mcintosh

Turn your iPhone into a McIntosh

McIntosh makes high-end, expensive audio components that most people can't afford but wish they could. Now the company is offering up something free to iPhone and iPod Touch users who want to bring a little old-school McIntosh flair to their devices: an audio player app that's skinned with the "legendary" McIntosh analog blue meter.

The app description reads:

McIntosh Labs is proud to introduce the AP1 Audio Player--the first digital product from the legendary audio experts. The AP1 offers iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch owners the ability to listen to and playback music from their digital … Read more

Park Avenue Audio, a kinder and gentler high-end store

When I first met Dennis Yetikyel at Park Avenue Audio last year, I didn't realize he was the owner of the store. He's so laid-back and easygoing I just thought he was one of the guys who worked there. The store was founded in 1976 as a family business by Yetikyel's granddad, so it's definitely a mainstay in the New York City high-end audio scene. Yetikyel started working at Park when he was 16; he now heads a staff of eighteen people.

Park has a welcoming vibe and a carefully selected roster of brands for its … Read more

McIntosh, 60 years on!

Apple was founded in 1976; McIntosh Laboratories goes all the way back to 1949.

Computers get old really fast, while TVs age a bit more gracefully. But there's not much of a collectors market for old TVs or computers, at least by people who use them on a daily basis. Face it: computers, iPods, and TVs are disposable technology, while the useful working life of great audio designs is measured in decades. Many decades. Case in point: McIntosh's classic designs from the 1960s still fetch big dollars. Which is why buying really good stuff makes sense.

I doubt Apple will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Apple II in 2037 with a commemorative reissue, and I can't imagine Sony announcing plans to offer Trinitron CRT TVs anytime soon. Audiophiles still covet classic tube and solid-state electronics, and pay big bucks for good condition originals.

Which brings us to McIntosh's 60th anniversary limited-edition reissues of its legendary amplifiers, the 75-watt MC75 monoblock tube amplifier (modeled after the original 1961 version) and the C22 stereo preamplifier (originally introduced in 1962). … Read more

Denon, Marantz, McIntosh, and Boston Acoustics are on the sales block

As reported in Bloomberg.com D & M Holdings Inc, makers of Denon, Marantz, McIntosh, Snell Acoustics, Boston Acoustics, and Escient, is on the sales block. I can't comment on the business aspects of the deal, but speaking as an audiophile I'm concerned. These companies are in the upper echelons of audio, the Marantz name goes back 50 years, McIntosh has been building some of the world's best electronics in Binghamton, New York for 60 years, I was a friend of Peter Snell, the founder of Snell Acoustics, and the D & M Holdings owned company still … Read more

The value of things: a great hi-fi vs. a $23,000 Yves Saint Laurent sweater

Perusing the August 26th Sunday New York Times Style Magazine, ogling the latest in women's fashion, my mind wanders. Apparently there's an insatiable market for luxury apparel; the 316 page issue is jam-packed with goodies like a $3,495 Chanel Jersey Handbag and a freaky looking $5,390 Louis Vuitton Feather Necklace. Then again, if you really want to make that special someone really happy, go for the $26,500 Hermes Sable-and-Crocodile Kelly Muff or perhaps something more practical like the $23,155 Yves Saint Laurent sweater embroidered by Lesage. I'm sure it's all splendid couture, … Read more