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My MCD201 Review

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Robert,

Not even one out of ten is acceptable. By today´s quality standards in the electronics industry, it should be less than one out of ten thousand!

Even if someone does not accept this truth, just think WHY there would be so much of a "bash the hell out of McIntosh" mentality. I think it is because what we see just does not meet the expectations they have been rising and because of the prices they have been charging for a product that just does not meet these expectations. At least this is my reason for being disappointed.

I agree, if McIntosh are unable to sell a product that works, they should kill it and not keep selling it for years and years. And we do have other choices. Perhaps not from McIntosh, but we have them.
 
I find the whole situation with the 201 frustrating. I even watched the thing fail several times at a very reputable dealer in San Francisco.

I’ve been burned by a similar problem with my MVP861. The transport is noisy and has read errors on many SACDs. Had it replaced once. The new unit has hiccups as well. The end result was that I relegated it to a second system and replaced my Esoteric DV50s for my main rig. I don’t feel so bad as I got the esoteric at such a discount that the cost of both players combined would have been what I would have paid for the esoteric new.

If the truth be told, I believe Mc is dealing with QC issues with the transport in these machines. I won’t be considering a new Mc spinner until the high res video war settles and there is some stability (pardon the pun) in the available transports for computer and audio machines.
 
McIntosh has its good reputation damaged by a lemon of a tuned PC drive that they supply from a manufacturer that nobody in the HiFi world cares about (the drive RL-S881 from Raymedia, a Korean company that has these drives made in China).

Is that smart?

IMHO, McIntosh should take its customers´sentiments seriously, dump the supplier and have a task force develop something that works from another drive. And if they had done this earlier, the problem would be fixed by now.
 
A quick visit to the Raymedia website does not exactly instill confidence in their products. I couldn't find the RL-S881 drive in their list of products. It must be "special."
 
Most of us on audiokarma who read and post in the Mcintosh section are aware of problems concerning the MC201 I am not denying that a problem exists. I just find it very strange that talk of lawyers and damages ect is being suggested on a company that seems to be honoring their obligations concerning defective units. That is all! Some of the talk IMO has gone to far and resembles a witch hunt. I think many of us are so invested in Mcintosh products that any percieved failure on their behalf hurts our ego and pride of ownership of there other fine products, Seems that many of the negative posts in this thread are from people that have not even owned a trouble some Mcd 201.

Every topic good or bad about Mcintosh products is fine by me so long as they are rational and responsible IMO

Robert
 
Though I have posted several times recently and in the past about my frustration and sadness over the 201 saga, we all need to remember that there are those lucky ones amongst us who have -- by the luck of the draw -- been blessed with working units. Though I do worry that all these posts might affect their enjoyment/pride of ownership of their functioning 201s, I hope they understand and appreciate that there are those of us who are just slow to accept the fact that McIntosh has handled (by any objective measurement) the thing like a company with something to hide.

I do believe that without a major redesign of the 201, the band-aid fixes will keep coming with blithe pledges that each successive firmware fix is the "bomb." The fact remains that Mac is still rolling off units that are lemons. Quite extraordinary that the company won't issue a definitive, truthful press release that calms the storm.

Weird thing is that my 205s are absolute rock solid pieces. But I understand the music bank and transport came from IBM/Nakamici -- not a bottom feeder outfit like where they turned to (presumably) cut corners on the 201.

The world still turns. But the self-inflicted black-eye that our beloved McIntosh has suffered has, at least for this long-time Mac guy, opened my eyes. We can beat our chests all we want, but I think we've got to simply accept that McIntosh is content to ride it out -- customer relations be damned. :tears:
 
"I think the reason they are still building the MCD201 with this transport is because of the contract between MAC and the vendor. Instead of throwing the XXX amount of transports in the trash, the business decision was to use it until it is gone. Makes good business sense to me."

It makes short-term business sense only. It is going to cost them much more in the long term to continue using a transport that falls short of expectations. Yes, apparently it was a business decision. A bad one in my opinion. I am trying to sell my 201 right now, and thanks to the reputation of the player, that is not easy. It is clear now I am going to "take a bath" to unload this player. My dissatisfaction with the player started day 1, and continues every time I listen to a disk. Even after factory repair, it still has quirks that annoy me (the reed relay, the momentary muting before a track plays, the inability to reverse or fast forward into the next track ...). So for me, it is the total design of the player including the transport. Auditioning the player was not a reasonable option for me since no dealer anywhere close had one at the time. I, like others, relied on the McIntosh reputation. In relation to total sales, making the 201 "right" is probably miniscule in comparison. I'm talking refund, credit, etc to those who have been sold a bill of goods.


William
 
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Laemmle said:
Excellent point!

What transpires when three years has lapsed? I figure the following by owners::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears:
Click to expand...

This will be long forgotten, all of the noisy units will have been repaired free of charge long before their warranties have expired.
 
Pathologymd I urge you to contact Mcintosh (ask for management) for a new unit that works!

I would sincerly like to know what they tell you, If you persue this rationaly and intellegently.

I do know that if you receive a working unit(your right) you will keep the unit.

Robert
 
I wonder how many "happy" MCD201 customers are actually out there besides me? My unit still works like it was intended from day one. I have a very early production unit.
 
Please remember that we are friends beating the dead horse here and not get too personal. :)


Thanks, Carl
 
I guess I don't understand the problem. If Mcintosh will repair or replace a defective product while under warranty then why are there still issues?

If your player does not work properly then it would seem that working with your dealer and or Mcintosh directly should yield the desired results.

I might be a little biased though, as Mcintosh sent me a brand new replacement amp two years ago that FedEx had smashed and then refused to accept responsibility for dropping. It was sent to me from a dealer in another state and they didn't really need to make it right for me but they did.

Have folks with poorly performing units called Mcintosh and asked for assistance?

Not trying to sound like I know what the outcome would be (I don't) I am just offering a suggestion.
 
The problem for me (and my new unit is working perfectly, "I think") is that I find I don't enjoy owning it. After sending the first one back I find that I spend too much time listening for this new one to 'not work' (creeping paranoia?) and do not listen to the music. Am going to replace it with something I don't have to worry about. Have to admit, that it does sound better than the non-Mc it replaced, but my listening enjoyment has really suffered.

One has to wonder if D&M also owns the drive supplier and that is one of the problems.
 
Record108 said:
A letter writing campaign could be a good idea. Maybe this would make the decision makers more aware of the issue and of the harm done to the brand value (they are business people, after all).

The contract with the supplier: If a manufacturer finds out that the percentage of crap that they receive from their supplier is just too high (and this IS the case here), they have ways of getting out of their obligations, friendly or unfriendly. They can even sue the supplier for compensations. But this will not be necessary because the supplier is interested in staying in business with its customer. In this case, we are talking about a supplier that has been founded seven years ago and I´ll bet that they do want to keep a company like McIntosh as a customer. So they should be willing to find a way out of this mess.
Click to expand...


How could McIntosh not know that there are major issues with that supplier?

Unless the people/customers who are having problems, have not gone through the proper channels to either repair, replace the unit; or get a refund. McIntosh has to know if all of these people have gone through the proper channels.

Only way they wouldn't know, is if a majority of people who claim to have problems with their unit are lying/fabricating, as well their claims of receiving 2...3...4 replacement units which all suffered from the same defects, also lies. McIntosh/D & M Holdings has to know!


I wonder what happened with this unit.

Did they run out of the original transports (or it was discontinued) early on in production and then had to find a replacement? Why is the operating system so buggy, unstable and inconsistent? How could that be?

Did McIntosh truely attempt to make this player with rock bottom, low-grade, inferior parts and components; to achieve the highest profit margin possible? Or is this a result of something else?
 
Too many people have spent too much time into thoughtful postings for me to want to just toss this thread.
You will take the personal c**p to private message. Period. If you need a couple days to cool down I will be happy to oblige.


Carl
 
NMyTree said:
How could McIntosh not know that there are major issues with that supplier?
(....)
Only way they wouldn't know, is if a majority of people who claim to have problems with their unit are lying/fabricating, as well their claims of receiving 2...3...4 replacement units which all suffered from the same defects, also lies.
Click to expand...

I´d say we can rule out this possibility. At least I do have an MCD201 that does not do its job, not really, and I don´t think that the "majority of people" could be weird enough to fake such postings.

Yes, they do know at McIntosh, and so do the dealers. But they keep selling ´em.
 
"It seemed that way several months ago. So why are people still getting defective players?

Are these people buying used early production MCD201 players, that still have the defects; off of audiogon and places like that?"

My third unit was sent directly from customer service at McIntosh (and supposed to be brand new) to the dealer and to my attention. I know it's the correct unit and not one the dealer pulled off the shelf because McIntosh gave me the serial number before hand. This unit has louder pops at the beginning and end of each track in the headphone amp than the previous two units plus in the few hours I've listened to it the unit "skipped" twice during a track like a record with a scratch. I'd noticed this also on my previous unit many times even on brand new CDs that had previously played fine (and I am meticoulous about keeping CDs clean). Seems like it doesn't matter where the unit comes from, there are problems. I will say one thing though, the transport was quiet during play but that alone is not enough to keep the unit. I'm tired of trips back to the dealer and numerous emails to McIntosh. This unit is going back for good and I'm done with the MCD201.
 
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