CES 2012

McIntosh Pre-Pro Does AirPlay at Half the Price

Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 11, 2012

The new McIntosh MX121 pre-pro is, at $6000, half the price of its predecessor. And it's got AirPlay!—along with the updated HDMI connectivity and video versatility you'd expect. McIntosh also did a very impressive two-channel demo featuring its XR100 floorstanding speaker, a four-way design featuring a super-tweeter, two mid-tweeters, eight midranges, and four woofers for a mere $10,000/pair. Build quality is over the top: the tweeters have the kind of voice coils you'd expect to see mated with a 10-inch woofer. Surging strings were detailed in an almost three-dimensional sense. If you think McIntosh is just another pretty fascia, you should hear these speakers. Also shown was the Anniversary 275 stereo tube amp, so called because only 275 will be made.

COMMENTS
mweston's picture
Submitted by mweston on January 11, 2012 - 3:09pm

Was there an update to MX 150- like a MX 160? Any new amplifiers shown?

Mark Fleischmann's picture
Submitted by Mark Fleischmann on January 11, 2012 - 4:44pm
An MC8207 stereo amp was shown, 7 x 200 watts into 8 ohms, and it remains consistent down to 4 ohms.
mweston's picture
Submitted by mweston on January 12, 2012 - 9:42pm

Just saw a video that was titled Mcintosh's digital amp. All that was talked about was the MX 121 pre pro and no elaboration on what is is different from its big brother. The nice close up of the MC 8207 showed the new all electronic meters without any moving parts. It looks cheap and no wow factor. Instead the new meter should have had a segmented arc sweep of electric blue LEDS. Mcintosh enthusiasts will probably have a cow over it. I am not so rigidly dogmatic about Mcintosh making design changes when it comes to cosmetics. I liked the 3D glass fronts for example. A return to the drafting board is in order for these meters.

mikicasellas's picture
Submitted by mikicasellas on January 31, 2013 - 10:21am

Hello Mark,

I am looking for a processor to upgrade my Anthem MRX 700,

The McIntosh MX 121 is interesting in deed, and i dont know why but the Anthem D2V it has been always my goal to achieve...now i'm considering this unit, how do they compare?

Some dealers said to me that the MX 121 is better sound wise and better scalable. Some other said to me the D2V is clear the winner and better build...

Could you please give me a hint on this?

Best regards

Miguel Casellas

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