For some thirty years I have wanted McIntosh gear. Finally biting the bullet with the MA-6600 HD tuner installed, it is awesome. It makes everything sound better.
The room smaller then I would have wished has dedicated 20 amp lines run for the equipment. A cozy 14 by 15 feet with 8 foot ceiling. I used sound proofing for the ceiling in my basement hide away as my wife puts it. Made the mistake of not making the room bigger for my purposes. In this basement conversion I should have been a little more selfish. School banners from my son s colleges and some of my favorite artwork aid in treating the room.
Surround sound duties are picked up by the fine sounding Act 3 and 5 class A sound processor and 5 channel amp. Acurus was the first brand proving to me that there can indeed be a difference is the sound of solid state gear. Using separate speaker cables to switch the VSA speakers to combine in use with the James center channel and Wharfedale back speakers. A Velodyne VA 810 brings it low. Video by a 60 inch plasma and blue ray player by Vizio.
The heart of the system, set for stereo, the MA-6600 combines with the balanced output ShengYa CD-S10CSII, a tubed compact disc player and Technics turntable, with Nakamichi cassette deck, along with a Teac cd recorder. Apple TV acts as my music server accessing itunes in iCloud. Sounding great via the addition of the XDR-1 Emotiva DAC. Added the Emotiva a-100 amplifier to power the secondary output of the MA6600.
Perhaps over the years I have been way too much in love with this hobby, but it has been a true joy.
Glad to see you finally fulfilled your wish for McIntosh gear. Now that you have a good start, you might want to consider other McIntosh gear as time goes on...