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REVIEW: Musical Fidelity A300 Integrated Amplifier (SS) Review by Greg Cz at Audio Asylum

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Great audio equipment is transparent as water. Output of sound gently mirrors each connecting part. The challenge for the audio enthusiast becomes discovery of potential.

It is this process that we have pursued with the Musical Fidelity A300 integrated amplifier. The A300 is the heart of our audio system and this review may be more about attached wires than the A300 itself.

The factory power cord limits the amplifier. It produces flat, non-dimensional sound that does not approach the output ability of the A300. The power cord should be replaced as soon as possible.

For several weeks we used a Wireworld Stratus power cord. It dynamically filled out the audio spectrum with a great deal of detail. Actually, it produced too much detail with revealing Magnaplanar speakers. It was harsh with many recordings. The Stratus may be a good power cord to employ with some cone speakers that could use a detail boost, but with Maggies and the A300, it was detail overload.

We next turned to the Asylum Power Cord of Kevin Haskins (www.diycable.com). It’s Belden 19364 wire, quality plugs, mesh sleeeving and a touch of expertise from Kevin to construct the cord. It is not exotic, not expensive and ALL proceeds go to the Kevin Haskins International Adoption Fund.

The Asylum cord is noted for what it does not do - no bright high end and no boomy low end, just high quality sound. If anything, it filled out the midrange compared to the Wireworld Stratus. It’s a 14ga beauty that is a world better than the 18ga supplied with the A300. Kevin indicated the cord needs at least a week of break-in. Two weeks approached optimum sound quality.

The feet on the A300 could use more isolation material. Musical Fidelity employs a simple design with a rubber material contact area, but the material is too thin. Better isolation on pads added more coherence, detailed bass, and delicacy. Not a small improvement.

A strong point, the A300 sports the world’s largest speaker terminals. Their diameter is huge and functional. Strip approximately two inches of wire and tighten the terminal nut. The connection created by the diameter of the terminal creates a large surface area for wire contact. This direct wire connection yields more dynamic sound over spades or banana plugs.

Trials of interconnect cables were daunting. The final choice became Homegrown Audio Silver Lace cables (www.homegrownaudio.com). Eight strands of solid silver encased in teflon and beautifully assembled. The sound produced is unassuming with wide sound stage - wonderfully detailed. As I said in a previous Asylum review, “The Silver Lace are all music.” The Silver Lace even works as a digital cable. Minimum break in is 75 hours. Approaching 200 hours produced optimum sound quality.

It is very difficult to fault the Cat 5 speaker cable recipe of Chris VenHaus (http://www.geocities.com/venhaus1/index.html), other than to say braiding the wire is an irritating labor of love. The sound is worth the effort.

On his web page instructions Chris explains that his braid method reduces inductance and produces fast risetime. One would assume faster risetime means the cable will produce a quicker, more precise sound. Perhaps, but what this really means is that inner detail, blurred with lesser speaker wire, is accurately reproduced. Instrument resonances, stage resonance, voice inflections, background instruments all take on life. This creates musical presence. It brings dimension to reproduced sound.

With all the discussion of wire and supports, what is the real sound of Musical Fidelity A300? I’ll create stereotypes. We could say that a tube amp has a airy high end, velvety midrange, and adequate bottom end. A solid state amp has a dry high end, precise midrange, and tight bass.

The A300 falls somewhere between the two stereotypes. We’re not entirely sure of all the real qualities of the A300. The unit takes an incredible amount of time to break in. I’ve owned it for over six months and it continues to improve. That is well over 500 hours of playing time.

The A300 is great audio equipment - transparent as water. And an audio voyage in progress.


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Topic - REVIEW: Musical Fidelity A300 Integrated Amplifier (SS) Review by Greg Cz at Audio Asylum - Greg Cz 08:19:41 07/24/01 ( 1)