New MF amp

This week's "greatest amp ever made by MF" is...

http://www.musicalfidelity.com/products/supercharger/pics.html

The question I have to ask is WHY?

Why would anyone want a low gain amplifier to amplify all the characteristics of the existing "low quality" pre and power amps for a cost of nearly £3k? Would it not be better to go for a proper power amp? Or am I missing the point here? Perhaps Nando can explain?

I like the cool looks though. "Conceptual breakthrough"? Answers on a post card please.

 

looks like a car air filter, maybe a K&M one

 

No, I think you've got the point. If someone thinks their p.a is short of power, simply upgrade it.

 

maybe they'vre trying to pander to the punters whop only think they know what they want...

 

Well it is called the Super Charger 550K

 

I agree that if an amp is short of power then upgrading is the logical thing to do but then for £3k, I'd have plenty of good "proper" amps to choose from (I like to think). Why would I want a low gain high level amp that still needs the existing pre and power amps?

What I'd like MF to do is to produce kit with a longer product life than a couple of months and a clear upgrade path rather than keep on bringing out "niche" (which aren't really) products. Oh and shoot the person who came up with their marketing strategy that ensures rapid depreciation of all their existing customers equipment. Not too much to ask, is it?.

 

and shoot their web designer who has somehow managed to make the blurb relating to this product cut off on the right hand margin so that it is unreadable (and disabled cut and paste as well, so can't get oit that way either)

 

The idea of putting it after the power amp is silly. But, it does look like it can accept a line input too, making it a good normal power amp I expect. I do like the looks, I always thought it would be nice to have an amp in a case much like my computers Zalman watercooler.

 

Nando tells me it can but then it may not be able to produce 550WPC, since it is a low gain amp.

I like it's looks as well, but not because it compliments your CPU cooler.

 

utter bollocks from MF again.

i love the graph where you put Db/wm against power output, neglecting to tell you that your dynamic output may well be 2x rms for your amps on these peaks.

at least they are consistent with the ad-line wattage = realism, even if its utter shite.

 

HI GUYS, AND GALS, i am using them at present with the"fatman i-tube" to try it's capabillities and performance, the way i used it (both) via a pre-amp also as mono blocks, and they sound super, but two issues,
1-the price does not justifie their worth, because if you want a decent power amp for £3000.00 you could get a better itegrated ,. if not a power amp, but having said that it does perform well using it from the output of the fatman amp through the pro-acs response 1sc's , note in mind that this amp is only 13 watts per channel, but i still think that they are over priced. regards nando.

 

MF newsletter july 2007

I've just got this ......missive

There's something wrong with the information ...but the only thing I can put my figure on is the statment on page 5 top right second para quote

"In practice, with a few, very small exceptions, most people cannot accurately distinguish one db difference in level. Most poeple can hear three db under most conditions. Most audiophiles if they are concentrating can hear two db ."

my quad pre has volume steps of 2db.........sorry one click is quite apparent both quantitatively and qualatively.

Can anyone get there head round the slide rule thing ..... how can it be low fi if you have 89 db sensitivity speakers with an 80watt amp ??

 

oops didn't spot this .....

 

No problem, I've merged the 2 threads.

 

cheers .....thats damn clever

 

it looks like one of those old Lecson AP1 power amps of yore:



I honestly can't see the logic of it. Even if you believed the spiel, wouldn't you either a) buy a more powerful inegrated amp b) a more powerful power amp (if you have a pre/power) or c) get more sensitive speakers?

You wouldn't d) add some extra boxes to get the extra power on top of what you already had with all the potential issues that might bring on top ... would you?

 

They are actually right. You can only tell the difference so easily because you chose to change the volume or you heard the switch / click. If you were listening to some music and you were asked to detect a 2dB level change without knowing when it was you would find it a lot harder. With highly compressed music it may be easier I guess.

 

I love the look of that pre-amp!

 

This seems to be the general consensus here. No doubt MF will still sell every unit they make.

 

don't ...I had the chance to buy one in the mid 70's and turned it down !

Can't see the point of the unit ....theres a wrong feel to the whole thing ....

I bet its fill with jamicon caps too......