Wei De

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.80 of 5, 10.00 votes

Price Paid:  $1800.00 from Electronic Market in

Summary:
Hey Guys (and Ladies), if you ever want to buy some hi-fi stuff and don't want to spend thousands of dollars, come to Beijing,China. Somehow they get all the expensive goodies from Hong Kong and sell it in Beijing for half the price than anywhere else.They have McIntosh, Mark Levinson, Krell, Marantz, B&W, JMLab etc. I guess would have never started to be an audio fan if I would not live in China I bought the McIntosh MA 6800 in Beijing and used it for about 6 to 8 months now. First I had the B&W DM 603 S3 ,but they were too small for the Mc, so I upgraded to the B&W DM 604 S3. They are good speakers for the price. And they work perfectly with the 6800, bass sounds soft and deep, mid range could be a bit better (got to blame the CD Player I guess), the highs are great, but this also depands on the cables used. I bought some nice ones, but still wating for a pair of Kimber Cable to arrive from HK, I guess this will boost the sound a bit. The Mc with big speakers defenetly need a lot of space, otherwise the bass sounds unreal. I am very happy with the amp, the looks are defenetly something one got to admire. Listening to music, drinking a cup of coffee or smoking a good cigar while the Mc is glowing in its famous colours, what else is there one should need? As China's plugs and energy supply is quite horrible (Voltage varies from 210 V to 235 V), Hi-fi amps break easily, and I have a friend who fried his whole Mark Levinson Equipment, McIntosh can take more pain, just 2 days ago a plug was on fire in my apt and the MA6800 was connected to it and thank God survived! If you want quality and superb sound go for Mc

Strengths:
good quality,can take some "beating", nice bass, with other cd player great mids and highs,better than any Marantz I heard, has enough power for any 200W- 300 W speakers

Weaknesses:
heavy, but makes i tough to steal when you life on the 4th floor with no elivator :-) Speaker Cable Input is a bit old fashion, but it is not the MA6900

Similar Products Used:
Marantz SR7300 with the whole B&W 603 surround set, nothing else used, as I am only 20, but listened to lots of good stuff with the chinese friends from the store as they have nothing to do all day....

Price Paid:  $2100.00 from Mill Valley

Summary:
I bought the 6850. Saved $400.00 by using the blue book on Audiogon. This Amp is unbelievable. I never thought an Amp could improve the sound this much. Sounds like an album bering played on a record player, only without scratches. Nice smooth base(as much as you need), and this is the first amp I''ve ever had that gave me a couple of extra notches of treble that I don''t really need(my ears have always craved the highs). I also like the old fashion type controls, your not having to go through menus to change things. I''m using these with NHT 2.9''s. Very Nice.

Strengths:
Base,Treble,power,sound.Looks...Wow, beautiful.

Weaknesses:
None.

Price Paid:  $2500.00

Summary:
I know that a lot of audiophiles turn up their noses at Mac. Too bad, because this piece is the finest sounding integrated out there. Plenty of guts, warm and fast, lovely to look at in a dark room while listening (If you're not a Mac person, this sounds foolish; if you are -- as I have been for 30 years -- you understand the simple pleasure of listening to the Mac sound while admiring the blue glow.) I'll hand this one down to my kids when I kick the bucket. The chase is over: it's the last stereo amplification piece I'll ever need to buy. Seriously. Oh, and it's sure cool knowing that 30 years from now, if something in it happens to fail, I'll be able to send it to Audio Classics and have it fixed with a genuine Mac part.

Strengths:
Solid build, classic looks, crystal sound

Weaknesses:
perhaps weight, but that's why they last 50 years.

Similar Products Used:
Mac seperates

Price Paid:  $2500.00 from Audio Classics

Summary:
This was a great piece of equipment. I drove a pair of Paradigm Reference Studio 60 and then Aerial 6 speakers with this and it was wonderful. I actually had the model without the phono stage, belive it was a 6850 rather than a 6800 (may have it backwards). The Sony was a great integrated with MOSFET output devices and the Bryston was too, with the remote and phono stage (hence the RP designation), but none of them sounded as good as the 6850. Crystal clear, fast sound. I have also used McIntosh separates (C-38 & C-39 with an MC275II, MC-300 and MC-500) as well as other preamps and amps from Bryston and Aragon, etc., and none sounded as good as the MA-6850. It is the one piece of McIntosh gear that I really miss. I will most likely get another once I get settled into our new house as I miss its crystal clear sound. I like a "fast" sound and the MA-6850 was the best I have heard from McIntosh. I ran a pair of Bryston 2B-LP amps in bridged mode with a Mod Squad totally passive preamp that sounded as good, but nothing else I have tried over the years has ever matched up to the MA-6850. I can't comment on the one with the phono stage as I used a Theshold FET ten/pc for phono amplification. Wonderful combo that I fully intend to return to. I am giving 5 stars for value because it sounds better than my $20,000 MC-500 based system and any other I have owned. And it is compact and easy to use with a very flexible remote and set of controls (although I use them in the flat position).

Strengths:
Great sound!! Great to look at! Great build quality. In that order

Weaknesses:
The meters are from Japan and one of them failed. It is very heavy at 70 pounds, so shipping back and forth is a real pain. Mac should not source out of Japan, even though they are Japanese owned since 1991.

Similar Products Used:
Sony TA-F444ESII, Bryston B-60RP