Bose acquires Mcintosh

[Mikado463]

No it's not April 1st ...........

Bose Corporation Acquires McIntosh Group | Bose

Read the full announcement of Bose's acquisition of the McIntosh Group, the leader in luxury, high-performance audio.

www.bose.com

 

[Squishman]

So now there will be highs and lows?
¡ǝsoq ǝq ʇsnɯ ˙˙˙sʍol ou 'sɥƃıɥ ou

 

[gene]

McIntosh speakers have been trash for decades. Maybe Bose can help them engineer better ones?

In all honesty, I think this is a move to solidify their top tier positions in Magnolia showrooms and also regain ground lost in car audio since Mcintosh and Sonus Faber are not players in the space.

 

[TLS Guy]

No it's not April 1st ...........

Bose Corporation Acquires McIntosh Group | Bose

Read the full announcement of Bose's acquisition of the McIntosh Group, the leader in luxury, high-performance audio.

www.bose.com

So that is Mac and Sonus Faber down the tubes then. That really puts a full stop at the end of an era.

 

[TLS Guy]

McIntosh speakers have been trash for decades. Maybe Bose can help them engineer better ones?

In all honesty, I think this is a move to solidify their top tier positions in Magnolia showrooms and also regain ground lost in car audio since Mcintosh and Sonus Faber are not players in the space.

I honestly don't think Mac ever made a decent speakers, but their amps are a different matter.

 

[Squishman]

I honestly don't think Mac ever made a decent speakers, but their amps are a different matter.

That's what I thought of from the outset was their amps.

 

[Squishman]

Kevin at Skylabs Audio talks about the McIntosh XRT-20 speakers he acquired.

 

[gene]

I honestly don't think Mac ever made a decent speakers, but their amps are a different matter.

Autoformers in the output stages in this day and age are silly. Why would you want an amplifier to deliver the same power in 8, 4 and 2 ohm loads and add all of that hysterisis to the output that isn't a problem for modern solidstate amplifiers. Build quality and aesthetics aside, I see little appeal to owning a Mcintosh amplifier product.

 

[gene]

Bose Buys McIntosh?!?

Bose has recently acquired the McIntosh and Sonus faber audio brands. It’s a bit surprising—like McDonald’s buying a fancy steakhouse—but perhaps there’s a m...

www.youtube.com

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Only thing ever “good” about McIntosh were the amps aesthetics and the bragging rights because everyone knew that they cost more money than other amps.

Like the B&W 800 Diamond series speakers - aesthetics and bragging rights for costing a lot more money.

 

[TLS Guy]

Autoformers in the output stages in this day and age are silly. Why would you want an amplifier to deliver the same power in 8, 4 and 2 ohm loads and add all of that hysterisis to the output that isn't a problem for modern solidstate amplifiers. Build quality and aesthetics aside, I see little appeal to owning a Mcintosh amplifier product.

I'm inclined to agree. They did it so there was zero chance of DC offset and speaker damage. The auto transformers make DC offset blowing the speakers impossible and also reduced the current stress of low impedance loads on the output devices. I never liked the idea, but it did add a measure of reliability. I have never been tempted to purchase a Mac amp.

 

[gene]

Bose Acquires McIntosh Group

Bose acquires McIntosh Group, home to McIntosh and Sonus faber, stepping into luxury audio. A bold move, but what’s next for these iconic high-end brands?

www.audioholics.com

 

[Bobby Bass]

It will be interesting to see the impact on all 3 brands. I have an old Wave radio and CD player combo on my desk. NC700 cans and a couple of Bluetooth speakers. They do that stuff well. The audio part is interesting. Upgraded to the Lexicon (Harmon) in the 2025 US model Genesis I’m getting. B&O in next year’s 2026 model (crazy that car manufacturers don’t match model years to the year of production). Upgraded Bose, Mc or SF in the future? Time will tell.

 

[Nondemo01]

Bose Acquires McIntosh Group

Bose acquires McIntosh Group, home to McIntosh and Sonus faber, stepping into luxury audio. A bold move, but what’s next for these iconic high-end brands?

www.audioholics.com

Gene, don't you think it's Bose attempt to go up-market for a space they don't compete in presently? I actually think it's a great fit. Bose competes with Apple, B&W, Beats in the consumer wearables but doesn't have any growth in the high-end world like B&W or Bang & Olufsen. (And before the "haters of lifestyle products" get on their... lifestyle product to flame B&O, just know they have a large market share and make a ton of money.) they also tap into car audio something I didn't think about until Andrew Robinson mentioned it. I don't see the quality going down at all and see greater market share moving toward Sonus/Mac.

 

[highfigh]

Autoformers in the output stages in this day and age are silly. Why would you want an amplifier to deliver the same power in 8, 4 and 2 ohm loads and add all of that hysterisis to the output that isn't a problem for modern solidstate amplifiers. Build quality and aesthetics aside, I see little appeal to owning a Mcintosh amplifier product.

I know someone who's a Sonus Faber dealer and isn't a fan of McIntosh because of the autoformers- I'll have to get his reaction to this. If Bose leaves them alone and won't force Sonus dealers to carry Bose & Mac, he may be OK, but if they do force dealers, I think he'll be dropping Sonus Faber.

Blue lights and meters- some people love that stuff.

 

[davidscott]

It will be interesting to see the impact on all 3 brands. I have an old Wave radio and CD player combo on my desk. NC700 cans and a couple of Bluetooth speakers. They do that stuff well. The audio part is interesting. Upgraded to the Lexicon (Harmon) in the 2025 US model Genesis I’m getting. B&O in next year’s 2026 model (crazy that car manufacturers don’t match model years to the year of production). Upgraded Bose, Mc or SF in the future? Time will tell.

I also have an older Wave Radio Cd player in my bedroom. Not terrible but not real hifi IMHO. Looking back I probably wouldn't have bought it.

 

[TLS Guy]

I know someone who's a Sonus Faber dealer and isn't a fan of McIntosh because of the autoformers- I'll have to get his reaction to this. If Bose leaves them alone and won't force Sonus dealers to carry Bose & Mac, he may be OK, but if they do force dealers, I think he'll be dropping Sonus Faber.

Blue lights and meters- some people love that stuff.

I have some sympathy with Mac on autotransformers but not a lot. They built their reputation on reliability.
Unfortunately there are a lot of very high priced speakers that are highly touted by "golden ears" that actually are not very good. These speakers that have low impedance dips and highly negative phase angles. They stress standard output designs. However the autotransformers largely protect the Mac amps, but of course limit the current required by the amp to drive said incompetently designed speakers.

 

[Bobby Bass]

I also have an older Wave Radio Cd player in my bedroom. Not terrible but not real hifi IMHO. Looking back I probably wouldn't have bought it.

yeah it’s not a great sounding system. I bought one used as a memorial to my Dad who played it all the time when I was a kid living at home. Every time I look at it I think of my Dad.

 

[highfigh]

I have some sympathy with Mac on autotransformers but not a lot. They built their reputation on reliability.
Unfortunately there are a lot of very high priced speakers that are highly touted by "golden ears" that actually are not very good. These speakers that have low impedance dips and highly negative phase angles. They stress standard output designs. However the autotransformers largely protect the Mac amps, but of course limit the current required by the amp to drive said incompetently designed speakers.

But they also built their reputation building tube power amps and if those are expected to live for awhile with various speaker impedance, output transformers need to accommodate that. It may have seemed like "Hey, they work and we have used them all this time, why not continue?".