mcintosh good?

[potsdamcartel]

i need a new head unit and i was looking into mcintosh.
how does it compare to other brands like alpine, eclipse, and pioneer?
i care about sound quality and the ease of use only.

thank you for your time

[sr20de4evr]

they're very good and very expensive

[potsdamcartel]

yea, i hear that but not many people have these.
is it simply because they are expensive, or is it that there are better units than these?
how do they compare to other companies.

[sr20de4evr]

they should be better, but they don't have too many features, which may actually make it a worse choice than something like a high end eclipse or alpine, depending on what all you need it to do.

[PaulD]

that's almost funny, I thought a CD players purpose was to ..... drum roll please ....... play a CD. All too many units nowadays are a complete stereo - minus real amplification.

[sr20de4evr]

true true, but if someone doesn't have any external processing, an all-in-one unit would probably be a better choice than a straight forward cd player

[PaulD]

yea ... the top of the line alpines have EQ, crossover and time delay built in. Unfortunately it's a package deal, you have to use pretty much all of it or none of it (except the EQ). If you use the internal crossover, you can't use any other EQ on the whole system. I wish they had a preamp loop.

[RickwithaTbird]

Originally Posted by PaulD

that's almost funny, I thought a CD players purpose was to ..... drum roll please ....... play a CD. All too many units nowadays are a complete stereo - minus real amplification.

well if thats what you want, then theres always "Road Gear" cd players. That and "Durabrand". 0 options. they just play the cd with no options what so ever. If youre lucky they wont even have a button to adjust the clock.... now, seriously.. how can you not like all the abilities a cd player gives you? I know sony aint the Best, but their top end decks have quite a few options, like the DSO (digital soundstage organizer) which works to make the music sound like its coming from 3 different soundstages, and the EQ7, with the customizable equalizer curve from +/- 10 db at 62hz 157 hz 390?hz, 0hz 1 hz 8hz 16hz, adjustable HPF, LPF, then theres that RM option for Reverse or Normal (I still havent figured out what that one does though), the LOUD button, and BBE button (on some), and with all those options you can make it sound how you like. With zero options you just have to like it the way it sounds, and if you dont, then youre SOL. I love every option that makes a difference, so I can make it sound "just right" to me. I especially love the EQ on sonys. Not that I think they are the best, but for the price I paid for them I couldnt get a better deck. The cdx-m630 is a great deal for 200 bucks which I paid a year and a half ago, and then I got another one after I returned it under warranty, for 160, and theres no better cd player for 160 (even 200, and a lot that are 250) that I could find and I looked everywhere.

[PaulD]

gosh, thanx for the insight .... well, off to walmart I go - there's a road master CD player with my name on it