Overview

In Hi-Fi, the Musical Fidelity A1 has become one of the most classic designs – inside and out. First released back in 1985, it quickly made waves for being an absolute beast when it came down to driving some of the most difficult speakers of that time, even though it was actually a rather low powered integrated amplifier. But: it was all done in pure Class A with excellent and expertly laid out discrete symmetrical circuitry topology and using only highest quality components. The A1 showed people that there was more to amplifiers than just high power. Based on its huge success, the A1 has gone through multiple reissues and new versions over the years.

Now for 2023, for the first time since its initial release we have actually kept all specifications, the appearance and circuits of the 1985 rendition for those who missed out the first time. With an updated transformer, power supplies and modern low noise components we’ve revitalized the formula and are proud to reintroduce the fresh original – three decades later.

Technical Talk

The A1 is built around a completely discrete and symmetrical Class A topology. It‘s able to output 25W of pure Class A power @ 8 ohms load with 25A of maximum output. While the numbers here might seem rather low, the ability for the output stage to drive difficult speakers is a small miracle in itself. The amp design being dynamic class A, and if Class A standing current is exceeded, it will automatically allow more. It therefore “slides” (NOT “switches”) smoothly into class B style operation, temporarily allowing the further current draw needed.

The return of a true Hi-Fi classic

The A1 has one secret. This secret is simple: it makes music. It sounds sweet and fluid and creates a beautiful atmosphere around natural instruments. Especially in small to mid-sized rooms, carefully set up with a pair of great two-way speakers. It is not a powerhouse, but music lovers will cherish its abilities. It‘s also not a product that you‘ll want to hide. A perfect example of form follows function. The oversized heatsinks define the A1‘s look, but they are essential for its operation. Truly unique, from the outside and inside. The A1 has a sweet, warm, full and exciting sound. No harshness. No grain. Just pure music. It doesn‘t get muddy, and despite its lower power, drives difficult speakers with ease. It remains clean right up to its power limit. To hear what the A1 does is to hear what Hi-Fi is supposed to do: it makes music, pure and simple.

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The LS3/5A was originally designed for listening places where space was limited, like mobile control rooms for television. The goal here was a linear frequency response down to 100Hz with an excellent sound quality. Due to the closed type cabinet, the LS3/5A impresses with its clear and fast playback. As the speaker was designed to be used for studio applications, the midrange is extremely detailed and realistic, and the sound stage and imaging of vocals and instruments is truly extraordinary. The Musical Fidelity LS3/5A works best in a near/mid-field listening distance between two and four meters away from the listener.

Over the years, the LS3/5A became an industry standard for music studios, especially for classical recordings. It also quickly gained interest in the audiophile sector. Due to the small size, the LS3/5A is the perfect fit for small living rooms. Do not get fooled by the size. The speaker surprises with a lot of low end information. Due to the closed type design, the bass is quick and perfectly defined, compared to a bass reflex speaker. The LS3/5A was produced by several speaker manufacturers over many decades already. The Musical Fidelity A1 was always the perfect partner with its Class A amplification. Along with other brands of tube amplifier’s. The result is an astonishing clear, detailed and warm sound stage. The Musical Fidelity LS3/5A was manufactured according to the BBC R&D design 1976/29.

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Overview

The M6s PRE is effectively a preamp without limits. Its wide range of inputs, coupled with superlative performance, mean it can form the heart of almost any system, regardless of price.

It’s a pure Class A design capable of driving any power amplifier, over any length of cable. It itself is easy to feed, making it even more flexible.

The M6s PRE has an array of inputs suited to both traditional and modern music sources. It has an MM/MC phono stage, two balanced inputs, three line-level connections, a fully configured tape in/out loop and a digital USB socket.

There are home theatre bypass options on both balanced and line-level inputs.

Performance is stunning. The M6s PRE sounds sweet, clear and fast, with tight, extended bass. No wonder that in his Hi-Fi+ review of the M6s range, Alan Sircom praised the M6s PRE for being “both excellent and excellent value for money.”

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Overview

The M5si is a real high end amplifier. At 150wpc, with high current delivery, it will drive virtually any loudspeaker easily. Internally the M5si is configured as two independent monoblocs with a separate preamp, but all mounted on one pcb. Its technical performance is about equal to the M6si. The M5si has very low distortion, outstanding noise ratio and an extremely flat frequency response. Inputs; phono (mm), 4 line, and USB ’B’ up to 24bit 96kHz. The M5si produces an extraordinary sweet clear lucid sound. Significantly it was developed after our amazing legendary Nu-Vista 800. Consequently some of the Nu-Vista 800’s subtle pcb layout solutions have found their way into the M5si. When you hear it we are sure you will understand the relationship between the two. The M5si projects a deep and wide stereo image with very extended bass and a crystalline top end without a trace of harshness.

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The M6x ViNYL is a very high performance, highly accurate phono MM/MC cartridge amplifier in a beautifully designed and executed case-work. We set out to make a phono stage without any practical limits. It’s designed in such a way to ensure you cannot overload the input stage or encounter any practical limitations in the output driving capacity during regular use, whether running single-ended or balanced. It has three inputs, and each can be individually set for either MM/MC and loading. Each input also then remembers its own settings. It offers state-of-the art technical and sonic performance at a very competitive price and is the epitome of the true spirit of high-end audio.

Design Philosophy

While updating from the M6 ViNYL to the M6x ViNYL, we have switched to an entirely discrete circuitry, which results in better technical measurements and better sound. It is equipped with one balanced input and output as well as two single-ended inputs and one single-ended output to fit well into any vinyl hi-fi system. But the important question is: what is so special about discrete circuits?

The Advantage of Discrete Circuits

A discrete circuit is composed of electronic components which are disparate, individual devices, also called discrete components. These can be “passive” components, like resistors, capacitors and inductors, as well as “active” components, which in our case are transistors. The opposite to this would be an integrated circuit, which uses operational amplifiers (Op-Amps) in the signal chain. In our industry we employ specialized Op-Amps built for audio applications, which allow us to produce very small and efficient electronics, as well as saving the time of design engineers. However, countless hours of listening tests and years of experience have shown us that even the very best Op-Amps do not tend to be so neutral, natural, dynamic or vivid – all of which are characteristics of the Musical Fidelity “sound”. For that reason, we’re rediscovering our passion for traditional, discrete designs. Where standard phono pre-amplifiers with integrated circuits have a few tens or hundreds of components, discrete designs will employ hundreds or thousands of components by comparison. That makes for an extended design process, but in our opinion results in the best sound for your money.

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With the M6x DAC we went even further. Building on our knowledge and experience with Sabre ESS chips, we upgraded them to the newer ES9038Q2M, and now use two of them in dual differential mode for a pristine dual mono design. The inclusion of a Time Domain Jitter Eliminator results in superb SNR and THD+N performance with unbelievably detailed transient response. Other advances in the DAC section include upsampling and re-clocking. Upsampling can independently be switched on or off. The 16-core XMOS and CPLD MAX II Altera processors ensure there is always enough headroom for these operations, the new digital filters and the MQA processing. The single ended RCA and balanced XLR outputs each have their own output buffer. Via the XLR plugs you can enjoy a fully-differential amplifier design enabling a fully balanced output. Both output stages deliver superior audio quality, exhibit very low noise, large output voltage swing and high current drive. The excellent gain bandwidth and very fast slew rate produce exceptionally low distortion.

Super Silent Power Transformers

The M6x DAC displays our continued development of our Super Silent Power Transformers. Industrial grade power sockets with EMI filter and DC blocker stop interferences and eliminate transformer hum. The encapsulated toroidal transformer with low core saturation is ideal for audio applications and especially perfect for digital audio due to its extremely low electromagnetic radiation.

Correct PCB Design & Layout

Digital to analogue converters, compared to analogue amplifiers, present their own design challenges. They work in different domains, have their own requirements and need to be treated as such. Power requirements are unique and solutions designed for amplifiers will not show similar results when paired with digital circuitry. We have always held circuit board design and layout up to the highest of standards at Musical Fidelity. We are not believers of flashy board design just for the sake of looks. The design & layout need to be custom-tailored to each application, measure well AND sound as envisioned. Only then have we done our job. At this point, we have given the listener a palpable sense of the recording venue that places the performers in a real-time holographic space in their own homes.

Headphone Amplifier

The built-in headphone amplifier‘s current-feedback AB architecture delivers high bandwidth, extremely low noise, and up to 128dB of dynamic range. Three key features make current-feedback amplifiers outstanding for audio. The high slew rate prevents odd order distortion anomalies. Current-on-demand at the output enables the amplifier to respond quickly and linearly; when large amounts of output power are suddenly needed, the amplifier can respond extremely quickly without raising the noise floor of the system and degrading the signal-to-noise ratio. Gain-independent frequency response allows the full bandwidth of the amplifier to be used over a wide range of volume settings.

Mechanically Sound

Paying close attention to every aspect of the M6x DAC, we get incredible technical parameters and effortless sound quality full of grace and transparency. The mechanical construction is uncompromisingly rigid and solid in typical Musical Fidelity tradition. Front panel and side panels are milled from extruded aluminium profiles. The exterior doesn’t only look clean, stunning and indestructible, it also protects the internals against outer electromagnetic fields, and in the same way, the rest of your HiFi gear against electromagnetic fields generated by the M6x DAC. Not using a big display on the front panel only increases this effect, as the cut out needed for it would drastically complicate things.

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Praised by Hi-Fi+ as “a true world-class product”, the M6s PRX is a 230 Watts-per-channel power amplifier with a unique Choke Regulated Power Supply (CRPS). The M6s PRX shares the same basic circuit topology as it’s premium Titan or AMS50 siblings, but the CRPS gives it a technical twist of its own, enabling performance levels that eclipse its rivals. Its awesome combination of precision and power means the M6s PRX can drive even demanding speakers with complete neutrality.

Hi-Fi Choice said the M6s PRX has an “aura of unflappable invincibility. You can push the amp hard without ever sensing that it’s struggling”. These sentiments were echoed by the Hi-Fi+ review, which described the M6s PRX as having “an effortless quality it almost makes your speakers seem bigger and better than they really are.” The M6s PRX is also a flexible design, featuring two sets of switchable inputs. Its line output sockets also allow it to be easily used in a bi-amp or even tri-amp configuration.

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Overview

At Musical Fidelity we think of the M6si as being a destination product. The M6si offers such excellent performance, facilities and power that unless you are seeking the most exotic high-end sound quality you would never need another amplifier. We believe it’s that good.

Internally, the M6si is configured as 2 independent monobloc power amps with a separate pre amp. It is, in fact, a pre amp with 2 monobloc power amps that just happen to share the same casework. The M6si has 220wpc. It has very low distortion, outstanding noise ratio and extremely flat frequency response. Its inputs are phono (MM/MC), 4 line level, 1 balanced XLR and 1 USB ‘B’ up to 24bit 96kHz asynchronous.

The M6 combination of high power, high current and extraordinary stability means that it can drive any loudspeaker with ease. In use it is hard to hear any practical difference between the M6si and other much more expensive amplifiers. In proper blind listening comparisons, the M6si performs incredibly well. If we sound rather enthusiastic it’s because we are.

We love the M6si and hope that you do too.

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For many people, the cinema is just a place with a big screen and expensive snacks – but there is more, which is usually not visible at all: The surround-sound-system. It all started with a simple three speaker setup in the 1980s and evolved to object based systems with up to 20 speakers. With the new M6x 250.7 you can easily create a powerful 7.1 home cinema setup (your active subwoofer is powered separately). You can connect your preamplifier/AV processor with either RCA or fully balanced XLR cables. The XLR connection furthermore enhances the sound quality and keeps the signal transmission clean.

The Musical Fidelity M6x 250.7 will not only satisfy you with its sound quality, but also with the high quality metalwork and overall clean look. The front panel, in either black or silver finish, is a custom-made fine line aluminium extrusion.

Connection

The M6x 250.7 offers a gold-plated RCA and a balanced XLR input per channel. If you have XLR outputs on your preamp, we always recommend using a balanced connection. This kind of signal transmission leads to increased dynamics, less noise and improved signal-to-noise ratios. If you need the same signal on multiple inputs for e.g., bi-amping, you can use the gold-plated RCA through output and distribute the signal to the next input. The gold-plated isolated speaker output terminals accept 4 mm Banana plugs, spades connectors or naked wire. The trigger in-/output allows you to turn the device on/off via other components.

Power

Our new multichannel amplifier is built modular with one 250W class A/B amplifier stage per channel. We designed our amplifier to sound highly natural by keeping all transients and micro information. The super silent audiophile power transformer distributes clean power, which results in a high dynamic range and a detailed sound stage. This is a major feature for a home cinema amplifier. The M6x 250.7 is able to preserve all the details and emotion, no matter which volume. Due to the sophisticated heat sink design, the M6x 250.7 does not need a fan to keep the amplifier cool. Despite its big power, you will never hear any fan noise coming from the amp.

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