McIntosh is best known for its distinctive, retro-styled components, which now embrace multichannel as well as stereo equipment (it has begun to include loudspeakers, too). The other thing it is well known for is its advocacy of valve-based amplifiers.

A number of the oldest McIntosh designs date back almost half a century, and have legendary status. Some of those early classics are still in everyday use, while some of the newer models, including the MA2275, are closely modelled on those seminal designs. Lately, McIntosh has been spreading its wings, a move that appears to have been precipitated by its incorporation into the D&M group, whose two largest member companies are Denon and Marantz.

One of the more decisive moves the company has made, which was presaged at the last Las Vegas CES trade show in January, was to introduce some entry-level products - or at least what passes as 'entry level' for an upmarket manufacturer like McIntosh. The subject of this test is one of these more easily 'affordable' newcomers.

To produce an amplifier that doesn't cost a King's Ransom, but which still offers plenty of grunt for not excessive money, McIntosh has taken the solid-state route. This may not at first appear to be where its corporate heart lies, but the company has been using transistor-based design in some models for quite some time, so it's not an entirely new departure.

The basics are as follows. The MA6300 is an integrated stereo amplifier that delivers 100 watts per channel into 8 ohms, rising significantly to 160 watts per channel into four ohms. The unit has a moving magnet phono stage, five single-ended, line-level inputs and a tape input, plus one balanced input using the usual XLR terminals.

Rear panel links

The pre- and power amp sections communicate via removable rear panel links, and a single pair of speakers and headphones can be connected. In addition, each input has its own serial data control socket, which can be linked to a separate McIntosh source component for remote power on/off purposes. The volume control is an unindented analogue rotary control; a second with a centre detent is used to set channel balance.

The amplifier is supplied with a remote control handset of rather pedestrian styling that can also operate McIntosh source components. The amp itself has all the traditional styling cues of other models from the company, including a glass front panel with screenprinting applied on the inner surface, where it will not be subject to physical wear. Styling is determinedly retro, and as usual the front panel and its blue power meters are internally lit by LED light sources and fibre optics.

Technology highlights include an R-core transformer at the heart of the power supply, and so called ThermalTrak output transistors, which have an extra pin and an internal sensor to monitor their own temperature and to adjust bias levels to maintain thermal tracking. There's actually nothing new about these transistors - the first application that came to our attention was in Kenwood amplifiers in the mid-1980s, where the technology was unaccountably (and somewhat unfortunately) known as TRAIT-R.

In contrast, R-core transformers are more recent. Matsushita first developed them if memory serves, about a decade ago. R-core technology offers more compact packaging, less electromagnetic flux leakage and very high efficiency compared to toroidal transformers, which set the standards in pre R-core days - some would argue that toroidals still set a benchmark - their popularity in hi-fi electronics is still strong.

Input switching is by noiseless electromagnetic switches, and housekeeping electronics include the Power Assurance System, which monitors output levels, momentarily throttling the amplifier back if an over-drive condition is identified, and restoring full operation thereafter, with an attack time of one two-thousandth of a second. This is a relatively cool-running amplifier, so bias levels in the output stage are clearly not high.

We have had good experiences with the McIntosh products in the recent past, and first impressions here were in line with expectations. In general terms the MA6300 sounds like a superior sort of amp, with gravitas, dynamic range, a clean treble (not always the case with silicon-powered amps), a solid sense of midrange depth and tonal variety - all the things that mark good amplifiers out from the other kind, in fact. Except for one thing.

It took a while to recognise what we were not getting from the MA6300, in part because we started out using it for general jobbing duties, mostly at low-to-moderate volume levels - the power meter indicators rarely intruded into the space above one watt - and with speakers of quite high sensitivity, high sensitivity speakers are a disincentive to drawing too much power.