Built like a tank, sounds like life itself

If you asked me to sum up the McIntosh MA9500, I have already written the line. Built like a tank, sounds like life itself. Never yields, never bends, never challenged by anything except Wilson Audio speakers.

The tank part is no metaphor. It came box-in-a-box, the amplifier bolted to a wooden base, even the plastics hand-wrapped around every piece inside. It felt tailor made, like one of my Corneliani suits.

The life part is harder to explain, so I borrow McIntosh's own idea. It is a device built for sound. Period. Made piece by piece, by hand and in house, in New York for over 75 years, it unfolded every detail I needed to compare, evaluate and choose.

And still, I name its limit. With the Yvettes at around 95 dB, I felt for the first time that it had to push itself to deliver what the speakers demanded. The synergy was exceptional, and that is exactly why the limit is worth saying out loud: praise without a limit is just a brochure.

Tank, life, and one honest exception. The exception is the reason you can believe the rest.