I first heard the MF A5cr Pre & Pwr amplifiers at my local dealers, after deciding to upgrade my Arcam A85 and P85 amps, which I was very disappointed in.
I took along a wide range of music POP, ROCK,R'n'B, SOUL etc.
The first thing that caught my eye was the build quality, I just couldn't stop staring at these huge pieces of beautifullly built and designed audio monsters.
Then came the sound, I was just blown away by the huge soundstage, detail refinement and power. I have been a music lover and hifi enthusiast for many years and have heard quite a lot of amplifiers in my time but they all seem to sound thin and lean, but not the MF A5 amps. The more I turned up the volume on that beautiful crafted oversized volume knob the better the sound got. There was not a hint of strain from this pair.
Strengths:
BIG MUSCULAR ENVELOPING SOUND. REFINEMENT, DETAIL AND MASSESS OF POWER.
415 WATTS : 4 ohms
MM and MC Phono Stages Built In.
Fantastic SOLID CONSTRUCTION.
WEIGHS A TON.
Summary: There still aren't many reviews from personal buyers of the MF Acr Pre +Pwr amplifiers so I have decided to tell people how good these amplifiers are
I was lucky to buy them from a ebay member so they were virtually brand new.
But before I did buy you may ask why did he do that? Well I did audition them first at my local hifi dealer and was just blown away. Unfortunately they were to expensive for me.
Anyway to cut a long story short, the day they arrived after winning them on Ebay I was highly excited after reading such great reviews in Hifi World and Hifi News. I plugged them in and immediately I was engulfed in a massive soundstage that just brought a smile to my face. But it was not only the soundstage that excited me oh no there's more the detail and separation that it extracted from a wide range music POP, ROCK, R'n'B Rock and Roll and Dance was just fantastic.
The power amplifier does get a bit hot but there is nothing to worry about . What did concern me was that if there is no music playing and I place my ear to one speaker there is a humming noise so I tried the same thing for the other and low and beholed there it was again.
So I decided to send it to MF, they sent my dealer a report to say yes there is slight hum and what they did was they moved the transformer in the power amplifier further away.
Once I brought it home and plugged it in it was not good news that annoying hum was still there. The funny thing was when I am actually listening to music there is no hum it is only there when there is no music coming from the speakers and I place an ear to the speaker, this appears on all inputs.
The other thing that I forgot to say was that the MFAcr amps are being used with a Arcam CD72T , Michell Gyrodec, Kef Reference 1:2 spks and interconnects are VDH D102 MK111 , speaker cable is VDH Cleartrack biwire.
This was the only higgle that could not be removed, but otherwise the sound is just fantastic Detail, Soundstage and a Refined nature lets me get engulfed in music, not for minutes but hours but only when I can get the chance.
Strengths: FANTASTIC DETAIL. A SOUNDSTAGE TO MAKE YOU GET ENGULFED IN MUSIC.
MASSIVE , MASSIVE POWER AND A REFINED NATURE.
WORTH EVERY PENNY.
Weaknesses: ALL I CAN SAY IS THAT THERE ARE NO WEAKNESSES.
Summary: Early April and I felt the need for change. I had been listening to both the Primare and Musical Fidelity kit. I knew I needed a MC phono input which Musical Fidelity's A5 Pre/Power had, so I borrowed them for a weekend from a very friendly retailer and spent three days listening. The end result was I made a purchase.
On getting my Musical Fidelity A5 power Amplifier home, I un-boxed it and very carefully put it on my rack, I say carefully as this is one HEAVY piece of kit. The front panel is a solid piece of extruded aluminium finished in a matt silver and the sides are used as heat sinks and finished in black. I plugged it in. I switched it on and WOW - AWFUL.
So I left it - ON playing a Burn -In disk I had. I left it for 3 days and 3 nights and then decided to try again. This time WOW - HEAVEN. Be careful though, by this time the amp was HOT in all senses.
The Bass went low, the top went high and the mid range was SWEET. Certainly one of the best amps I have heard. It produces up to 255 watts RMS per channel which gives the head room for the sound ouze out without sounding strained or in any way harnessed.
Strengths: Power, Power and Power.
Weaknesses: You have to be kidding!!!!!!!
Similar Products Used: Audiolab, Tag McLaren and Myriad.
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