Paying for a Name? Mcintosh XR50 Speaker Review.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.ย. 2024
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At 79 db sensitivity, these speakers are really made for mclntosh amp with 300 wpc.
Plus the faceplate on the speaker glows when connected to a McIntosh amp.
Talk about low sensitivity!
81 according to the specs. They sing with 100 watts.
Nice to see McIntosh getting some detailed measurements! Not surprisingly, seems the bulk of the price is in the aesthetics and enclosure as you said.
How in the world do you 1-have enough time to add such details in your reviews, and 2-have the knowledge to make charts with drop down arrows and other visual aids? Amazing! Just excellent stuff bro!
Thanks Erin. Your reviews are so well done and I like thr way you use the measurements to identify what you are hearing.
Thanks for the feedback!
I have a pair of these and an MA-252 Amp. My room is about 12x12 with a stone floor. Together, with the lower sensitivity and 100 watts, they sound amazing. Enough bass to not really need a sub. It truly makes a "wall of sound" to my ears. But remember, everything is subjective. I was willing to take a chance and they are fantastic Together. Mostly a vinyl guy who has about 500 in the discotheque in my closet. I am very happy with my decision to pair them together. And the fit & finish are second to none. ❤
I was wondering what they would sound like in the perfect setup. Sounds like you nailed it. I never heard them. I find that my powered JBL lsr 305 when set up correctly have better presence and imaging then my Paradigm speakers (reference studio series) I am considering going way up in quality on midfield studio monitors instead of spending the money on a new set of bookshelf's.
I remember my first time hearing a pair of studio monitors that were powered (meaning they are perfectly amplified and matched) how they blew my mind. I could hear details I never heard in a song before. As a HiFi enthusiast I chase that. There is something to the JBL LSR series and their bowtie waveguide for the Tweeter. The Tweeter goes down to 1200 hertz I believe which is considerably low they say and that allows the precise imaging and presence. They are sensitive to how much toe in and do like to be away from the wall as they are rear ported. The one thing I immediately recognized was that when I was to the right of the right speaker so that both speakers are to my left, I could hear both very well. The paradigms don't do that. Just my 2 cents about a really affordable speaker that is a nice tool to have for setting up your main stereo system doing a comparison in sound between the two. Thank you for your good write up on your setup and how you really were impressed with them. I knew they had a purpose and a perfect match to sound great. My main amp is a Marantz SR7002. antique but decent sound and power. I only use it for stereo and it does have a direct button. I prefer without direct as it has sound field correction and eq on board. I am eventually going to get a parametric eq as there is nothing in the world that can do what they do. I have used one professionally and they make any speaker sound fantastic with some knowledge and good ears. Have a good day! - Cheers
I used my Kenwood receiver and Klipsch speakers for 30 years before this. I (kind of) was around before vintage was vintage. Thanks for the reply.
Always been curious about those speakers. The brand's speakers never seemed to be as popular as their gear.
I am a XR50 owner, and I have really been looking forward to somebody reviewing this set of speakers. I judge this review to be not good nor too bad. I do run by XR50´s with the c53 and two MC611 in a 12x15 feet well treated room. Being 60 years old, and having a couple of set ups in my journey before this, I must say it sounds pretty good. I do listen mostly to Classic Jazz and Rock Pop from the analog times, in addition to electronica music. Also having gone from a Burmester set up, which also sounded great, to the current one I really do enjoy the musicality of current set up. But again, as much I enjoy the the good sound coming out of the XR50´s, I wonder if anybody, and I mean anybody have som suggestions to an upgrade to the xr50´s. I am very curious about the Reference 1 Meta of course as Erin did review as of lately. And by the way keep up the good work!
I've had a huge interest in loudspeakers and sound reproduction since I was a young teen, late 1960's that is, and built my first pair of speakers around 1968. I always saw McIntosh as mid quality speakers, using cheap drivers and lots of them with high prices that weren't justified by the parts cost. Not much has changed over the years really.
Fair honest review, as usual. It’s shocking to me that anyone would buy these over priced v-shaped sounded speakers, but there are lots of people out there with more money than brains
What is the "V Shape sound and what is your basis? Sincerely interested.
@@watchingoil
A v shaped sound emphasizes both highs and lows and the midrange tends to be thin
Those Aurasound 2" drivers have an internal resonance in a1600 Hz range. And it seems that it also shows itself here. Many people complain about that ringing. But the good thing for DIYers is that it could be fixed with a (dense) wool plug in a back cavity of the driver.
Test a Tekton speaker! Tekton has a similar philosophy as McIntosh: multiple tweeter sized drivers for the midrange. Very curious if their claims of flat response for a good price is true.
I’d be happy to. Reach out to them and ask them to send me some speakers for review.
There's no way these speakers are worth $2,000 a piece no way!
McIntosh tax
Thanks for explaining how to read the graphs and how it relates to sound.
Yep those aura whispers are nice except for their sensitivity which being so small is in keeping with the law of physics, I've made quite a few good designs with them.
If they were mine, Erin would Klippeled the mids and tweeter and we would make new x-over for them. Midwoofer looks rather uninspiring for the price - stamped frame. But it has tons of bass, at the expense of efficiency - nothing is free. Maybe 1dB more midrange and 3dB less above 4kHz would bring things in line. Just a thought...
Its funny because I just got done watching a video where someone was trying to say that top shelf speakers tend to sound more neutral than anything. Very interesting!
As soon as my wife heard your take about wanting McIntosh gear she yelled out "That's You!!!" I want a Mac Amp or integrated Amp with meters sooo bad.
😂😂
I always liked the McIntosh components, even splurged on one of their integrated amplifiers. However, I found that I could never warm up to their speakers. This review kind of gives me an idea as to why. Thanks for taking the time to post it. Great job.
Thanks.
Thank you for your review. I have been looking for comments about these speakers by other listeners. When I first received these speakers, I too was bothered by high frequency sibilance and loved the bass. However, as these speakers have broken in, the sibilance has gradually lessened. (Or I am getting used to the sound.) I have owned them for about two months and drive them with Threshold amp and preamp, pure class A 50 watts per channel which is more than adequate. I think I will hold on to them for a while.
You’re definitely getting used to it if that is the only other alternative. These are the stores demo units and have been used for a number of years.
I admire the durability of this brand.... that's about it. Masculine looking but never at a great pricing point.
It'll be interesting to see how they reinvent themselves in the coming years. I mean, my impression is they've been serving the same group of people since the 70's. Their reputation is based on perfecting what was the state of the art hifi in the 70's. But I don't think that'll keep them going forever!
"If you do this, then it's becomes bearable.." - This is damning with faint praise.
Kudos on the Bucket List Dream.. Im sure it'll happen eventually. I think we know a few people at Mac that can help you.
Great review! Tech measurements really show that the speakers are fatally flawed. Not what you should expect at the price ! Thanks for the honesty, it really helps. Pity Mac think that by the time you can afford them, you probably have reduced hf hearing. Would probably be a suitable candidate for conversion to active, allowing dsp to correct the failings.
Erin you sound so enthusiastic about the patent on the mid woofer :) lol
Best t-shirts in the audio testing game. Period.
I used to make my own in high school because no one else was making cool ones. Now that the internet is a real thing, I don't have that problem. :)
Now that your review is at the end, the curve looks like the fletcher munson loudness curve. If so, maybe it was meant to be listened to at low levels. Another thought is the frequency response of tube amps depends alot on the speaker impedance curve / transformer tap interactivity. Maybe the impedance of the speaker when connected to a particular tap of one of their tube amps flattens out the high end.
Ugg. I really expected more from this brand. Seems like changing a few HF crossover components would improve this speaker a bunch.
Hi Erin, I'm just entering the audiophile world and, as a science inclined person, found your channel to be a beacon of hope amid all the subjective babble other "reviewers" put out, especially since I won't be able to listen to the speakers before buying them. That said, do you think it makes sense to consider the speaker's sensitivity in terms of the higher amplifier power (i.e., cost) needed to drive it? Since the dB scale is logarithmic (and if my math is correct), a 3dB difference is sensitivity equals about twice the voltage to achieve the same sound power. Does lower sensitivity = more expensive amp to the same sound power make sense?
Thanks and thanks for watching! I think it makes perfect sense to consider the sensitivity/power combination when shopping.
In general, moving large-ish speakers several feet away from the back wall and, preferably, the side wall will give a MUCH improved outcome.
Thanks again for what you do. I'm going to post in every review. Please review Paradigm Founder 100h's and Arendal 1723 :)
gloss finish is so 1990s. These guys need to get with the times.
Discussing and/or trying different amplifiers would help get a better picture of that high treble.
McIntosh isnt exactly known for being overly bright sounding. They seem to aim for smooth...slightly rolled off highs. Good for rock etc.
As always, there are many brands that cater to the audiophile who measures frequencies to analyse what he hears. Who checks for the very best capacitors and all that stuff...
Really appreciate this thorough review and measurements. However let's be clear here. Audio is very subjective hobby. One man's bright is another man neutral or another man's warmth. Coming from Harbeth M30.2 and Kef Ls50 Meta to Zu Supreme and everything in between , these are the most impressive speaker I've heard so far. Quality amplification is crucial at this level and you will need at least 75 good watts, preferably more if you listen louder. Coming from all McIntosh tube system the imaging, soundstage and deep bass are amazing. Combine this with very relaxed mids and highs and you have a very impressive speaker for the money. The other thing is if you buy from brick and mortar dealer you can often bargain for better price as well. The deep bass is so impressive in my room that I've deactivated the sub and don't feel like I'm missing much.
Sure. But you have the data to know what I’m talking about when I say x/y/z. That’s better than guessing. 🙂
@@ErinsAudioCorner This is one of those examples where the measurements can only tell you so much. You need to go audition for yourself in your own system to form your own conclusion. It's funny because both Kef Ls50 Meta and Harbeth M30.2 are very well respected and reviewed speakers but I believe in my system the McIntosh speaker are the most impressive and satisfying and the ones that I'll settle with for now unless there is an update down the line. I believe for the money these are pretty special in the right system.
@@ErinsAudioCornerErin just to confirm, you did all the measurements with the grill off I'm assuming ? Because I've only ever listen to these at home with grills on. Reason is like Harbeth, the original engineers designed these to perform best with grills on. The manual specifically mentioned this so that's how people need to use them.
I'm surprised by the "not so great" review on these. For me, VERY impressed by the sound this little speaker puts out. Big stage, deep bass, really fills the room. I'm not a big mac fan-boy, so I don't come from a biased position. 4k asking isn't terrible for what you get (I know it's a lot of money). I'm running it off a Benchmark ABH2 with DAC 3. No hate from me. Certainly great for one with an all Mac system.
Great video! I would have like to see the crossover to see if they put cheap or quality parts in there.
Thanks. I’d have liked to show it as well but wasn’t keen on taking the speaker apart since it was on loan from Audio Advice and is their showroom demo pair.
Never been a big fan of Mac speakers sense the factory is 5 miles from me I've heard almost everything they make and one of the boutique stores here carries all of their stuff for the price that you pay there are definitely WAY better speakers But any time you wanna go to the factory let me know
@3:45 you're supposed to turn them on an access towards you, Einstein lol. Does nobody look at even the pictures in a manual anymore lol? They're $4,000 bookshelf speakers...it wouldn't hurt to see what the manufacturer suggests maybe(?)
I like McIntosh pre/amp combos - but I’ve always taken the absence of reviews for this speaker to mean it was lousy. Meeting expectations. Wasted opportunity
Okay, so you mentioned “better options at the price point”… but didn’t suggest anything else. What else would you prefer at the price point? And how do these compare to the Wharfedale Linton 85th anniversary that you enjoyed so much?
Sounds like it needs to be in a pretty acoustically dead room. Are macintosh purchases older with more high end hearing loss? Maybe that's their target. Frequency response reminds me of the smiley face eq shape popular in the 70's. Thanks for the forthright review.
Another person also suggested that... it's plausible. I just don't know.
@@ErinsAudioCorner yeah, unless we can get in the designers head, we'll never know.
It would be funny to see what you think of the speakers I run for my main stage and rears since I got them for just $10 each brand new on sale at Best Buy. KLH L853B 8" 3 way on the mains and KLH 911B 5.25" 2 way on the rears. Still don't have a center that I am particularly fond of though.
It looks like this speaker will appeal to the full bass and treble boost types. As it seams it's built in. Not the performance I would expect from a name like McIntosh. Maybe they should stick to amplifiers, or get some better test gear or someone with EARS! on the staff.
I mean I’d just EQ them but if you didn’t want to do that, I guess an absorber at the first reflection point would be pretty helpful.
Ceiling and floor and walls.
I feel they measure like a V curve, and are low sensitivity wide dispersion. Would not be the case that these are meant to be played at 60/70dB? It has a loudness compensation sort of response. Small room low volume listening.
This seems like one of those examples to support the argument that spending more money on a speaker doesn't always get you better performance.
Does anyone else think if the trend of low sensitivity sealed power hungry speakers should catch up and more speaker manufacturers start offering them?
Regarding EQ, McIntosh is very very big on EQ and says you cant get proper sound from a speaker without EQ (or at least historically) . Back in their vintage days, thier speakers had a seperate EQ. If you spent big big money you could pay them to send someone to come with a mic and equipment that adjusted the EQ of each speaker to compensate for the room and whatever else. I dont know about today and thier audience in general but historically McIntosh pushed the importance of eq.
Thanks for that info. I know their car audio stuff implemented EQ and sold EQ modules. Wasn’t sure about the home audio side.
@@ErinsAudioCorner dang I forget about thier car audio. I had a buddy with a full McIntosh car audio system back in the way. The amp had the awesome sweep needles and everything...it was all setup to have seperate EQ for each channel. Sounded great too! But yeah, McIntosh was big on eq....maybe still is...But it wouldnt suprise me if today thet dont push it with consumers just because the absurd idea of 'no eq' has become popular and them not wanting to have rocks thrown at them. I'd imagine if dealing with the high end professional customer like a studio or theatre of some type it's all EQ'ed correctly when installed.
Thanks for this review...glad to see you don't hold back. I'm curious what you mean by the woofer "unloading"? Sounds like perhaps the velocity in the port is getting too high so the tuning changes?
Tuning doesn't change from velocity. Unloading means when you are below the port tuning and the driver bottoms out, or loses back pressure and just flexes s a lot
^ nailed it
That enclosure is nothing you wouldn't get from speakers at half that cost.
Not really into the McIntosh speakers. I wonder how the XRT2.1K are.
I wonder if the crossover can be tuned to tame the super tweeter, from the mid, those mid and super tweeter crossover at 8k causing that bump.
It might've been nice for McIntosh to "tune" them from the factory... especially for $4k/pair lmao.
I just like Klipsch
Just goes to show, buy speakers from companies that concentrate on speakers, buy amps from companies that make amps, etc. For some reason audio companies think that they need to be all things to all people.
I enjoy a good quality speaker, but I don't identify as an "audiophile". It seems to me that "audiophile" is a super specific demographic that is aging rapidly, and this tilted frequency response caters to people who don't hear high frequencies as well as they once did. But it hurts my ears!
that speaker just doesnt look like it performs very good. I mean the design looks like it should work. mtm with a woofer below but the response is all jacked up
Did they send you just one speaker to review? How does that work?
A pair. I asked and they sent them. Actually, they’re their floor demo units.
You didn't try toe in? Regardless, the sensitivity is a show stopper. A crime against humanity. If humanity was exclusively comprised of audiophiles. LDHP is legit. Any chance of getting thiel/small parameters of the bass and mid drivers? That would shed a lot of light on their capability.
I did adjust toe-in/out. By default they were aimed on axis. And I believe I mentioned in the video that even toeing them out didn’t help and showed why in the horizontal graphs.
These puppies gonna need some power if you need to get them loud lmao
it wouldn't be the radiation of the tweeters the energy is so small and is generally focused in a narrow band, probably more from the little mid-range. what frequencies are you experiencing the issue!
I'd make the mid-range enclosures 30% more bigger this will help with the upper frequency is more attenuating them by your chart twitter is overpowered it needs a 1.8 ohm resistor on it
they might work actually better upside down and tilted forward a fraction 12mm
open stands can help as well with attenuated mid-range or tweeters
I showed in the data where the issue is. 8kHz primarily. It’s the tweeter. The data shows a clear increase in radiation (vertically and horizontally).
@@ErinsAudioCorner where does the upper frequency of the midrange crossover
@@hoobsgroove they state 8kHz. Which means the tweeter has taken over at that point. You can see this in the radiation graphs where there is a sudden change in radiation. This is due to the crossover frequency AND the vertical spacing of the 2-inch mids. Textbook MTM stuff here.
@@ErinsAudioCorner
it goes that far up the mid-range seems overextended for a speaker of that type not sure why they thought that was a good idea!! sounds like it should be crossed over at 5K would have been better, so the dispersion is probably from the mid-range not tweeter
tweeter won't have the DB energy at those types of high frequencies not being horn loaded.
@@hoobsgroove no, man, the dispersion of the mids is not the cause. Beaming of just the single has already occurred before then. And that’s ignoring the lobing effect.
It is 100% the tweeter. It is not the midranges. 👍
McIntosh speaker was the worst speaker I ever used, I use to have a McIntosh LS360 speaker, and the sound was so bad.... don't try it.
classic t-shirt.
You should of cut the speaker in half so we could see the guts of it 🪚
I tried but my scissors weren't big enough.
I spent over 20 years in the Audio Industry. Much of it with a "Mac Dealer". Frankly, They NEVER have made ANY Outstanding Speakers. They've always been imbalanced, at McIntosh Prices! They are a Waste of Time & Money! (How's that for "sub-tle")
And I want Salma Hayek.
Wow 2 grand each and you get 200 dollars of components...
Can this also b sent to amir
Nope. Amir banned me from his forum for me posting my recent audio demo video and asking people to leave comments in my YT video (specifically so I could keep them together). So, even if I had them to loan to him, I wouldn't be able to even PM him to ask him his address. Nice guy he is, huh? Sure seems like he's the type of person who wants the community to grow and learn, doesn't he? 😉
@@ErinsAudioCorner isn't that just a method to prevent any external bias, it sounds like it would make sense since it's not a money driven forum.
@@ubacow7109 though, he did just post a review he said he was paid money to provide data for. A prototype Fluance speaker. His words. Right in the “review”. A literal paid-for-review. Not that I personally care. But if you’re going to draw lines, it’s important to know how blurred they are by the ones drawing them. ✌️
@@ErinsAudioCorner Do you have a link to the Fluance speaker in question?
@@ubacow7109 you can find it. It was last week.
Never buy speakers with foam surrounds!
Replacing foam is a 30 minute job
My perception has been these loudspeakers are for Mc brand loyalists... certainly not a core product.
My take, maybe I'm wrong.
Like a hug McIntosh fan like you didn't know that!?!?😭🤣😅
McIntosh amps have a kind of dark sound and have tone controls or eq.... I see them as power houses not much as accurate amps.
I see them … in my dreams. 🤣
@@ErinsAudioCorner Oh come on... you deserve it, go for it, you know you want them.... MC252 with a pre with tone controls muahahaha!😎
Great review . but the product is not worth the money... you are paying for the name...
Sure wish the name wasn’t pronounced incorrectly the entire review. It is not Macintosh it is McIntosh . Mic-in-gosh
So it's an expensive speaker targeted to old people with hearing loss? Hardly surprising. You pretty much have to be old and accumulate a lifetime of wealth to buy most high audio products.
I had to come back and edit this because it occurred to me the speaker has friggin' grills!! He mentions this at the beginning! Hello captain obvious. The only speakers with grills in my house full of speakers are my living rooms speakers, and you have the grills on because there are things called pets and kids.
What do they sound like with the grills, likely to solve the treble issue.
The grilles only make the linearity worse. Pretty obvious.
Sincerely,
Captain Obvious
Erin, if you're thinking about buying a macintosh amp, do know that they are overrated and overpriced. If you like the look then so be it. But if you're looking for one more for performance, look elsewhere.
I understand that the majority of the cost is in the aesthetic. I'm OK with that.
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Every audio enthusiastic would like to a Mclntosh amp and these speakers, not for the price though
Frankly, the speaker is not attractive.
Other than Bass this speaker sucks. I wouldn't even consider it if it was $400, but $4000! Really!