AudioAficionado.org - McIntosh MEN220 Review

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My new McIntosh MEN220 Room Correction System was delivered and installed in my main sound system yesterday. Naturally, in my excitement to get the MEN220 up and running, I wasn't as thorough or meticulous with the room measurements as is my normal habit, so this morning I started all over. Last night I discovered an error in the preliminary manual that instructs you to use the preamplifier volume control to increase the test tones when instructed by the MEN220 display panel. This is incorrect. To raise the test tone output level of the MEN220 you must use the left knob on the MEN220 labeled Adjust. This error in the preliminary manual caused me some extra work because I thought I had made a cable connection mistake, and had to pull the rack out from the wall, recheck my connections, then get the rack back in place. The casters on the Salamander Twin 40 rack were worth their weight in gold last night.

This morning I set up the microphone stand again, attached the balanced cable to the calibration microphone, and proceeded to redo the MEN220 measurements in my main listening room. Once you learn the basic navigation commands through the MEN220's setup menu, operating the various functions for set up and Room Perfect measurements is relatively intuitive. Entering the Room Perfect setup function, I began my measurements beginning with the Focus 1 position, after which the MEN220 display instructs you to move the microphone to a new location for the next measurement. The MEN220 requires a minimum of 80% room knowledge to build the Room Perfect filters, so the MEN220 continues to instruct you to make additional measurements until an 80% or greater room knowledge is acquired. After four measurements I had 84% room knowledge, and at that point the MEN220 asks if you wish to make additional measurements. I clicked on Yes, then the display instructs you to move the microphone to a new location. I continued with the measurements until I had measured 6 different locations, acquiring 99% room knowledge. Once you tell the MEN220 that you don't want to do anymore room measurements it performs the filter setup function which takes about 10 seconds to complete. I asked the MEN220 to set up a second Focus position, and the display instructed me to move the microphone to the new Focus position, and when acknowledged the MEN220 runs its tones, and measures for that location. When complete, it asks you to assign a number to the new Focus position, and I selected Focus 2. Now when I press the Focus button on the remote it cycles between Focus 1 and Focus 2. More on this later. At the 99% room knowledge level the MEN220 room correction shows 37%. This is where I decided to stop measuring.

I began my auditioning seated in my favorite sweet spot on the couch with the MEN220 set to Focus 1, and Voicing Neutral. I chose Liz Story as the first music to audition. Those who have read any of my previous McIntosh equipment reviews know that I prefer to listen to piano while auditioning anything new because of the tonal richness of the instrument, the broad frequency range, the piano's wide dynamic range, and its ability to hold lingering notes in the air until completely diminished to silence. My choice was Liz Story with Joel DeBartolo - "The Very Thought Of You". I am so familiar with this CD it is like a second skin to me, so any changes heard in my sound system are immediately apparent. As the first notes of piano and acoustic double bass flowed from my speakers I was awe struck at the new sense of air and life in the piano notes. In addition, the acoustic bass was as clean and clear as I have ever heard from this sound system. The sound stage appeared wider, actually exceeding the width of the speaker's separation, with the same improvement in the front to back layering of the sound stage. One press on the MEN220 remote control's Bypass button instantly shrunk my new found sound stage, and reduced the front to back three dimensional aspects of the sound stage. Quite impressive. Pressing the MEN220 remote's Focus button restored an amazingly wide, and deep sound stage, and brought back the new tightness of imaging. Even though I had not thought so prior to the MEN220 being in my system, I discovered I had a small bit of bass bloat in the deepest octave. The MEN220 made short work of cleaning this up without reducing the deep bass sounds. The bass definition improved without any sense of low frequency loss. This is really an amazing feat.

I selected the Erin Boheme - What Love Is disc as my next choice for audition. On the song "Give Me One Reason" her voice literally stepped from the speakers into the center of the room. The bass was considerably more articulate through the MEN220, with a sense of new air between Erin's voice and instruments. The ability of the MEN220 to create a three dimensional sound stage is nothing short of astonishing. Pressing the Bypass button caused a collapse of the sound stage, both front to back and side to side, to smaller dimensions. The sound stage and presence created using the MEN220 has to be experience to be believed.

My next piece to audition was Brian Bromberg - Choices disc. I use this CD often as a reference for auditioning because of its well recorded sound, solid electric and acoustic bass played by Brian, and the very clean electric keyboard sounds and vocal harmonies. The MEN220 created a rediscovery for me with the track "Never Give Up". The tighter, more defined bass gave new life to Brian's superb bass playing talent, with crisper impact on the leading edge of electric bass notes. A breath of newly discovered air is around every sound. Keyboards, vocal harmonies, even cymbals shimmered in the air with a fresh presence that seems to shrink when Bypass mode is selected.

Finally, I settled on a CD by Charles Earland - Blowing The Blues Away. Charles plays some serious Hammond B3 organ, including the peddle bass on the organ, and produces a wide frequency range from the B3. I played the track "Strollin", with its mixture of Hammond B3, trumpet, saxophone and guitar. The MEN220, as previously mentioned, cleaned up a small bass bloat I had, making Earland's Hammond B3 peddle bass very deep, with each note well defined and clearly separated from the other bass notes, with no smearing. The trumpet had all the brassy metallic texture of one actually being played in your presence. The bite, the tone was all there. The same was true when the saxophone cut loose. The warm texture of the saxophone's vibrating reed sounds came forth unabated and extremely convincing. Again, the sound stage width and depth improvements with the MEN220 go a long way in creating that special imagined reality in your mind that high-end audio is all about. I was thrilled to hear the cymbals ring like real vibrating brass, clean and full of harmonic richness with no sense of digital artifacts or bottlenecks.

In conclusion, I have a miraculous new component in my system that is here to stay. The audio magic it performs effortlessly, and invisibly is nothing short of phenomenal. The MEN220 flawlessly performs its audio functions without intruding into your consciousness, or presenting any uninvited distractions to your musical enjoyment. What the MEN220 does is politely ask you to never be put into Bypass. In my opinion, who could argue with that. The MEN220 has marvelously improved my sound system in a manner I did not think was possible. I was very skeptical about introducing a digital component into the analog path between my C1000P and the MC501 amplifiers. After all, my system was sounding so good without introducing another component. I thought I might be taking a step backward. As I have discovered with the MEN220 in my system, I did not loose any ground at all. With the addition of the MEN220, my sound system took a giant leap to a brand new performance level I have not experienced before. In a single word, the MEN220 is astonishing.

The ability to have multiple Focus positions is very unique, and a special feature not to be overlooked. My sweet spot is on the couch, and this is my Focus 1 position. To the left of the couch and at right angle to it is a very comfortable Natuzzi Italian leather rocker/recliner that I enjoy using. Since this seating is 90 degrees from the focus position and to the left of it, there has never been a good stereo image while sitting there. I placed the microphone exactly where my head would be at the location and directed the MEN220 to measure the second Focus position, and save it. Wow, this really works. Sitting in that location now, and selecting Focus 2 makes that seating position the sweet spot. Absolutely incredible. Also not to be overlooked is the Global setting on the MEN220. Selecting Global creates a sound stage that allows you to move about the room while still clearly sensing the stereo image. And lets not forget about the built in electronic crossover capabilities, the preset voicing curves, and the ability to build your own custom voicing curves using the MEN220 six band parametric equalizer. The MEN220 has some very interesting technical audio tricks up its sleeve.

My only comment that doesn't fall into the praise category is my disappointment with the quality of the information provided in the owner's manual. It has inaccurate information, and is so incomplete as to be barely useful when it comes to understanding the operation, and measurements tasks. If it weren't for the additional information acquired from addendum's and comments posted on Audio Aficionado, setting up the MEN220 properly would have been considerably more difficult. Even with the information gleaned from this site, it takes some thought and understanding of the process to achieve your best results. I have heard a few comments about the unusual shape and size of the MEN220 remote control, and I must say it is unique. Once I began to use it, though, I discovered it is convenient, easy to hold and navigate the buttons with your thumb, and is simple and intuitive to use. Without any instruction in the owner's manual, trying to figure out how to install batteries was a head scratching event. You have to remove one small phillips head screw, then the small bottom cover pulls out to reveal where two AAA batteries are installed. Once the AAA batteries are installed, the springs inside the remote will push the bottom cover out when you remove the phillips screw, but with no batteries installed the cover doesn't move, consequently creating confusion about which piece of plastic actually moves to reveal the battery compartment.

The MEN220 is a remarkable high-end audio component that has a real place in anyone's sound system that desires to remove a huge portion of your room's peculiar acoustic anomalies, leaving only the space and air for the true recorded audio performance to develop. There isn't a hint of digital sound to the MEN220. It makes your room's acoustics harmonious with the music rather than in opposition to it. The MEN220 generates a fresh sense of detail and dimensional space, allowing instruments and voices to deliver a realism that must be heard and experienced to fully understand what this stellar audio component is able to add to your audio system. I am thoroughly convinced that the MEN220 is the audio component we have all been dreaming about. My suggestion is to stop thinking about the MEN220, and go purchase one. The McIntosh MEN220 truly does deliver on the promise of Room Perfect.

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