I am powering my Impressions with the 252’s big brother the MA352. I am enjoying it for the most part, but if I had one criticism it’s that it is not as “tubey” sounding as I had hoped. I feel like the highs are a little bright for me, and the midrange is not as warm sounding as what I associate with tube gear. Not bright to the point of fatiguing, but again not exactly what I associate with the McIntosh or tube sound. At this point I am considering swapping the integrated out for Mac tube separates, going tube preamp and tube power amp. I may first try swapping out the stock Mac tubes in the 352 for some Gold Lions and see if that improves the warmth in the mids. That said, the clarity, channel separation and imaging are pretty impressive. The combination is quite revealing, and has exposed the weaknesses in some of my sources.
I think some of the brightness comes from the fact that the MA 252/352 are direct coupled amps. They do not use the typical McIntosh autoformers. There seems to be a bit of a debate on whether or not you want direct coupled or autoformers when pairing McIntosh with Martin Logan panels. From what I’ve read, autoformers will give you more of the typical McIntosh sound - slightly rolled off highs, warmer mids. Direct coupled will give you a brighter presentation maintaining the airiness often associated with Martin Logan panels. It comes down to what you prefer.
In your case, one thing I would keep in mind is that your Classic 9’s don’t have the powered woofer system like others in the Masterpiece line, so my concern with the 252 is that it might be a little under-powered to drive both woofers and panel with its max of 160 watts at 4 ohms. Probably depends on what kind of music you typically listen to.