SSIA. Curious if anyone here has made the switch and has any comments. In the market for a Mc five channel amp and since the 205 has recently departed and the 255 is now the current version, I'm curious if anyone has any hands on experience with the newer version. Seems the capacitance has been boosted 50%, went to a "three channel front" option, but as the 205 has been around for over a decade (apparently doing something "right" by being viable that long) I might opt for a late model version of the 205. I investigated a few examples of the 205 but all are out of driving range (if I'm buying used/private party I'm not shipping and really prefer not to in any case) and I'm flexible distancewise in that regard, but since that was coming up bumpkis for results I wondered about new options.
Another aspect is that the dealers in my region don't really have showrooms or the specific product in question - they just order it if you want it and don't have a lot of in shop listening experience with the 255 in particular. It just seems like when talking to dealers it's this theoretical "thing" that even they haven't handled much (that's understandable but it seems a lot of these Mac dealers don't have showrooms but consulting setups where they order-to-suit and just build it in). I'd do a six/eight hour trek one way to do this right with a dealer and maybe even a bit further. Definitely on the "wanna get this right" train. I could phone a local dealer and just order a 255, but a 5-8K purchase sorta begs for me to be investigating how best to do that in the current, as I only set foot in a local B&M recently for the first time in forever, as we haven't had them here let alone a Mac dealer where aside from Magnolia 3+ hours away have no real idea how to approach a Mac B&M dealer sale. This from a guy who went to places like this site or the usual hobbyist sites to find the gears I want for decades, but was in the biz prior.
I also wonder where a Mac SS amp like this goes for warranty service. I know where my vintage SS goes, tube gear, etc because I learned all that stuff but what about a modern Mac amp? Is there a "midwest service central" these beasts get sent to? What's involved in that part of ownership if it comes to that?
I am in Western IL, would travel to other midwest locations to work on this/pick up/see/etc whatever
It's weird as I haven't tried to set foot in a Mac dealer in years and short of a locator with addresses have no idea what I'm really looking at (installer/consultant or actual showroom with geeks who preen/know that stuff like the backs of their hands......)
So I'm narrowing my approach from considering an assemblage of vintage Macs to power the theater to an all-in-one solution for the multichannel room, and want to get something I can live with for a couple decades and get it right the first time. With recent events, it seems we are in a bit of an "in between" state with the 205/255 in terms of actual units in the field, not a lot out there specifically on the new one although it's been in existence since late 2019??? I think?
So any comments??
Amp will be powering five Cornwalls in a 5.2 configuration, MX151 as preamp. This seems the last major choice to be made on the home theater rebuild, so before I spend 5-8K I'd like to find out what I can find out before I do so