McIntosh MC440 AMP

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $750.00 from ebay

Year / Model Reviewed:
 MC440M & MCC446

Strengths:
Simplicity, power, clean, ULTRA low distortion

Summary:
After long and many errors and trials then finaly I rest asured that these McIntosh amp are among the few best amps. It has tubelike sound, very detail and vivid. I can play any type of music and still everything is sounded well proportioned and lifelike. Simply after hearing many other amps, this McIntosh realy made the GREAT positive listening experience. Have tried many amps before and sofar this the best. I am happy with it , also it is built very tough and clean.

Price Paid:  $600.00 from wholesale

Year / Model Reviewed:
1997 MC431M

Strengths:
To many to list... but the most important strength... Sound Quality. Accuracy. Headroom, lots of headroom.

Weaknesses:
Can't use all 4 inputs at the same time using internal EQ.

Summary:
Let me first start by saying... Yes! This is the best car audio amplifier on the market! Hands down! I have been into car audio for over 15 years now and I have yet to find another product that I talk about more or recommend more. I currently have 6 Mac amps, and will never have a need to buy anything else. I've used a multitude of different speakers, head units, EQ's and other misc. car audio equipment. I still have not found a reason to try a different amp. My original goal was to have the best possible components and sound quality, cost no object. So far nothing has impressed me as much as the McIntosh amps. Dynaudio seems so far to be the best compliments as far as speakers go. Kef Kar and Diamond Audio speakers take 2nd and 3rd place in that dept. Stay clear of McIntosh speakers. They are not a very good compliment for their amps and do not hold their weight to their price. So far the best sub I have used with the Mac mono-block amp (MC443M ) is the Image Dynamics ID Max 12”. I plan on trying the 10” now that it’s available. I have used the JL’s… many of them. Always disappointed. Kicker is good if you like 1-note bass, horrible if you like music. Kef Kar 8” and 10” are fantastic and fast, but try to find em! It’s like trying to find a mint condition Babe Ruth rookie card at a garage sale for $.25, not going to happen. I’ll quit rambling now and get back to the amp. The mc431m seems to sound unbelievable with everything I play on it. I listen to mostly jazz and classic rock, but sometimes switch over to easy listening and sometimes will even throw in some techno music. These amps always seem to impress. Another reviewer here said to try a class d amp for bass instead of Mac. That is B.S. My mc443m’s will put out a hefty 800watts into a 1ohm load and never overheat or shut down. If you ever get a chance to listen to a class A amp on an efficient sub like the ID Max or a Dynaudio sub…. Do it and get ready to smile. You will never hear better bass. Louder, yes, but not better. The McIntosh amps might not win you any SPL competitions, but you will be sure to astonish everybody that listens to your system… Worth every penny and then some!

Similar Products Used:
Alpine, Eclispe, Diamond Audio, Soundstream, Orion, Linear Power, Nakamichi....

Price Paid:  $1700.00 from Audiowaves

Year / Model Reviewed:
2003 MCC404

Strengths:
It knows when it's clipping and it suppresses it. Large deep casing and two cooling fans for efficient thermal management. Amazing sound quality.

Weaknesses:
People won't understand why you spent so much on an amp. Especially your wife or gf. You might have to cut her loose. This amp is far more satisfying than any woman anyways. Trust me. :D

Summary:
I hate to start off with the cliche statement of "This is absolutely the best amplifier I've ever owned", but I'm afraid it's true. I've read a lot of good reviews of McIntosh, but I figured it could just be due to the fact that after a person spends that much money on a piece of equipment, they feel psychologically compelled to say it's a great product. How else would someone justify dropping that kind of dough? Well after hooking this amp up, I must say that I truly did hear a drastic difference. I'm not the type to fool myself either because if I had thought it sounded about the same, I'd just shrug my shoulders and remember not to spend that kind of cash in the future. But this amp really does stand out, especially at high volumes. All of the frequencies are crystal clear and smooth. On other amps I've owned, certain frequencies would somewhat drown out or there would be a bit of a raspyness in the higher frequencies at high volumes. This was not due to clipping either as I always use an oscilloscope to set my gains. Speaking of oscilloscopes, I hooked mine up to this amp when I installed it only to find out it already knows when its clipping. Not only that, it suppresses the clipping to make sure it never gets to your loudspeakers. I put in my test CD and turned my head unit volume to max and began to adjust the gain on this amp. Just as soon as the wave peak started to clip on my scope, the power guard light came on on the amp. I don't even need a scope to set up this amp! I absolutely love that. I've never found another car amplifier that had a feature like that. Another great thing about this amp is its thermal management abilities. The casing is extra large and deep to allow heat to dissipate much more quickly and there are two cooling fans for when you're really pushing it. I've drove around with this baby cranked for over an hour and it never cut out. That's a problem I've had with most every other 4 channel amp I've owned(PPI, Hifonics, Eclipse). I run my entire system off a single 4 chan amp(front stage and subs), and the other amps would cut out after about 30 minutes or less of pushing them hard. And all but one of my previous owned amps continued to cut out after about an hour or so even after I added external fans(My old hifonics olympus VIII never cut out again after I added fans). Two common problems with car amplifiers are clipping and heat management. This McIntosh has taken care of both of those problems. As if the sound quality, the excellent thermal management qualities, and the ability to know when its clipping and then to suppress it weren't enough, this amp is also has balls when it comes to driving subwoofers. Unlike the older McIntosh amps, this amp will double its power when impedance is halved. So out of just one pair of channels, you get 400 watts in bridged mode. Unless you're just a die hard bass head(and if you are, why would you buy McIntosh?), you won't need any more power for your subs than what this amp delivers. I'm just glad I'm no longer driving a hatchback else the bass would be overwhelming. Overall, this amp is worth every penny I paid and then some. If you're considering getting one of these amps, don't let the price deter you. It's worth it. And if you can't quite afford it, start selling your stuff on ebay until you can. Sell your car and get a cheaper car. Get rid of your wife(those things can be serious financial drains). Do whatever you need to do to get this amp(within legal means) and I promise you won't be dissapointed.

Similar Products Used:
Hifonics, PPI, MTX, Eclipse

Price Paid:  $1700.00 from Audiowaves

Year / Model Reviewed:
2003 MCC404

Strengths:
Everything

Weaknesses:
Nothing

Summary:
This is absolutely the best amp I've ever owned. I use to have to drag out my oscilloscope to set the gains on my amps to ensure no distortion, but this amp automatically knows when there's distortion. Set your head unit to max volume with a test CD and start turning the gains up until the little power guard light comes on and then back it off a little and you're good to go. Also, not only does it know when there's distortion, it suppresses the distortion as well so it never makes it to your speakers. As if that wasn't genius enough, this amp has excellent thermal management. The extra deep casing and two built in cooling fans ensure this baby will never overheat on you. I've cranked my system hard and it continues to play loud and clean for as long as I want. Also, unlike the older McIntosh amps such as the mc420m, mc431m, mc440m, this amp will double its output power when the impedance is halved. This makes it an ideal amp for running a nice component set on the front two channels and a powerful subwoofer on the rear channels. It is by far the cleanest amp I've ever heard. I've owned PPI(the older american made good stuff), Hifonics(also the older american made good stuff), Eclipse, and MTX amplifiers which all sounded really good. I thought that people that buy these expensive McIntosh amps just felt obligated to say they sounded better so they could justify to themselves spending an obscene amount of money. But I assure you it's not psychological. This amp really does sound A LOT better and it's EASY to notice. It's definitely worth every penny as there is no other amp out there like it.

Similar Products Used:
Hifonics, PPI, MTX, Eclipse

Price Paid:  $400.00 from ebay

Year / Model Reviewed:
 mc 440

Strengths:
everything. very easy to hook up. sounds great, has fans built in to kept cool. the tech support is THE BEST I HAVE DEALT WITH, i didnt have a manual come with mine and i called up to the offices and a nice lady answerd the phone, she then went to the back and found one. she then went on to mail it to me. one of the best amps i used, if not the best, and the people are also the best.

Weaknesses:
none

Summary:
i got this baby for $500 on ebay last summer. i didnt get a chance to hook it up until november, and since then i been almost completly happy. i have read some reviews on it and all i saw was positive and completly happy people, so i thought i could not go wrong with it. currently i am using a pair of a/d/s speakers. they sound so much cleaner with this amp, i used a ppi amp just to compare. the only problem is the speakers cant handle that much power, so when i get around to getting a beter set of speakers i wll update this and let yall know how it worked out

Similar Products Used:
cant really say, the amp so far has been the best i used.