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Review 1 of 1
Price Paid:
$979.00
from Definitive Audio Summary:
I have often been told that my Adcom 535 MKII was a bright amp. I thought yeah it is a little bright but I am not going to spend $1200-$2000 on a new Musical Fidelity amp for my Magnepan MG12s. I am a college student and have a budget to maintain. Recently I purchased a set of Paul Spieltz's Anti-Cable speaker cables and was impressed by how open they were compared to my AudioQuest CV-6s. However it made my Adcom sound really bright on the high end. I finally heard what many dealerships had told me about my amp.
Over the weekend I went out to Definitive Audio in Seattle and talked to a salesman about a new amp around the $1000 range. He showed me the Musical Fidelity X-P200 and while he was hooking it up I was listening to a system consisting of all Mark Levinson gear and a set of Revel Ultima Speakers. After he hooked up the amp he made the switch. I was amazed how different the two amps sounded. The Mark Levinson sounded very sterile and not musical. It was extremely precise and the details could really be heard. The bass and dynamic hit however seemed rather lacking. The Musical Fidelity however didn't have quite the detail of the Mark Levinson gear but the dynamics were there and the midrange was full. The bass reponse seemed to be doubled as well. When bass hit you knew it. I listened to some Allison Kraus and was amazed at how involving the Musical Fidelity was. The even bigger shocker was that I was comparing a $1200 product to a $8000 amplifier. After realizing this I immediately put the item on hold and sold my Adcom amp. I then went back to the store and had my father listen. He was extremely impressed with the amp as well. He owns a Acurus A200 and even he couldn't believe the power and the presence of such a small amplifier. I was able to get the demo unit for $900 plus tax.
Once I got home and plugged in the amp I was absolutely shocked at the difference the amp made on my MG12s. The MG12s went from sounding like a set of large bookself speakers to a full range set of loudspeakers. I turned my Rel Strata III subwoofers off and haven't turned them on since I have owned the amp the last week. I am sure at some point I will turn them on and recalibrate them for the new amplifier. The Maggies have a dominance and authority that I haven't heard from them since I first heard them in a showroom. I think they even sound a little better now than in the showroom. The amp can be cranked up and never give up and sounds just as amazing at low volumes. It is full sounding and the dynamics are there. Listening to Enya: Watermark the low bass notes are there and are full. The bass is full all the way down to the 45Hz point where the speakers cutoff.
In conclusion I do not think that there is an amp under $1500 and maybe even $2000 that can beat this thing. I even prefer it over the Mark Levinson gear overall, though the Mark Levinson had more detail, but it was more sterile than musical. For $900 it is a bargain that cannot be beat. As well down the road I plan on buying a second amp to monoblock it. I must say that I don't find myself analyzing musical with this amp, rather I just listen to it. Strengths:
Price
Full Midrange
Clean Highs
Dynamic
Full and tight bass control
Powerful Amp that can control my Magnepan Weaknesses:
None, especially considering the price point.
If I had to make a complaint I guess it would be a little more detail in the higher frequences. Similar Products Used:
Adcom 535 MKII, Acurus A200 and a slew of other amps.
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