Like the MC275 of yore, the current model is rated at 75Wpc (though McIntosh Labs' tech man, Chuck Hinton, says it can actually pump out 90Wpc), and it weighs the same 67 lbs. Looks, of course, can be deceiving or revealing in this case, they're a bit of both. The present version of the MC275 is its fifth incarnation, though it looks strikingly (and, for retro-cool's sake, deliberately) similar. To everyone's surprise, that edition sold well, and McIntosh, gingerly at first, crept back into the tube business. The MC275 briefly returned in 1993, in a limited "Commemorative" edition to honor the late Gordon Gow, longtime president and chief designer of McIntosh Labs. Introduced in 1961 as the "powerhouse" of that era's newfangled stereo tube amps ( two 75W amplifiers in one chassis!), the MC275 retained its position as the amplifier to own—challenged only, perhaps, by Marantz and a few others—until 1970, when it fell prey to the widespread wisdom that transistors were king and tubes were dead, and the model was discontinued. Though it has been recently been displaced by a McIntosh MC2105 as my main amp, I am in the process of setting up a second system in which it will be mated with my longtime owned McIntosh MX110.It's been a while since I've had a classic amplifier in my system, and McIntosh Laboratory's MC275 is as classic as they come. The unit is typically McIntosh reliable (maybe more so) and is minimalistic in its design approach. I am currently using it with a set of Klipsch Heresy speakers and it seems to be made to meld with the sonic charactoristics of this speaker. This does not mean that it is colored, only that it has authority sort of like a chestiness vs. It is an emotionally involving amp rather than one that gives an open window to the music. The amp would not be considered neutral when compared with the current design offerings. The high end is well balanced with authority and very good resolution. On voices, stringed instruments, and piano is envelopes you and brings you into the music. The dampening factor of the amp is low and this should be considered when matching it to speakers needing high dampening factor for woofer control. Its bass is tighter, does not have the characteristic blum and does have good resolution. The 250 has a warm sound, reminiscent of better tube equipment of that generation. The 250 with the autoformers handles the complex loads presented by these speakers. They have a reputation of frying ss amps. These speakers are highly capacitive and impedance spikes well beyond 30ohms and are nominally rated at 16ohms. I have owned mine for about 15 years and orifginally purchased it to go with my KLH9 electrostatic speakers. The model did come with the glass faceplate and meters as the MC2505. Without the faceplate, meters and bluelights well known as the MccIntosh trademark, this amp is a unigue work of art (w/ its big brother the MC2100). This classsic power amp, built on a chassis similar to the McIntosh MC240 tube amp is a first generation McIntosh SS amp.