McIntosh MA352 - Black glass

Description

The McIntosh Hybrid Drive Architecture

The MA352 belongs to McIntosh's Hybrid Drive™ family — a considered marriage of the fluidity and harmonic richness of vacuum tubes at the front end and the precision, control, and dynamic reserve of solid-state amplification at the output. The preamplifier stage uses two 12AX7A and two 12AT7 tubes displayed under an illuminated safety cage, while the solid-state power stage receives the signal via a direct-coupled connection. In listening: an open spatial image, precise articulation, and a smooth top end paired with the stability and grip of a solid output stage across all conventional loudspeakers.

200 W Per Channel With 0.03% Rated THD

The MA352 solid-state output stage delivers 200 W per channel into 8 ohms and 320 W per channel into 4 ohms — enough to drive the vast majority of home loudspeakers with headroom for dynamic peaks. Rated total harmonic distortion is 0.03%, dynamic headroom 1.5 dB, damping factor greater than 200 into 8 ohms and greater than 100 into 4 ohms. Frequency response is +0/-0.5 dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz (+0/-3 dB from 10 Hz to 100 kHz), with a 93 dB signal-to-noise ratio on high-level inputs. The dual-scale blue front-panel Watt meters read instantaneous power output for both 4- and 8-ohm loads — a useful cue for reading the load on the output stage in real time.

Full Analog Section: XLR, RCA and Adjustable MM Phono

The MA352 is a fully analog design. Connectivity totals six analog inputs: two balanced XLR inputs, three unbalanced RCA inputs, and one Moving Magnet (MM) phono input with adjustable capacitive loading to tune frequency response for the cartridge in use. Input impedance is 20 kohms on both balanced and unbalanced inputs. A variable stereo RCA preamplifier output feeds an external power amplifier or one to two active subwoofers via the two dedicated subwoofer outputs on the rear panel. Tone Bypass and Input Assign let you rename each input and bypass the equalizer, and Input Level Match aligns perceived level across sources.

5-Band Analog Equalizer and Home Theater PassThru

A front-panel 5-band analog equalizer provides ±12 dB of manual adjustment at five fixed frequencies — 30 Hz, 125 Hz, 500 Hz, 2 kHz, and 10 kHz — with a neutral center detent, useful for correcting a difficult room or compensating for an uneven recording without resorting to digital correction. Tone Bypass fully removes the equalizer from the signal path for the purest possible listening. Home Theater PassThru integrates the MA352 into a multichannel home theater system: the front-channel signals from the AV processor pass directly through the MA352 power stage at unity gain, letting you share the main speakers between pure stereo and home theater duty without swapping cables.

High Drive Headphone Amp With HXD® Crossfeed

The MA352 includes a dedicated High Drive headphone amplifier with McIntosh's patented Headphone Crossfeed Director (HXD®) circuit, accessed via the 1/4-inch front-panel jack. HXD® reintroduces cross-channel spatial cues between the two headphone channels to recreate an image closer to speaker listening, with more perceived depth and less of the in-the-head sensation typical of headphones. The circuit can be engaged or bypassed to taste. The headphone amplifier's voltage swing suits demanding high-impedance or low-sensitivity headphones.

Power Guard® and Sentry Monitor™ Protection

The MA352 carries two proprietary McIntosh protection circuits. Power Guard® monitors the input signal continuously and dynamically adjusts gain within microseconds to prevent hard clipping of the output stage — critical for tweeter protection and for preserving signal quality at high listening levels. Sentry Monitor™ is a fuse-less short-circuit protection circuit that disengages the output stage before current exceeds safe operating levels, then automatically resets once conditions return to normal. The output transistors are mounted on McIntosh Monogrammed Heatsinks™ coupled with advanced thermal sensing that eliminates warm-up lag on the output stage.

Hand-Assembled in Binghamton and Award-Winning Design

Every MA352 is hand-assembled at the McIntosh factory in Binghamton, New York. The dual-layer chassis is polished stainless steel with mirror finish, topped with the signature black glass front panel with fiber-optic backlighting and illuminated logo, blue Watt meters, cast aluminum control knobs, and vintage McIntosh-styled die-cast aluminum side name badges. Gold-plated Standard-type speaker binding posts, two rear-panel Data Ports for controlling connected McIntosh sources, an RS-232 port for custom integration, one Power Control output, and rear-panel IR sensor inputs. Named Best Hybrid Amplifier 2020 by Hi-Fi World, winner of the 2021 Golden Ear Award from AUDIO Magazine and the Reference Award from The Speaker Shack, and Highly Recommended by Hi-Fi and Music Source and Lyd & Bilde.

Common Questions

Does the MA352 include a built-in DAC or digital inputs?

No. The MA352 is a fully analog integrated amplifier — no optical, coaxial, USB, or HDMI digital inputs, and no built-in DAC module. To connect digital sources (network streamer, digital CD player, television), pair it with a DAC or a streamer with built-in DAC — natural McIntosh partners are the DS200 streaming DAC and the MCD85 or MCD600 SACD/CD players.

What's the difference between the MA352 and the MA12000?

The MA12000 is the McIntosh hybrid flagship — 350 W per channel (vs 200 W on the MA352), McIntosh Autoformers™ on the output (the MA352 is direct-coupled with no Autoformer), a built-in DA2 DAC module with coaxial, optical, USB, and MCT digital inputs (the MA352 has no digital inputs at all), Roon Tested certification, an 8-band analog equalizer (vs 5-band on the MA352), Solid Cinch™ speaker binding posts (the MA352 uses gold-plated Standard-type posts), and 17 analog and digital inputs in total (vs 6 on the MA352, all analog). The MA352 preserves the pure-analog approach at a more accessible price point.

Can I use the MA352 in a home theater setup?

Yes, through the built-in Home Theater PassThru feature. Once assigned to an input, the surround processor's front-left and front-right channel signals pass directly through the MA352's power stage at unity gain, which lets you share the main speakers between pure stereo listening and multichannel home theater without repatching speaker cables.

Which loudspeakers and source components pair well with the MA352?

As an integrated amplifier, the MA352 needs no external preamplifier or power amp. McIntosh's suggested loudspeaker include the XR100 floor-standing loudspeaker and the ML1 Mk II bookshelf. On the source side, the MT5 and MT10 turntables, the MCD85 and MCD600 SACD/CD players, the MR89 AM/FM tuner, and the MPC1500 power controller build a coherent McIntosh system.

What's in the Box

McIntosh MA352 integrated amplifier

Remote control

AC power cord

Owner's manual