Meet The McIntosh MA252 Hybrid Integrated Amplifier

If you like your amps premium, high quality, stylish, retro, and expensive, then the newly announced McIntosh MA252 hybrid integrated amplifier is vying for your attention.

This is the company’s first amp of this kind, and takes cues from another retro creation, the MC275 valve amplifier. It combines the valve circuit and technologies in a stylish and powerful package that is hard to beat.

The MA252 is McIntosh’s first valve product to come with its patented Power Guard technology that monitors and adjust the output and input signals in real time in order to prevent audio distortion.

As is part and parcel of the valve deal, the MA252 features heatsinks that are connected to output transistors. These reduce warm-up time when the amplifier is first powered on. And since this is a purely analog device, its rear panel features two unbalanced, one balanced, and a phono input.

To go with a subwoofer output.

The preamplifier stage of the MA252 houses two 12AX7a and two 12AT7 valves inside protective cages, while the solid-state output stage is capable of delivering 100 or 160 watts-per-channel, into 8 ohms or 4 ohms respectively.

But the awesomeness doesn’t end here.

Around the front of the stainless-steel chassis sits an OLED display that indicates details like input selection, bass, treble, balance, tone bypass, input offset levels. You can control all these via either the front panel knobs or the supplied remote.

The McIntosh MA252 is priced at $3,500, is available for preorder now, and is expected to start shipping later this month.

You can find out more details on this impressive creation here.