Since the COVID-19 pandemic, and perhaps for five plus years before, there has been an unforeseen rise in the availability of uber-high-end audiophile equipment. By this, I mean really big, really powerful, really exotic and really expensive components, often costing $20,000, $50,000, $100,000 or, in some cases, much more. Many of the companies that sell these amazingly expensive components are new players to this lofty segment of the audiophile market, including but not limited to CH Precision, T+A, Soulution, Aavik, Vinnie Rossi. D’Agostino and a handful of others. That’s not to say that the more establishment brands like Linn, Audio Research, Gryphon, Boulder, Ayre, Bricasti and others aren’t playing in this rarified space, because they are. One player that unsurprisingly has been rocking it hard with an absolute premium level of audiophile components way before it became trendy is McIntosh.
Enter the McIntosh MC1.25 KW monoblock power amplifiers. Priced at $13,500 each ($27,000 for the pair – I was able to do the math on that one), this is the penultimate amp in the McIntosh line. Yes, McIntosh makes a multi-chassis monoblock amp that is even fancier and more outrageous called the MC2.1KW, with roughly 2,000 watts for those who just can’t get by with the mere 1,200-plus watts into eight ohms that you get from the McIntosh MC1.25 KW monoblocks. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” is fine for politics, but it is total bullshit in our audiophile world. To get the best, most exciting visceral sound, you want a lot of headroom in your power amplifier, and these McIntosh mono amps deliver big-time. I would counter the above cliché with one from NASCAR, in that there’s no replacement for displacement. Let’s get down to some racing, shall we?
What Makes the McIntosh MC1.25 KW Mono Amplifiers So Special?
- This iteration of the McIntosh MC1.25 mono amplifiers is a 75th Anniversary Edition, thus, unlike earlier (pre-2024) versions, these amps have a special logo etched on the silver handles. In case the McIntosh MC1.25 KW amps weren’t distinctive enough, this detail takes these amps over the top – far above the really cool-looking bluish-green meters.
- Power to spare is quite an understatement when it comes to the McIntosh MC1.25 KW amps. Something that I’ve never seen before in decades of reviewing, selling and loving high-end audio gear is a rating of the same power output (wattage) at eight ohms, four ohms, and even two ohms. Realistically, you would have a hard time finding a two-ohm speaker in the modern world that would be reasonably matched with the McIntosh MC1.25 KWs, but it is reassuring to know that you could if you wanted to do so. Also, none of us listen at anywhere near the levels needed to use more than, say, 30 watts of power, so why do you “need” 1,200 watts? That massive reserve of power is for ultra-fast dynamic moments and/or having headroom that results in a system that never sounds stressed or pushed to its limits. Respectfully, you’d go legitimately deaf long before you reached the limits of these powerhouse amplifiers.
- The binding posts on the McIntosh MC1.25 KW are really well-engineered. Too many amps try to get too fancy here and fail – even in the high end. McIntosh’s binding posts are wonderfully made and super-easy to use.
- The build quality of the McIntosh MC1.25 KW is second to none in the audiophile world. The metal work is exquisite on the McIntosh MC1.25 KW. The heat sinks make even the coolest vintage amps (I think Threshold or early Krell when I daydream on this topic) jealous. No human being on Earth can reasonably argue that these amps aren’t beyond over-engineered, which is exactly what a prospective client at this price point is looking for.
- The rated distortion on the McIntosh MC1.25 KW is 0.005 percent, which is pretty low. That’s McIntosh’s measurements, but that’s low by any way of looking at it and, at these prices, one has every right to expect such gaudy stats.
- The protection circuit in the McIntosh MC1.25 KW doesn’t use fuses, which can save you some serious grief if you ever have an issue with power surges or what have you. Nobody wants to be changing out fuses to get the music playing again, and the McIntosh MC1.25 KW keeps you rocking, even if things get a little weird in your audiophile system.
- Let’s not kid each other: the look of these amps is often what sells them, and they are about as outrageous a statement in industrial design as you can find. The meters are pure McIntosh. The knobs are a throwback to the past. Under the hood, this amp is a modern masterpiece.
Why Should You Care About the McIntosh MC1.25 KW Power Amps?
The client for the McIntosh MC1.25 KW is a very advanced audiophile looking for to make a big physical statement in their audiophile system. These amps can be rack-mounted, which is a perk, but most of the McIntosh MC1.25 KWs sold likely will be placed on the floor next to some pretty fancy speakers (McIntosh would like those to be Sonus fabers, but there are many others that fit the bill nicely).
Car analogies can be clichés, but the McIntosh MC1.25 KW are best described as a v12 powerplant with a huge displacement. Do you need the AMG version? This client does. Would a standard S-Class get you going a socially responsible 150 MPH on an autobahn? Yes, but it isn’t quite as cool as sitting in the back of a Maybach. This is more for the guy who doesn’t get insecure in the Maybach section of the Mercedes dealer.
Some Things You Might Not Like About the McIntosh McIntosh MC1.25 KW
- The knobs on the front of the McIntosh MC1.25 KW are dated-looking. They don’t do much, and they look kinda clunky, even if they are featured on other, even more expensive McIntosh power amps. For the guy who has been in love with the look and feel of McIntosh since he first saw the brand’s gear, perhaps at the PX in Vietnam while buying a copy of Axis Bold as Love, the retro-vibe of the knobs might be an attraction. The next generation of buyers might find them clunky. Count me in that second group of potential buyers.
- At 158 pounds unboxed, the McIntosh MC1.25 KW amps technically can be rack-mounted, assuming that you can find two strong people to physically life such enormous amps. I am not kidding you when I tell you, don’t you dare trying to lift a McIntosh MC1.25 KW mono amp. Seriously. You will hurt yourself without fail. Also, if you do rack these amps somehow, make sure that the shelves are rated for such a heavy/dense component, as they actually could bend your rack rails or break a rack shelf. They are that heavy.
- The McIntosh MC1.25 KW amps are a fully balanced Class-AB design, which is pretty standard. Other amps in this price category get into more exotica, such as high-voltage rails inside of T+A amps. Today’s Class-D amps don’t offer this volume of power output, but they are the cat’s meow at present. Tubes have their own appeal, and that is very germane to the McIntosh lineage, but these amps are not tubes, although they are voiced to sound a little bit like tubes. Class-A amps drink power from the wall and they create insane levels of heat, but their slightly sweet-sounding yet uber-resolute sound is compelling in products like those from Pass Labs.
Listening to the McIntosh MC1.25 KW Mono Power Amplifiers …
I got a chance to do my listening on these “please don’t send them to my house” review samples on my reference Bowers & Wilkins 802 D4 speakers, the really swanky $9,000 McIntosh C2800 tube stereo preamp (review pending), and a BlueSound Node 2024 music streamer (no room correction in play, of course) as a source. Nearly every track that I listened to was from QoBuz.
When I visited the McIntosh House of Sound in the Chelsea part of Lower Manhattan, I was given the rock star treatment, which was beyond fun. They will do this for you, too, if your local McIntosh dealer sets this up for you. They played me a Nicki Minaj track that was a pretty good pop demo. I sheepishly asked if I could suggest a different track. We spooled up Beyoncé’s cover of The Beatles’ “Blackbird,” which was recorded during COVID with an unlimited budget, which resulted in a track that is pure audiophile gold that appeals to everybody from Boomers to Gen Alpha. Lennon and McCartney have that kind of cross-generational appeal and Beyoncé is pretty clearly the female voice of our generation. The center imaging of Queen B on “Blackbird” was jaw-dropping. The absurd excess of power made the massively layered vocal tracks have even more depth. While not as large of a soundstage as what I heard in the McIntosh experience center, the sound on the $750,000 less-expensive Bowers & Wilkins speakers was equally impressive. The subtle percussive tapping on the acoustic guitar helps keep time in the song and, with the McIntosh MC1.25 KW amps in the loop, you could almost feel said tapping.
Let’s run with my tapping comment from above, as well as stick with the concept of a modern cover of a classic rock song. Marcin Patrzalek’s (he goes by just Marcin) version of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” is an instant audiophile classic demo track. If you aren’t yet hip to Marcin, this young Polish man is part Eddie Van Halen, with the two-handed tapping on his acoustical guitar. He is also part Alex Van Halen, as he too (like the Beyoncé track before) uses his acoustic guitar as a percussion instrument, as there are no drums on this track. There is bass and, with the McIntosh MC1.25 KW in play, resulted in a note of “OMG” in my Moleskine book. Contrary to popular thought, the bass guitar doesn’t extend to super-low-frequency ranges. Most experts suggest it is limited to about 41 Hz, but it wasn’t the depth that caught my attention with the McIntosh MC1.25 KW amps, it was the control. The bass drivers of the Bowers & Wilkins 802 D4s couldn’t have been happier with the massive reserves of power that they can deliver. I like that visceral, palpable sound in an audio system, and the solid-state McIntosh MC1.25 KW amps provide that with the best of the best out there at any price.
Perhaps the most ambitious cover song in the history of recorded music is Tom Morello’s cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile” from the Comandante record. From QoBuz, this bombastic shred fest leaves no question as to what instrument that I play (poorly). Remember the warning about potentially going deaf from earlier? This is the track where I foolishly tried to break my own rule. The meters on the McIntosh MC1.25 KWs were swaying with this all-out sonic tribute to the greatest guitar player to ever walk the Earth. Right around the 3:00 mark, you hear the track break down to a highly-processed signature Morello (right from a Rage Against the Machine song, you pick the one) quirky-squeaky but cool guitar tone. It doesn’t take long before the track explodes into a full-force jam, with the levels pushed to the max. The McIntosh MC1.25 KW amps just kind of laughed at me, saying (if amps could talk), “Is that all you got, Jerry?” Yes, that’s it, amps. Stream this track into your system, and tell me what you think about it on your system via moderated comments here or via email. I am betting that you will like it.
Will the McIntosh MC1.25 KW Monoblock Power Amps Hold Their Value?
All McIntosh gear does well currently on the resale market, and these amps being a special edition makes them rarer and maybe even somewhat collectable. There will always be somebody who would like to have this level of power driving their audiophile speakers and, with distribution via the best custom installers, many of the best audiophile salons, and national reach via Best Buy’s in-store Magnolia salons, many people know about and dream of owning McIntosh electronics. This is a lot of money to invest in power amplifiers, but you are never going to lose your ass on owning reference power amps like these.
What Is the Competition for the McIntosh MC1.25 KW Power Amps?
Let’s start with the bigger brother product from McIntosh, which is the MC2.1KW, three-chassis power amp. These amps, priced at $100,000 per pair, are a big step up, but if you’ve got close to $30,000 for an extreme power amplifier, why not go all the way crazy and get the best of the best? Do you need 2,000 watts of power? No. Nor do you need 1,200 watts per channel of power. Both amps are excessive, which is exactly what the customer for the McIntosh MC1.25 KW is looking for.
At $42,000 per pair, the two-chassis Pass Labs XA200.8 power amps represent a more “close to the master tape” style of audiophile amplifier. You don’t get as much power per se, but you get more than enough headroom to benefit from what the McIntosh MC1.25 KW brings to the table at 1,200 watts per channel. Nelson’s designs drink power from the wall and create a lot of heat. That’s the downside. Their meters are way cooler looking to me, and the Pass Labs sound is more exacting. The McIntosh sound is more of a crowd pleaser, in that it has a bit of a softer vibe, especially when using a tube preamp as I did for this review setup.
Final Thoughts on the McIntosh MC1.25KW Power Amplifiers …
It is amazing that the thought that, at $27,000 a pair, the McIntosh MC1.25 KW monaural audiophile amplifiers aren’t insanely expensive actually crossed my mind. If you were to ask a thousand mainstream consumers at, say, the Mall of the Americas if a stereo amp is expensive at $27,000 a pair, you likely will get 990-plus people saying yes. The other 10 people likely will have just fallen over dead from shock. In the audiophile hobby, there are now integrated amps that cost more than these monster reference-grade power amps.
With the McIntosh MC1.25 KW, you get about the coolest implementation of McIntosh’s no-holds-barred technology in a package that delivers on their iconic industrial design. I can’t think of a pair of modern speakers that an audiophile would consider pairing with the McIntosh MC1.25 KW that they couldn’t drive with ease. Hell, if you were into vintage audio and dug up some early 1980s Acoustat electrostatic speakers, or perhaps some early 1990s THIEL CS5.1 speakers – both of which boasted crazy low impedances of around two ohms – the McIntosh MC1.25 KW wouldn’t hiccup at the challenge. Simply put, there isn’t anything that the McIntosh MC1.25 KW power amps can’t drive.
The sonic allure of the McIntosh MC1.25 KWs is that they are not too extreme in their voicing. The appeal of the McIntosh MC1.25 KW amps is that they are a more of a crowd-pleaser that plays well with all qualities of recordings, from varied audiophile sources ranging from HD digital tracks to lower dynamic vinyl and more. These amps have an ever-so-slightly soft sound that makes lesser source material sound a perhaps a bit more pleasing. For gleamingly awesome recordings like the Beyoncé one used in the Listening section of this review, you will be in for a true sonic treat, as these amps deliver everything you need to not just hear your music, but also feel the emotion. That’s not easy to accomplish, but for the price of $27,000 per pair, the McIntosh MC1.25 KWs deliver in spades.
