Monolith 7x200 amp vs ... competition? (Looking for experienced amp advice)

[lovinthehd]

You are refering to the Mcintosh correct..... The apeal was $4000 for a $9000 amp...... What am I thinking ????

If you're only concerned about resale value McIntosh might be worthy, people seem to love overpaying for their stuff (what makes their amp a "$9000" amp to begin with?).

 

[everettT]

You are refering to the Mcintosh correct..... The apeal was $4000 for a $9000 amp...... What am I thinking ????

Yes McIntosh, sold the last one in 2011. Made a profit from 1982, had 1 channel replaced in 30 years and it cost $800.

Once I knew that emotiva refused to repair a product, that was it for me.

I'm a huge fan of the QSC Cinema series, while not cheap they are not in the same price and esoteric as some. 23lbs for 300w per and ridiculous low distortion numbers nd an AB output stage. Tired of lifting lol.

 

[Pogre]

You guys are great
You are right. I am going to look at ATI first then decide on pulling the trigger in the am.

This is the model that's almost identical to the Monolith (which has the balanced inputs also now).

I do have to agree the Mac will hold its value pretty well, but I would consider it audio jewelry. I'd love to own some of their gear, but on my budget the focus is more on performance over glitz.

 

[KEW]

The management team @ ATI is top notch...
The owner and chief engineer has been designing/building quality component power amplifiers for >50 years.

Finding out the owner is the chief engineer explains a lot about their no BS approach!

 

[Verdinut]

Yes McIntosh, sold the last one in 2011. Made a profit from 1982, had 1 channel replaced in 30 years and it cost $800.

Once I knew that emotiva refused to repair a product, that was it for me.

I'm a huge fan of the QSC Cinema series, while not cheap they are not in the same price and esoteric as some. 23lbs for 300w per and ridiculous low distortion numbers nd an AB output stage. Tired of lifting lol.

Yeah, those QSC DCA series amps were released in 1998 and they were never modified as they still have had the same model number since their first release. If an electronic product is well designed, has excellent specs and works flawlessly, why modify it? They are used in most if not all Cineplex theaters across North America. I am using four of them in my HT system.

DCA Series - Non-Network - Cinema - Products & Solutions - QSC

www.qsc.com

 

[PENG]

I auditioned a few high end Mc amps, including the 1 kW monoblocks, no magic bullets at all.. Love their looks, though I probably won't bring them home as every time I though about doing so I got concerned about distractions they would inevitable bring.

 

[PENG]

Finding out the owner is the chief engineer explains a lot about their no BS approach!

If he is a real engineer, I wish he would provide more detailed specs and graphs, at least like what Marantz (in the old days) and Bryston did/still does iir..

 

[PENG]

On thing I am curious about is their sensitivity/gain specs.

ATI specified 28 dB for both RCA and XLR input
Monoblock specified 28 for XLR and 28.5 for RCA

Both seems odd, would love to see their implementation.