HiFi legends

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:musical_notes: Reflections on Musical Fidelity: A Love Letter with Caveats

As a long-time enthusiast of the Musical Fidelity brand, I feel compelled to share a few thoughts—just my opinion, but one born from hands-on experience, countless listening hours, and a deep love for music and the gear that brings it to life.

Let me say upfront: I am a Musical Fidelity lover. I proudly own and treasure some of their finest creations—the legendary A1000, the understated A220, and the sweet-sounding A2. These amplifiers, all UK-made, represent a golden era in audio design. They were built with passion, purpose, and an ear for musical truth.

But sadly, my affection for the brand has taken a noticeable dip in recent years.

The turning point? When Musical Fidelity moved manufacturing to Taiwan, under the supervision of Pro-Ject. Let me be clear: this isn’t about national pride or prejudice—it’s purely about engineering philosophy and sonic results. The newer generation of amplifiers simply doesn’t carry the same magic.

Take the M3si, for example—a modern integrated amp that I also own. It’s good on paper and decent in practice, but it simply doesn’t compare to the musical engagement, power, and richness of its UK-built predecessors. Despite its claims of being able to drive any speaker, mine repeatedly blew its internal fuse trying to power my Dynaudio Audience 70s—a task the A1000 performs effortlessly, even at enthusiastic volume levels.

This was an eye-opener. I had hoped that as time passed, technology would bring improvements—but in this case, it feels like the opposite. The A1000, built decades ago, is still an absolute sonic powerhouse. Honestly, I suspect that when Musical Fidelity engineered it, even they didn’t quite realize they were creating one of the best amplifiers in HiFi history. Whether by design brilliance or happy accident, they struck gold.

If you’re reading this and you ever come across a Musical Fidelity A1000 in good condition, grab it. Don’t hesitate. It might just make you question every other amplifier you’ve owned—and maybe even send your current one straight to the classifieds.

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I wish AI would write a similar piece about Dixons.

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The turning point for me was the System Diagnostic Slide Rule. which ‘proved’ that every system needed a 550W Supercharger

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Given the thread title, is this going to be a one off broadcast or part of a series?

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Utter drivel

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Tired Excuse Me GIF by Spotify

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Given the topic, let’s hope it is an ex-series.

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Chumpy back with Ai /gpt ?

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Welcome to the forum @REGINALD123.

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In fairness, I’ve really come round to the idea about there just being “somerhing” about having huge power reserves. Like driving a hugely powerful car at low speed, you can just feel the reserves. You may only want to go 30mph, but it’s the way it gets there.

I like a huge over compensating amp :wink:

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Just have sensitive speakers then everything is overcompensating :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

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Why choose… have both!

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Used to like the look of the small XA xray etc series. Though tried an ax2 with my speakers a few years ago,and it was pretty disappointing

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Que?

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Tom Cruise What GIF

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So you can listen very very loud.

And high sensitivity rarely comes with big bass. Bass needs power.

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Erm.

My speakers produce 106db from a metre away with just one watt.

So how loud do you really want to listen, and what exactly do you think all those other watts in a high power amp are doing exactly?

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Drivel.

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Show me a 100db efficient speaker that does 20hz?

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It was a blatant marketing load of bollocks