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Musical Fidelity Power Amplifiers

Sergey Green

Sergey Green

Active Member
Cross posted this on the other forum,

Has anyone ever reviewed or compared to the other brands Musical Fidelity power amplifiers? Or does anyone have any experience with those? I keep reading people call them musical but there are no reviews out there whatsoever - and so I am asking.

In particular I am interested in M8s500s, and how it compares to Parasound A21+, Benchmark AHB2, or any other box in this class.
  • MF M8s500s - available locally, and I have already listened to it in my home setup.
  • Parasound A21+ - would need to be ordered, but not a problem. I listened to its predecessor at my friend's house, could probably be a good second-hand deal, but not sure if I would warm up to it.
  • Benchmark AHB2 - Can be bought from Thomann, but this would imply value tax + shipping to Central Europe. No pre-listen, of course. Read some good reviews and some not so excited comments. I guess, depends.
Generally I prefer warmer but detailed and very present sound, smaller than my current class-A footprint, and more power. In my current setup the sound-stage is behind the speakers, transparent and layered. I understand MF are somewhat forward sounding, is this usually a desired trend?

I hardly listen to rock, mostly jazz or classical.

Speakers - various; JBL, Focal, etc.

Source; Linn LP12 to Pass phono and pre, or Matrix Audio ElementX to Pass line.

thanks.
 
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The M8s500sare built like a tank and sound very very good, but their long term reliability is unknown (quality of components used, are heat producing transistors placed far enough away from electrolytic caps to not cause overheating & premature failure, etc).

I use two Parasound A21+ amps with a P6 pre in my main system... Parasound equipment is famous for its long term reliability and good customer service.

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krautmaster said:
The M8s500sare built like a tank and sound very very good, but their long term reliability is unknown (quality of components used, are heat producing transistors placed far enough away from electrolytic caps to not cause overheating & premature failure, etc).

I use two Parasound A21+ amps with a P6 pre in my main system... Parasound equipment is famous for its long term reliability and good customer service.

View attachment 2668537
Click to expand...
I ended up getting M8s500s, and I am slowly getting used to it. It sounds open, strong and detailed, but not as smooth as the pure class-A 50W I have had before (FirstWatt F5t). I will put FirstWatt back in a week or so, just to compare, again. MF barely gets warm, so I would not worry about it overheating any time soon. But perhaps it will burn it a bit with time, and paint a different sound image to what I am hearing now. Is what they say does happen. Parasound would need to be ordered, unless I found a different dealer of course, so I did not bother asking. Still curious what the main differences are.
 
The M8s500 amp probably do need a good long burn in... the manual that came with my Parasound A21+ amps said that at least 70 hours was needed, and they got better with every use, but took about 100 hours for the sound to stabilize. (The soundstage started off way in the back, kind of like listening to a concert in a stadium, and became more forward as time went on- now it is properly balanced).
 
krautmaster said:
The M8s500 amp probably do need a good long burn in... the manual that came with my Parasound A21+ amps said that at least 70 hours was needed, and they got better with every use, but took about 100 hours for the sound to stabilize. (The soundstage started off way in the back, kind of like listening to a concert in a stadium, and became more forward as time went on- now it is properly balanced).
Click to expand...
And I think I am noticing it. As with many amplifiers the change is not even subtle. I will put my previous class-A 50W back in a week or so and compare, again.
 
The BM amps are fantastic also, VERY quiet and detailed, but more clinical than "warm"
I have an A21+ and have been super happy with it, gobs of power. I would have done Mono's out of them but no need with the Klipsch I have.

As an additional benefit, the first 6 watts are class A!

Have not heard the MF versions, but they have a good rep.

If you buy from MD or similar, you could have a no worry return if you don't like them, although they are heavy so somewhat a pain.
 
joecoulson said:
The BM amps are fantastic also, VERY quiet and detailed, but more clinical than "warm"
I have an A21+ and have been super happy with it, gobs of power. I would have done Mono's out of them but no need with the Klipsch I have.

As an additional benefit, the first 6 watts are class A!

Have not heard the MF versions, but they have a good rep.

If you buy from MD or similar, you could have a no worry return if you don't like them, although they are heavy so somewhat a pain.
Click to expand...

Mine feels like it is bolted to the floor, insanely heavy. I would hate to ship it anywhere. Even packed into the original box, I don't think it would ever be safe.

Is it a Cornwall on your avatar? I suspect those do not sound supper warm either, or do they? How are the low notes with A21+, are they coming through strong and clear? It's interesting, I also auditioned NAD M23 in my house, those measure super well, but the thumping bass was more like watching the movie rather than listening to the music. Has to do with damping, I guess.
 
The Cornwall's are very warm but forward with midrange per their horns.

The bass is excellent, but starts to lose oomph around 45hz (due to the speakers, not the amp) - hence the SVS takes over

The Parasound P6 is amazing at blending the two together and it has NO issues driving low, I probably never get into the "B" part of the A/AB topology with the efficiency of the CW's
 
The Parasound A21+ can produce bass down as low as 5hz if you have a sub that can go that low (even though most people can't hear below 20hz, you can FEEL it) ... freaking things are beasts ! (I love mine)
 
Musical Fidelity has been producing excellent sounding & fairly priced gear for over 30 years.
Sometimes the blow the lid off the market and build some truly exceptional gear. Your amps, my amp, the Kw and NuVista gear is exemplary.
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