show them how it is done!

All good points. I'm wondering if this new, lower cost, line of Mcintosh products are designed and priced to sell via a broader network of internet retailers, or even just existing dealers. That certainly would shake things up a bit, by creating new customers who will aspire to higher priced Mc products, available, as always, only from dealers, and not online. Provided that the quality of these new offerings doesn't diminish the brand, it could be a successful expansion/survival strategy.

 

[NativeTexan]

I don't know how I got to be the defender of McIntosh's marketing........ but in my business there is no such thing as bad publicity.
Unless McIntosh amplifiers started exploding....THAT would be bad publicity.

 

[c_dk]

You still have skin in the game...most of us don't.

However if I chose to get back in and proceeded to contact the 700 or so McIntosh customers I had the priviledge to serve over 30 years I do not know what I would tell them .....other than I still love them even though it seems that McIntosh and it's dealers no longer want them....

For all the numbers Mac made in amps and preamps most dealers and salespeople depended on selling the American made receiver based system as a core to their business plan.

That business they blew up years ago.

 

[jlovda]

All good points. I'm wondering if this new, lower cost, line of Mcintosh products are designed and priced to sell via a broader network of internet retailers, or even just existing dealers. That certainly would shake things up a bit, by creating new customers who will aspire to higher priced Mc products, available, as always, only from dealers, and not online. Provided that the quality of these new offerings doesn't diminish the brand, it could be a successful expansion/survival strategy.

Is Best Buy on the list?

 

[MX117.MC7150]

Best Buy is all ready selling McIntosh. Most ignorant sales force in the nation. Do not understand how McIntosh thinks they can be served well by the association with a mass-marketer like Best Buy. But, McIntosh also recently put in some 30-something twit (sorry ladies, but women don't belong in the NFL/MLB/NBA/etc. locker-rooms and, with a very few exceptions, don't listen to high-end stereo gear) who doesn't even work at the factory (or even in NY) as their marketing VP. EvaAnne Manley she ain't. Guess the folks with the money at McIntosh still believe in the MBA mystique.

 

[CountD]

McIntosh is going to have to adapt to a changing AV business environment like every other company. Some customers may embrace it, others may think it is a sell out. McIntosh is making decisions that they think is best for their company and a changing customer base.

If you don't like it........start your own company and show them how it is done!

I don't agree with this at all. McIntosh is running and running to try catch up with other companies like Sony, Philips, NAD, Harmon Kardon, etc., and these guys have AV products that sometimes cost 70% less. I believe it is a severe marketing mistake for Mc to try to take on this type of technology and expect to succeed like these companies are. Technology changes every year. McIntosh is not going to have to adapt - it should offer its own products, but it should realize many of these technologies that people are buying will change next year, and then what?

As a dealer you should know that more than just a few Mc AV pieces hit the showroom floors without a proper owner's manual (I have seen this) because it isn't even ready - and it comes photocopied.

...And I have seen Mc AV pieces delivered with no manuals, and the manuals get shipped to their new owners. I have seen some of these Mc AV manuals and they are a joke. I don't think Mc embracing this type of technology is a sell-out, sometimes I think it is insane that Mc marketing doesn't see the bigger picture as far as longevity is concerned and just 'adapting' is going along with the herd.

Mc is still a small craft company and what they do best is traditional stuff. McIntosh adapting or die? I don't think so. This is not the issue here. Everyday, more and more younger people want to own a Mc275 or re-issue Mc75. I know the market is smaller and expensive, but they should make some high-quality two-channel pieces for a good price. They make money on this stuff. THEY DO MAKE MONEY.

And for the cavalier attitude of 'starting my own company' ? This is insane and it's not that I don't like it - I just don't see it and I wonder where it's all going. It's plain hard to understand.

It's not that I don't like it, it just doesn't seem to be working.

 

[Naptown Rob]

I hope I inserted this link to Billboard's Backbeat correctly.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/indu...y-visconti-talks-bowie-t-rex-1005374622.story
Monday night, in the library of the posh private club, the Soho House in New York, high-end stereo outfitter McIntosh held their second 'Vinyl Listening Experience,' an event series centered around a particular musical guest and a high end hi-fi system (the turntable spinning this night, a McIntosh MT10, retails for $9,500). ...Taking the mic, Visconti introduced the first song, David Bowie's "Heroes,"...However, shortly after the song had begun, a series of toe-curling skips came from the speakers, the Thin White Duke singing "and I..." over and over again.

Who's in charge here?
Nice marketing.

 

[mcintoshmagic]

Are those really solid state meters? Must look back in the archives where I suggested that some time ago. Will hold further comments until its confirmed.


-Gregory

The meters are just silkscreened onto the glass like everything else along with a series of LEDs corresponding to each mark.