Pilinius 9200 or Musical Fidelity A5 ?

I was going to buy an A5 for a 2nd system in a house I was renting. The speakers I had were very efficient so I called MF and asked them about the A3.5. They said the preamp section was the same and that the amp its basically the same with less output transistors. Taking that into consideration, this is what I can tell you.

The amp (3.5) had all kinds of power. Obviously, the 5 should have more.

You will never, ever, mistake it for a tube amp. Its the complete opposite.

Its also worth noting that these are the first products MF started to make overseas. As a result, they definitely sound like it. If you have ever heard their older products, you wouldn't think it was the same company.

Never owned a Plinius product but I have tried a couple Musical Fidelity pieces. The MF integrated amp I owned was nothing special at all. Sold it pretty quick.
You could purchase either one at a used price and sell it if it doesn't work for you. Audiogon will love you for it.

I've owned two Plinius amps, including the 8200MKII integrated. I think they make a nice product.... so that's the route I'd go. I did own a Musical Fidelity NuVista integrated for a short time... found it to be high on bling factor, but the sound quality fell short of expectations, so I quickly sold it.

I have heard some Hegel components and was impressed with their lack of SS shrillness ,stridence etc, and the smooth fullbalanced drequency extension they posessed. I could recommend them. I had a hard time getting my MF integrated to sound right so I would say no to that one unless you have heard it and really love it. Plinius is a more enjoyable hard hitting amp straight out of the box which I thought would be great I came very close to buying one but the seller was a a Brick and Motor snooty *ssH*ole who insulted me.

Don't have experience with either, but remember that 50 Watts isn't going to be a huge difference here. Since a doubling of power gives only a 3dB increase in volume (dBs are a logarithmic scale).

I was interested in a Plinius 9200 myself. Bought a Hegel instead (200 wpc). Some people say SS can't come close to tubes. The Hegel changed my mind in that regard. Fwiw - my opinion about a possible 3rd option.