Power,bass,imaging and soundstaging

Lousy remote

I've had the pleasure of owning this amp for over a year now and it is the only part of my system that hasn't changed. It is a wonderful integrated and after spending a great deal of time in dealer showrooms listening to all sorts of equipment and learning alot about this crazy hobby, I can truthfully say that you would have to spend a ton of money to get anything that would be significantly better than this integrated. I just recently added a PS Audio Ultimate Outlet and a PS Audio Mini-Lab cable to power the A300 (I had been using a Monster HT 2500). The gains in soundstaging are terrific and the imaging has become rock stable. If you are reading this and you own this amp, I can't recommend this addition more highly. The cable will only cost $200 and the Ultimate Outlet goes for $300 but thats a small price when you hear the results it gets you for the money. You'll be blown away when you hear how tremendously it improves the imaging and soundstaging. It definitely brings the sound into the regions of class A equipment. Try it and then e-mail me to thank me for letting you know! For those of you looking for a great piece of equipment to build a system around this is a good one to have. You get a very good phono stage so you can keep your old vinyl. The sound even before you start fiddling with cables and stuff is excellent, smooth and detailed. If you surround it with other good equipment you'll have hours upon hours of listening enjoyment. Sam Tellig wrote in Stereophile that if you own this amp you'll enjoy it so much that you won't even care if there's a better linestage or amp for $10,000 $12,000 or more . I definitely agree. This is one of the greatest purchases I ever made.
My system:
Musical Fidelity A300 integrated Amplifier
Meridian 506.24 cd player
Rega Planar 25 turntable w/ Benz-Micro Silver cartridge
Luxman T353 tuner
Paradigm Reference Studio 100v.2
Paradigm Reference Servo 15 subwoofer
Analysis Plus Oval Nine Bi-wire speaker cable
Audioquest Viper interconnects
PS Audio Mini-Lab Power Cable
PS Audio Ultimate Outlet
Monster HT 2500

Musical, Well Built, excellent MM Stage

Speaker posts again - I had to cut my Spades off. No Headphone

I recently moved and in the process sold my 8000S and bought the A300 - thus the gains and losses are either due to the Amplifier, or the new listening room.

I now have wooden floors and a lower ceiling as opposed to my carpeted last place and the room is a very lively. This would account for why I think the balance is now off in the room (normal volumes to Loud). I have prominent Treble and Bass. Very good Bass indeed, you can hear every deformation occuring in the Drum, the Block of wood, or whatever else the instrument may be.

Overall I'm very happy with the Amp and I think I need to sort the room out - If anyone else has a missing Midrange I'd be interested to know. I have had much experience with other MF gear and like it all.

Over and above the Audiolab which is a natural for these speakers, with the A300 I now have greater control on the speakers.

At low volumes with the Audioloab the music was thin. Now with the A300 the balance at low volumes is correct and natural.

My system:
Micromega Stage 4
Van den Hul The First interconnect
MF A300
VdH SCS-12 (Treble) Vdh The Wind (Bass) - I may swop these around since SCS-12 is an awesome in the Treble and The Wind likewise in the Bass - that'd reduce both the extremes,
B&W CDM1 (go look at the number of people using Audiolabs)
good quality Stands and Rack.

NK.

Similar Products Used:

Audiolab 8000S

Great sense of air and detail. Wealth of power output. Remote control. Quality construction.

none come to mind.

I read the good reviews and wanted to check it out. Well, I bought it. I wasn't at first happy with the sound, I noticed excellent detail but the sense of air I was used to was not there. After playing it for awhile I have noticed that the airy qualities have been unveiled. This integrated amp is powerful. It is built like a tank, it looks beautiful and the sound is wonderful.

Playing Trial of the Bow's Rite of Passage, I noticed parts of the music I haven't heard before. I can actually hear the flute player inhale during the song "Serpent". I haven't heard this before. Rock music has more detail, I can hear the slightest tap on the snare drum etc.. Primus's music is great, the bass guitar presents itself as a bold and powerful instrument. Dark ambient music is great, the airy qualities of the integrated amp are definitely unveiled with this type of music.

My system:

Musical Fidelity A300 dual mono integrated amplifier
Polk Audio RT16
Analysis Plus Oval Twelve speaker cable
JVC XL cd transport
Premium gold interconnects

Musical fidelity-instruments sound like they are supposed to. Wonderful detail, depth and "rightness" of the music

remote is a little cheesey compared with the superb build quality of unit. Speaker binding posts are absurdly large.

After spending a long time listening and considering a variety of integrateds and separates in the 2-3K range, e.g. Integrateds: YBA,Plinius,SIM,Classe,Audio Analogue,etc
Separates: Classse, Thule, Adcom, B&K, Bryston, etc.
I opted to try the MF A300. Its not often you get to buy a $2400 (price in England) amp for $1500(I paid 1350. due to a 10% X-mas discount). Gives you some idea of what dealer mark-up is. It is also half the price of many of the units mentioned above.

So, is it as good as the British press and Sam say it is?
Absolutely. After the 30 day trial, it stayed. Why? because of what is does (and doesn't do). The music just sounds right. Clear, uncolored, detailed, depth of sounstage and the rightness of how the instuments sound. Every time I try to listen and read, I'm always looking up and thinking, "I've never heard that before," or "that's the way a guitar really sounds." The occasional shrill highs and listening fatigue that I used to experience with the Adcoms were gone. Even my wife noticed the differences.

I think the A300 is one of the great buys available.

Speakers: Infinity Renaissance 90
Turntable: Rotel 855 with Ortofon super OM 30
CD: Sony ES
Wires: Nordost super flatline biwire and solar wind
interconnects

Similar Products Used:

Replaced Adcom 545 and pre/tuner 400

Big, powerful, very neutral sound, loves being driven at high volumes (without stress), a bargain price for what you get. Excellent build quality - high end touches such as remote controlled relay swithching at mid prices, and the monster of all speaker terminals!

You may not like the way it looks - personally I think it looks great.

I tried several pre-power as well as integrated amps and was willing to pay up to £3000 (even more if I could be convinced it was worth it). I stumbled across the A300 by chance and was just blown away by its sound. It was able to hold its own against amp set-ups costing several times the price and could even embarass them at times with its effortless power and control.

The key word here is neutrality - this amp doesn't colour the sound, it just lets through what your source is producing. If your source sounds awful then thats what you'll get.

I really can't believe that Musical Fidelity are selling it for £1400 - they could easily triple the price and I think most audiophiles would say they're good value for money. In fact if I've anything to say against the A300 its the fact that it's bargain price may make many a high-ender overlook it. More fool them.

So to sum up, the MF A300 is a steal! High end sound for sensible money. Try one at your earliest convenience and then get ready to buy it!

Similar Products Used:

A variety of Pre-power combos from Shearne, Naim, Exposure, Talk, Arcam FMJ. Plus the Marantz PM17KI Signature and the Roksan Caspian Integrated/Power biamping combination.

Integrated, ease of use, musical, looks

speaker terminals are BIG, can't buy locally

Bought on the net with 30 day return. Broke in for two weeks 24x7. Then took it to four local shops to audition with Thiels, Proac, PSB, Paradigm, B&W.

Compared in the store against the shops "reference" setup for the speakers I was interested in. Simple conclusion: sounds great, plenty of power, silence is golden and to my ear it doesn't "color" the music. (My reference is Sennheiser 580 headphones out of the source directly with a headphone amp.) Settled on pairing with ProAc1.5. I am NOT an audiophile and never want to be. I am happy with the system and feel that with the return policy you can get it, and trot it around like I did and make your own decision.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz

I went into my local hifi shop (Moorgate Acoustics, Sheffield) to look at an amp around the £800 ish mark. After a number of visits listening to Linn, Tag, NAIM and numerous others I decided to give the A3 a go. It blew away most other competition in the price range, but then I tried the A300. The sound is just incredible, there is not much else I can say. I had to borrow some extra money to buy one, but it was worth it. Have a listen, and as previously stated the sound just gets better with time....

Make sure you take a good look at one before you buy, the styling is not to everyone's taste, also be aware of the weight - it's the heaviest Amp I've come across in some time and may not be suitable for some stands. For those that like the sound but not the price tag, take a look at it's smaller brother, the A3.

build quality, price

remote

i was'nt in a market for an integrated amp, am' quite satisfied with my creek but while vacationing in hongkong
last year i happen to hear the A300 integrated amp being auditioned at one of the shop.. the musicality of this system just blow me away, easily driving a B&W 804 (excellent speaker but way to expensive for my budget) with its 150 watts amp, detail you can hear w/ lots of air.. theres an itty bitty rolloff on highs but the store owner said w/ proper burnin time (bout 200 hours) it'll bring out the best on any kind of music... i happen to have my fav. acoustic alchemy cd (arcanum) and i cannot help but try it to see how a very familiar music would sound... well all i can say is that i was sold next thing i know my hand was shelling out that hard earned dollars..price is around $1700 but managed to bring it down to $1350 which i think a real steal considering the price in UK..

my gear

cd SONY C79ES
cable, speaker GOERTZ MI2
cable, interconnect GOERTZ SILVER MICRO PURL
integrated amp MF A300 INTEGRATED AMP
CREEK 4330(best in its price level)
speaker, B&W DM640i

Similar Products Used:

creek 4330

Lots of power, very,very clean sound

none

This is one clean sounding amp. I read a review that stated that this amp was as close as you could get to a piece of straight wire with a gain control and that is the truth. If you are looking for a great amp and you want some power this is the one to get. I've barely got this thing broken in and it is already obvious that what Sam Tellig wrote in Stereophile magazine is really the facts. This amp will definitely bring you into the realm of high end audio without a really big price tag. It has a really smooth uncolored sound and it doesn't seem to matter how loud you play it; the sound doesn't break up it only gets louder. It does have a little warmth to it soundwise and I suppose that's why people say it is very close to the sound of a tube amp. No matter how you toss the coin, you can't go wrong with this one. It will get you into upper echelon sound without breaking the bank. You'll be proud to own this one.Highly Reccomended!
My system
Musical Fidelity A300 integrated amp
Rotel 971 cd player
Paradigm Reference Studio 40 v.2
MIT Terminator 2 interconnects
Tara Labs Prism biwire speaker cables
Paradigm PDR12 Subwoofer

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha and Sony recievers

Price
three amps in one: Pre-amp, Power amp and Phono
Remote!!!

Not very musical

Well, I bought it because of the reviews, because my Arials were so hungry for power, and because my Haflers were a little long in the tooth. And at first I really liked it. Then Harry from Audio Dimentia called and asked what was going on. I told him and he said, hmmm, stop by and let me loan you something. So he gave me this used Audio Reasearch LS2 pre-amp which I hooked up to my very used Hafler 220. Ummmmm....the result was very musical. I loved it. Called my wife in. She wanted to like the Musical Fidelity, but felt the LS/Hafler combo sounded more musical. And quite frankly they, on the used market (only available that way) are cheaper. So I'm sending the Musical Fidelity back (with a tear in my eye) and keeping Harry's LS2. And I am really starting to like these Arials.

Perhaps, like many other components, so much depends on what you combine them with.

Similar Products Used:

NAD;Hafler:Audio Research