Musical Fidelity

Happy with my Ms8 preamp !

 

happy with my A3.2 integrated

Very much a latecomer to this thread. Yes. I have an M5 CD rated as one of the best $3,000 CDP's ever made and an M5 500i integrated amp.

The CDP is 18 years old with a valve output stage still going very strong and the amp is just staggering. It doesn't get louder, it just hits you in the head harder. MF confirmed that it's putting approx. 825W per channel into my 4Ohm speakers and EVERYTHING is effortless.

Some have said MF are an online business. They arent. Much to my disappointment.

I own an M2SI and a V-90 DAC. Have zero complaints about either.
An ex girlfriend bought an MF X-A1 integrated amp back in the day.
I was singularly impressed with its sound and build quality. It's why I bought my M2SI.

I have the A308cr preamp and wish I had the matching power amp.

It‘s a big company that has morphed over the years and produced a shitload of amps of varying merit covering the entire spectrum of the market..

I recently purchased a A220 Integrated amp made in England. It's 20 years old and sounds sweet. It's all analog, no digital. I've owned a few other pieces with no issues.  

Andrew Robinson and Kevin Deal have good YT reviews. I recently matched an M8xi with Focal Aria 935 K2s. I've read many laudatory reviews of MF products. Very seldom find a bad word about them. Hard to find better build, sound and resale for the money. It has changed hands due to owner retiring. Same sound engineers (20yrs+) are still on board. Andrew Robinson says the M8xi compares very favorably even with extreme hi-end makes and models. Known for clarity, power, listenability, and build.

Great values on the used market. Just picked up an A1008 for a great price. Sounds very similar to my tube amp but with bags of slam and control. I had a Parasound A21 a while back and liked it. The MF has cleaner highs and is more detailed but is still very smooth. 

I thought they are quite well known for amazing sounds and not huge money. My experience was with a very old A1 and wow that little thing was IMPRESSIVE! I've not listened to their modern offerings though. 

Can't recall where I saw this, may have been some online audio zine. Article was about Project's purchase of MF, had many pictures of MF and Project manufacturing facilities, looked top notch. These were somewhere in eastern Europe as I recall.

@verdantaudio

Thanks for the detail, it’s very helpful to me.   I know ‘boutique’ isn’t quite the right word…I was trying to denote a brand that not a ton of audiophiles know a lot about (look how few on audiogon replied to this post, as well as the small number of U.S. dealers), maybe ‘niche’ is better?   Anyway, looking to upgrade a Parasound P5 preamp possibly to an M8sPRE.    Thanks, Jim

It is distributed in the US and Canada by Focal Naim.  It is owned by ProJect as that purchase was completed a couple years ago.  

Historically MF is a high value brand as it has been produced in Taiwan (like Parasound) and has a great cost/value ratio.  Quality is generally high and it typically will compete with products that are more expensive.  They also bought up a boatload of NuVistor tubes and are the only company that uses them in audio applications.  

There is a little history in that MF was a HUGELY popular brand that angered a lot of brick and mortar retailers as it was one of the first big brands to move on-line.  

I am not certain about long terms plans of their whole line.  I do know that some production has moved from Taiwan to the EU where Canor (who makes awesome amps and sources that I Import) is their OEM.  

They are definitely not boutique.  This biggest issue has been getting inventory as most shipments have been sold out by the time they arrive and basically it has been unavailable this year.  

I love my A308 integrated. Dual mono. 150 watts. Great value. 

I have the M6 PRX Power Amp.  It's a beast and sounds great.  Solid construction.  Bought this used thinking it'd be a catch and release, but after having it for a couple months, it's a keeper!

I had a complete system of A308cr products, CD Player, Pre-amp and the Power Amp. Good value when new and good second hand values when sold, in particular the power amp. Musical Fidelity were renowned for the quality of their power amps and the A308cr series was well reviewed at launch. MF gear was always made in relatively low production runs, hence the frequent range changes. Now part of the Project (turntables etc) stable. Bomb proof construction too !!

I have an M1 VINL phono preamp and it's terrific. It's the only Musical Fidelity piece I've owned.

David

Thanks to those of you who’ve replied thus far.    Although now owned & distributed by Focal/NAIM, it’s obviously more of a ‘boutique’ brand, in that it’s not so widely known.   If anyone else has experience, please pass along.    Thanks.   

I use a Tri-Vista, supposedly the exact unit reviewed by Chris Martens in The Absolute Sound in 2003. I have upgraded the power cord and all of the umbilical cables and fuses, and really like the way it sounds. Detailed, delicate, organic, powerful. It has bettered numerous separates through my system over the years. Although the light up feet are kind of starting to dim (cosmetic), the sound quality and general reliability have been outstanding. If it ever dies, I will likely replace it with a Nu Vista 800 if I can find one.

I had an original NuVista pre which was brilliant for about 3 years until it incinerated itself because, I believe, of the dumb double decker design and small case with inadequate heat sinks. Since then I have been wary of MF although I couldn't fault the SQ.

I had recent good experience with MF M2si, really wonderful sound quality at that price, great build quality. I don' have any personal experience with prior MF equipment. Hopefully, if there were problems, they've been take care of since Pro-Ject purchase. I don't care where they're built, bunch of nonsense.

At one time I had a MF a3cr preamp, a300cr power amp, and Nu-Vista 3D CD player. I still have the Nu-Vista CD and it sounds great. Most MF gear, before the Tri-Vista and Kw lines, was really, really good, particularly since it was made in England. MF made a cardinal error in coming out with new lines while trashing its old ones and failing to provide proper support. This alienated customers who paid big bucks and then were made to feel like second class consumers with worthless components. I sold the amp and preamp and went to BAT, which sounds terrific. At this point, I would not purchase new MF gear (I think it’s now made in Malaysia), and would stay away from the Tri-Vista and Kw lines due to their problematic histories ... the older Nu-Vista (not the newer one) and "a3" products are excellent and I would look for those if you were set on MF.

Forgot to add, I also have a MF X-LP phono preamp which is a great phono preamp for the money.

I have a MF Nuvista preamp and a MF E20 preamp and love both. I had at one time a MF A3.2 power amp and it was great. I just had too many power amps so I let it go in favor of a higher power unit.

I replaced a Parasound Halo P3 preamp with a MF A5cr preamp. It was the best upgrade to my system I've ever done.

Just bad for me.  I spent major bucks on their kW SACD player and it just never worked properly.  It went in for service and came back "repaired" and it still couldn't play SACDs.  I will never buy another MF product EVER.  My dealer ended up making it right but he should not have had to.  Horrible multi year experience.