[Review] McIntosh MA2275 Integrated Valve Amplifier

I can't see anything Mo but if it's Mac's in car gear, I like the fact that you can order the Vu meters as a seperate unit

 

As part of 'downsizing' in preparation for retirement and move into a smaller home I just picked up an MA2275. I've been using various pieces of vintage VFET (Sony & Yamaha) gear for the past ten years and decided to try some new McIntosh about two years ago. Pair of MC275 valve amps and a BAT VK-31 preamp. Found that one MC275 sounds better to my ears than running a pair of them as monobloc amps. Another big improvement is going to the Tung-Sol reissue 6550s and 12AX7 and Mullard 12AT7 tubes. Trying to reduce the footprint a bit more I got the MA2275 a couple of weeks ago to see how it would compare. And, it compares very nicely, thank you. I all ready had the Tung-Sol/Mullard tubeset on-hand, so simply dropped them in when the MA2275 arrived and it started singing sweetly. After two weeks of listening I find that the MA2275 gives up just the slightest amount of bass authority when compared to the MC275. All else is essentially the same and I am down one complete chassis in space. My main retirement rig will now center around the McIntosh MA2275. Couldn't agree more with Merlin. McIntosh has certainly gotten it right with the MA2275.