👨🏽🦲👋🏽 Hi, I am Jay! My audio journey began over a decade ago when I started as a simple consumer who enjoyed trying different power amplifier brands in order to understand their unique sonic characteristics. This led me to own over 300 power amplifiers with thousands upon thousands of hours of trial and error. My curiosity never stopped, so I began to explore new speaker brands, preamplifiers, cables, DACs and many other components to form the ultimate audio system. My relentless pursuit of knowledge is what led me to create Jay's Audio Lab LLC, so I can help you build an awesome system that will sweep you off your feet! Knowledge is power!
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If recorded on tape, why turn it into zeroes and ones, or scrunch it onto vinyl? Um. For starters, because the tape player is $55k, and the tapes are a couple of hundred bucks a pop?
In most cases with the money you save going for a stereo and invest in better cables you can get even more than the difference between the amps.
Take the time to correct your video to not be mirrored. Maybe a iPhone habit from too many selfies being taken and looking in the mirror too often. *Disclaimer, IMHO
Jay,🤩 you had to eat your words. Great video
Cage on for me
Fenice good speakers
One of the cons you mentioned was the need for quality stands. I have not been able to locate suitable stands for my 901s -- they are too big and too heavy to fit every quality stand I have looked at. Yours look great. I was disappointed that you didn't name the brand/model. Can you please?
They are $8,000 stands from artesania audio which I am dealer for
That Boulder pre is crazy
Usually tubes are better at the pre section for giving that tube flavor without running so hard and so hot. Ss are better for power. More stable and consistent and sound better. Usually.... When you using that solid state pre, you kind of doing it upside down But it's just in theory I whish i could hear it there with you... Thanks for your good work and reviews 👍
This is coming from someone that did not like McIntosh whatsoever. I guess times have changed. I've always known they're special. I guess hearing is believing
After years of nay saying, I finally brought the new C55 in home for a demo. It was one of many i demo'd, its staying here. I agree with the pros and cons. Good content, keep bringing these reviews to those of us that just want information that helps us make decisions about future investments.
Awesome
Im just a couple hours from the Mac headquarters, I need to do a tour this summer finally!
Let me know!
Both sound like my headphones 🤔
Great content Jay! Thanks for the brief history of the brands.
Glad you like them!
Thx for the great review! I think if u run 2 pairs of xlr cables from preamp to these amps, you bypass the crossover in the amp, but each amp section then gets the full input signal to amplify instead of just part of the frequency range, so each section has to work harder and the filters in the speakers also get the full signal to filter out… The manual should explain it I assume?
If the goal is to obtain high quality studio , live sound . Wouldn’t a good pair of studio monitors due the trick. Not sure On the whole subject .
Enjoyed your review Jay. Very informative, and you're absolutely correct when you talked about the price. I read every comment (197 at this point.) and I think this is the first time the majority of commenters were pro McIntosh. Only a small handful were brave enough to comment negatively, and most of those were only brave enough to reply to a negative comment.
Thanks for sharing!
Giveit a wazz. Ourkidd ❤❤❤❤❤
Brilliant, very informative and thoughtful review. Thank-you Jay!
Glad it was helpful!
Have seen some of these fake power cables being sold on Ebay used for $4000 with serial number OD8010. Not fun to buy a fake cable for $4000 when it costs just over $100 new. I Notified Ebay that there were fake cables but they didn't care and it was sold for $4000. Never buy used cables on Ebay, they are often fake.
Cage off ..❤❤❤❤
I owned MC 462 , could not sell it fast enough, beautiful built but was too much warm sounding , 901s are probably different
Great job jay!!
I wish you had photos of the innards.. Thanks.
This is something for OC Mike 🙄😉.
What are your 100% Jay's Audio Lab approved bi-amped loudspeakers?
Not sure
Jay, thanks for your constructive and detailed take.
You bet!
Another bling-encrusted trophy for the Rich.
Mac is always a product you can resell. Also they have a way of smoothing over harsh compressed music. Like you say quite musical. I know this is ridiculous but $38000 for its not mega bucks today. Even more really. Glad the damping factor is there too. Good review Jay.
I have always liked McIntosh, no matter the bashing. Well done once again Jay!
Thanks
You guys hated on McIntosh in previous videos!
I will say seeing Mac in Crutchfield, Best Buy, & the car stereo market did cause me to proceed with caution. The current ownership, so far seems to let them be, but worth monitoring.
Nice review. First I always felt those amps may be a gimmick & under perform. Second when amp shopping, I ended up with a Mac. Chasing these obscure brands I couldn’t see the forest for the trees and I love my Mac, great sound & value. No problems ever, but can get repaired locally. MC462
This is what happens when you realize that you’ve been paying 2-3x the price for equipment that is no better (and often not as good) as a Mac. Mac is a victim of its own popularity.
Great review! Damn those SE17's look commanding. =O
They are !
Audio Research Ref 750se blows the MC 901s out of the water ! 😂
Your comment is just emotions and not backed by science. To suggest that amplifier sounds different from the other means that one or the other is coloring the signal (or even both). The guiding principle of these companies had always been firmly grounded in NO coloration. Coloration is measured as DISTORTION. When a amplifier is spec @ × watts 20-20,000 hz with no more than 1% THD, it either performs to that spec or it does not. Pure and simple. If one performs and sounds different than another, either it's out of spec and needs service or the company is lying about their performance specs!
You can order Rockport technologies bi amped as an option btw. The Lynx would be perfect for your medium sized room ;)
Nah Dont agree but respect your video and review.
Good to see you've discovered EQ.
As an owner of these, I support this review 100%. Both the cons and the pros. I have tried and heard loads of amps, and these really transformed my speakers into something greater than I thought was possible. And my plan to replace my speakers was quickly deleted from my mind. Much of the time we need to listen critically to hear the difference between amps, but with these you will notice the difference on the first tune🙂, Now I just need to figure out how to handle the heat they bring🙂
I think MacIntosh did something very clever: Question: What is the greatest possible killer of a pair of great huge behemoths of loudpeakers? Answer: A pair of smaller ones with a nice set of subs. Question: And what's the weak link in this setup? Answer: Amping diversity/sub-amp quality. Bang! Let's fix this problem! (and guess what: It's gonna work with biampable behemoths too!!!)
Ha,ha,haa!!! Bye-bye griffins, balders etc! (wait a min: you said best of all TUBE amps? Hmmm...... mystery....)
Thanks for this Review... Great to see you Testing, Listening and Showcasing Mc gear. Kudos and keep up the Fantastic work and content! Subscribed! 👍
More to come!
@@jaysaudiolab VAMOS! 💪
They made a speaker 3x the price to “improve on the performance.” Yeah, it’s called marketing. 😃
Avantgarde IMO is better than Sonus Faber.
You CANNOT tell the difference in a blind ABX test. I’ve used AB switches with systems use ticks with each other. It’s prestige, nothing more nothing less!
The winner ? the winner is the one you like the best . when it comes to the world of subjective sound , there is no objective winner
What's the point of the crossovers on the amp when you're going to drive passive speakers with their own internal crossovers? There's only the opportunity for the user to screw the setup up creating gaps in the frequency range without any obvious benefit.
The point is to amplify the lower frequencies (only) through the solid state and to feed those to the low frequency part of the speaker, and conversely to amplify the mid and high frequencies, only, through the tube section, and to feed that to just the mid-range and tweeters. No power wasted amplifying the portion of the band that won't be fed to the speaker.