"Capt. Rob" wrote in message
oups.com...
What do you think of McIntosh gear?



It's very well made, but I find the upper midrange and highes lacking
in detail and refinement compared to other gear in it's pricerange. I
often think that the dull upper ends are mistook for smoothness in
recordings by older folks who really want more forgiving gear, even if
their speakers are very revealing. It all comes down to what you want
to listen to. Older recordings may be more listenable with McIntosh as
the 802's can sound forward and bright with some electronics.

They never sound overly "bright," and I think you were referring to
"presence" with your term "forward." Yes, they have presence, but
restrained. That's why I bought them. Something else--my lesser expensive
B&W 701s sound almost as good as the 802s, hard as that may be to believe,
considering the price difference. The 601s are quite a bit farther behind,
but still fine speakers. As I mentioned before, lots of people don't like
B&Ws, because they don't have that overt brightness and slap-you-in-the-face
midrange presence that some speakers have. They have balanced, uncolored
sound, and to some ears that's boring and uninteresting. To me it's
perfection. I listened to many speakers before buying the three sets I
have, and always went back to the B&Ws. I even did some blind tests and
still picked the Bowers and Wilkins loudspeakers every time.

Those are GREAT speakers, Maxi!!!! I'm happy to hear you have them.
They are worth the money, especially when properly set up. You don't
have to be an audiophile to appreciate them either...just a lover of
music.

I couldn't tell *any* difference in sound quality between them and the
Prestige. Maybe it's just my aging ears, but they were sonically
indistinguishable. Further my wife was not about to have a pair of those in
the house. The Prestige costs about the same as a decent car, so it was an
easy decision.


(this is my "he sounds like a reasonable fella" post of the day)

Which is why you got a reasonable-sounding answer. See how that works?

Max