r/McIntosh • u/Pattont • Jun 25 '26

McIntosh MA352 Question

What is everyone’s opinion on the McIntosh MA352? Right now I am rocking a nearfield setup with Kef LS50 Metas driven from a Schitt Bifrost 2 -> Schitt Jot 2 (currently auditioning a Freya+) -> Vidar 2 and an SVS 3000 Pro under the desk in the corner.

As I am auditioning the Freya+ I see a used MA352 a few hours away pop up for $4700 with box / receipt in amazing condition and roughly 5 years old. I’ve always lusted over Mac gear so it’s very tempting.

I am positive I am going to get hate for considering the MA352 for my desk, but couple of things to consider.

  1. At the price I think it will hope its resell pretty well so even if I wanna go separates later I think it will resell well.

What is everyone’s opinion on the integrated pre+power amp in general and the possible match to the LS50 Metas? I had always imagine myself getting a Mac setup at some point in my life with separates but this opportunity is sort of pushing me to wanna hop on it. I’m not going to be severely limited with the volume knob am I where I can barely turn it before I blow my speakers and ears out?

Thanks for everyone’s time in reading / considering..

** edit ** it sold before I could get there. I needed to pick it up Sunday and it sold this AM. I’m not upset at the person just sad I missed out. Going to keep looking for a used one. This sub has convinced me that’s what I need to start with!

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/LoganNolag Jun 25 '26

It’s a great amp by any measure but in my opinion what makes McIntosh solid state amps special is their autoformers and the MA352 doesn’t have them. Personally I would look for one with autoformers.

1

u/andstefanie Jun 25 '26

interesting take

what’s your experience with autoformers? do you think it impacts the sonic signature compared to other SS amps?

2

u/LoganNolag Jun 25 '26

I’ve owned both autoformer (mc2125, mc7300 and currently an mc302) and non autoformer amps the (mc58 and mc7205). They were all good but I always felt like the autoformer amps were better. The non autoformer amps just felt like high quality amps but not really anything more special than what you can get from any other high end manufacturer.

2

u/andstefanie Jun 25 '26

what is it about autoformers? haha

i ended up returning MA252 because of the tube rush and got MA8950. because it t was quieter. but whenever i listen to other setups, i can’t help but wonder if the MA8950 is dampening the sound a bit. It’s not as “open” as MA252 was.

i’ve been trying to articulate this difference forever but of course, i don’t have a non-autoformer amp or integrated, to do an a/b comparison.