Analog Gear News

I reckon any device that encourages vinyl playback is good, but I have to wonder who McIntosh is targeting with this thing?

...it sure looks purdy!

I’ll be very pleased when Mikey reviews this!

I'm just imagining burning my forearms on the tubes whilst cueing a record.

Reminds me of the car that Homer Simpson designed, with crap all over it! And I assume you accidentally added an extra zero to the price, as clearly no-one in their right mind is paying $6500 for that!

McIntosh and VPI have just announced that they are reducing the price of this turntable by 2100.00 and they are also doubling the power. The new product will be called the MA252+VPI CLIFFWOOD

Many audiophiles still think that high end hifi is being made for them. It is not.

It is for the customers of AV installers and, by extension, for those installlers to earn bigger commissions. 20% on $200,000 is better than on 20,000.

So a device like this, which ticks many boxes — vinyl, tubes, McIntosh — will probably make a nice bedside or lounge set in a 20,000 square foot Telluride or Aspen home, may even get occasional play as a novelty when the multimilionnaire’s wife, friends and children want to try something other than playing Spotify on Sonos through their iPhones.

In the meantime the audiophile community gets played, made to salivate over devices like this or 10X more costly but really just a rehash of designs from 50 years ago in a new enclosure. I say played because even the moneyed but clueless clients of AV installers may occasionally require approval of some trade / hobbyist magazine and that is where the community helps by reading this rubbish.

Man, and I thought that the Merril-Williams was the ugliest turntable that I had seen!

McIntosh -- like all of their turntables, just another n-$1000 plank of plywood bolted to a motor (what is that vertical arm-bearing -- a pin?!). If these people still want some respect for their products, put a proper sprung-suspension in (or make it a properly mass-loaded device if they must), but crap like class-D, bluetooth, etc., just makes this company look as foolish as their designs are tasteless. Crass...

I mean, Dude, like no Qobuz?!

I think the point PAR made about burning yourself while using this product is well taken. Even a covered preamp tube can get pretty hot. I still can't past the notion of speaker jacks on a turntable. But as has been pointed out this product isn't being marketed to the likes of myself. Still, if it helps to keep the vinyl flame lit more power to them, class-D or no.

Wow! I have always appreciated the “looks” of McIntosh gear, though I am not a fan (especially when it comes to performance). For me, it is performance over looks. I’m not an engineer, but just looking at this thing, I am questioning the design…a lot and it appears not much thought behind it beyond trying to appeal to someone I have not figured out yet, money-laden die hard McIntosh fans who must have everything perhaps?
Adding too much salt as well is the price tag is, hell, I don’t know what they were thinking there. Do they not realize that amount can get an analog rig or front end that would annihilate this piece performance-wise without breaking a sweat? Alternatively, if one wanted only a turntable or phono pre, one could get one hell of either one of those for that money!

McIntosh haters... Shocking! :D

I have never been a Mclintosh fan and even got in trouble with the company by sending a component back for repair and put a note in the box that was meant as a joke but apparently they have no sense of humor. Anyway this is the most ridiculous piece of gear to come from Mclintosh yet. Really ? its bad enough what it is and then its expensive on top of it. They have completely lost it.