From founding Off-White to serving as Artistic Director at Louis Vuitton, Virgil Abloh’s influence continues to shape design, music, and culture even after his passing in 2021. Music, a constant thread in his creative life, inspired one of his final collaborations — a project with American audio icon McIntosh. Although conceived in 2020, the pandemic delayed its completion. Now, the McIntosh x Virgil Abloh MA8950 Integrated Amplifier Concept has finally been revealed.

Unveiled at Virgil Abloh: The Codes at the Grand Palais in Paris, opening on 30 September, the day that would have marked his 45th birthday, the piece reimagines the McIntosh MA8950 through Abloh’s distinctive lens. The amplifier swaps McIntosh’s signature black-and-silver aesthetic for a vivid orange finish, a colour Abloh saw as a symbol of energy, visibility, and disruption. The McIntosh team worked closely to ensure his bold vision was realised in every detail, and the concept was hand-built with careful thoughts, just as other McIntosh products.

For Abloh, McIntosh represented far more than high-end audio; its products were part of the creative atmosphere in his Louis Vuitton studio, shaping the soundscape of his work. While this one-off amplifier functions exactly like the standard MA8950, its true power lies in what it represents, blending sound, design, and artistic legacy that continues to play on, even in his absence.