A Topic for the Audio/Visual Brain Trust

[Rtrorkt]

i am first and foremost a two channel audio guy but i also want to create a reasonable home theater set up. I have been enamored with McIntosh for as long as i can remember. Folks that have the Mac two channel set up love it. In trying to get into home theater with Mac i have found some used control units, primarily the MX 136, that have HDMI connections. Prices on these are around $2500 to $3000.

While at my local shop, the salesperson said that while the MC 136 would be good on the audio side, McIntosh is not great on the video processing. Suggestion was to buy a unit to do just video, with the Mac doing the two channel and home theater audio processing. If i go that way, i can buy an older MC 135 or 134 does not have HDMI inputs but still has theater processing. The older analog units are now available for less than $2000.

Suggestion was to buy a high end Marantz or other similar unit, use it only for video and push the sound through the Mac. If this route actually makes sense are there stand along video processors that would match the quality of the Mac sound? Knowing that part of the McIntosh draw for me is their legendary quality and those cool blue lights, am I fixated on the wrong manufacturer?

Any of this make sense to those if you who know?

[Gogar]

In my opinion most of that "Macintosh" sound you love comes from the power-amp part of things and you would do just fine taking care of the preamp stuff with any nice-quality thing that can do the jobs you want it to do, and get 6 channels of Macintosh power. Have fun!

[908/930]

Depends on what you are trying to accomplish, do you plan to run a projector? you can go directly from the source to projector and run your sound only through a pre amp, do you have a bunch of amps to tie into the MC136 to drive the surround speakers?

[Eric Coffey]

Originally Posted by Gogar

In my opinion most of that "Macintosh" sound you love comes from the power-amp part of things and you would do just fine taking care of the preamp stuff with any nice-quality thing that can do the jobs you want it to do, and get 6 channels of Macintosh power. Have fun!

Sorry, someone had to...

[Eric Coffey]

Originally Posted by Rtrorkt

While at my local shop, the salesperson said that while the MC 136 would be good on the audio side, McIntosh is not great on the video processing. Suggestion was to buy a unit to do just video, with the Mac doing the two channel and home theater audio processing. If i go that way, i can buy an older MC 135 or 134 does not have HDMI inputs but still has theater processing. The older analog units are now available for less than $2000.

Suggestion was to buy a high end Marantz or other similar unit, use it only for video and push the sound through the Mac. If this route actually makes sense are there stand along video processors that would match the quality of the Mac sound? Knowing that part of the McIntosh draw for me is their legendary quality and those cool blue lights, am I fixated on the wrong manufacturer?

Any of this make sense to those if you who know?

I'd agree with Jeremy. You can get a very decent A/V processer/pre-amp set-up for a lot less cash than the Holy McIntosh box(es) will cost you. That said, if the allure of the blue lights is just too overwhelming, I am sure the MX boxes are adequate in the video processing department, if you actually need it. If most/all of your outboard video gear is HDMI with it's own on-board processing, and you are considering an HDMI-capable McIntosh MX (A/V) box, then it probably matters even less. In that scenario, the MX could/would just be a glorified HDMI switcher. You would just need to verify the HDMI "version" and/or capability of the model you are considering. I don't know what the current/latest version is, but if it's at least 2.0, you will be fine for basically everything that is out now (4KHD, 3D pass-through, HDR, etc.).

However, 5-7 channels of McIntosh power doesn't come cheap. So, I guess it depends on your priorities, budget, and the level of hypnosis you are under by those blue lights.

Of course, you could just run 2-ch audio or even "2.1" with a powered sub for everything, until your wallet stops crying. I actually prefer a good 2-ch. set-up for HT, vs. a mediocre (or worse) 5/6/7-ch. set up. YMMV...

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by Eric Coffey

Sorry, someone had to...

Whoops! Sorry