Pre Amplifiers - Musical Fidelity

As an alternative to a single box integrated amplifier that combines pre and power in one, using a separate hi-fi pre amplifier and power amplifier amp is considered the ideal amplifier set-up to most hi-fi enthusiasts and audiophiles. These option typically offers better performance than an integrated amplifier by virtue of the fact they benefit from dedicated designs, separate power supplies and other features. A pre amp connects to your source (streamer, DAC, CD player, turntable, etc) offering volume and source selection with the power amplifier powering the speakers.

As such. pre amps do not include speaker outputs but rather feature RCA or XLR outputs to connect to a separate power amplifier, which then connects to your bookshelf or floorstanding speakers. Some pre amps include a dedicated headphone amplifier section and/or DAC to connect your digital sources directly in addition to RCA or balanced XLR inputs. Some purist pre amplifiers focus solely on pre amp duties, in which case you can add a dedicated headphone amplifier or DAC to your system. For further advice on pre/power amplifiers or anything else for your system, please call or e-mail us.

Musical Fidelity presents best-in-class quality hi-fi components conceived from over thirty years of audio expertise. They design and engineer impactful hi-fi separates hosting excellent sound, high technical performance, exceptional value for money and remarkable build quality.

Musical Fidelity has designed and manufactured Hi-Fi electronics for more than thirty years and are among the best-known brands in the Hi-Fi industry. They aim to deliver exceptional music and tackle the challenge of world-class engineering. Each new design approach seeks the absolute best solution and embraces cutting-edge technologies as well as refining traditional methods for better performance.

Founder Antony Michaelson designed and produced his first amplifier, The Preamp, for his own home as he was frustrated by the mediocre preamp in his audio system. It was heard by an audio dealer who placed an order for some and they were so successful that they all sold over their first weekend on display. Consequently and almost by accident, Musical Fidelity was launched in 1982 and The Preamp received glowing reviews. It was then followed by the shoebox-style Dr Thomas power amp.

Over almost four decades, Musical Fidelity has introduced an impressive line of products from the A1 integrated amp in 1984, A370 Power Amp and Digilog; the World’s first high-end DAC. Their technologies were always at the forefront of the industry; The MVX preamp was the first in the world to combine tube circuit topology with transistors, the SA470 power amp ran 99% in Class in 1988 which facilitated the release of the A1000 four years later featuring pure Class A power amp section.

The 90s saw in the classic valve-driven Tubalog DAC, X Series with X-10D Class A triode line stage, X-ACT DAC and X-24K upsampling DAC as well as the X-Ray CD player. The Nu-Vista Preamp employing compact, metal-cased nuvistor tubes sold out within three months of launch in 1997. These formed the basis for upgraded models like the futuristic CD-PRE 24 combining a high-quality CD transport/DAC/preamp and the Nu-Vista M3 pre/power amp with discrete Nu-Vista power amp modules and choke regulation.

The Tri-Vista series offered the world’s first audio application of trivistor tubes and the kW 500 super integrated amp employed twin-triode tubes. In 2003, Musical Fidelity released their first turntable; the limited-edition M1 which was regarded as one of the best-engineered decks then went on to become a collector’s item fetching above its original price.

The supercharged X-DAC V8 introduced switchable tube buffer and extra-heavy-duty power supply and the brand won their first EISA award with the X-150 (2004-2005) for European Stereo Amplifier of the Year. KW250S packs in dual 250-watt monobloc amps, tube hybrid preamp, phono stage, 24-bit 192K upsampling CD player, FM/DAB tuner and iPod input.

Titan, launched in 2009, is a 1kW p/ch twin monobloc design with external power supply alongside the Reference-standard Primo pure Class A pre-amplifier with 14 hand-picked ECC81 tubes. Their most recent additions aim to satisfy all budgets and hi-fi needs. These include the EISA award-winnng M1 CLiC which brings together analogue and digital sources, their finest digital AMS CD/DAC and the world’s most advanced pure Class A amp; the AMS100.

Now owned by an Austria-based independent specialist Audio Tuning, the brand retains its proud British heritage and preserves the natural authentic audio performance that has become synonomous with Musical Fidelity across the world. The unique product series accommodate traditional and contemporary requirements from high quality vinyl listening, bit-perfect CD playback or increasingly popular wireless music streaming. For each source, Musical Fidelity supplies a broad range of powerful, state-of-the-art amplifiers that sound at home anywhere.

The reason for separation of the pre amp and power amplifier is a concept that applies to virtually every product across hi-fi. Greater performance will virtually always be had by having everything which can be separate housed in a separate unit. A standalone phono stage will typically offer better performance than one within an integrated amplifier, and the same logic applies to DACs, headphone amplifiers and most other hi-fi products. One key reason for this phenomenon is the separation of power supplies. Power supplies are typically described as “noisy”, they vibrate and resonate and can cause unwanted interference which can have undesired effect on the audio signal and ultimately the sound your hi-fi produces and your enjoyment of your favourite records and music collection. By housing a pre amp and a power amplifier in separate boxes, their respective power supplies are also separated and isolated from one another, making it much easier to preserve signal quality and prevent any interference.

Manufacturers go to great lengths to isolate the potentially noisy power supplies and transformers required to power the pre amp from the delicate circuitry. These techniques, as well as varying features, connectivity and build quality, is what separates one amplifier from another, and is the reason why some cost a large amount more than others. One technique involves suspending the power supply and isolating it from the sensitive components, so that resonance is not passed through the chassis.

A key concept in Pre Amp design is signal integrity. That is to say that the signal the pre amplifier takes from your source (CD player, turntable, tuner etc.) needs to remain untouched and uncoloured by tone controls, resonance or filters, and must be fed to the power amplifier as an untouched signal. Most hi-fi manufacturers and high end pre amp hold to the mantra that attempts to improve signal quality will always have an adverse effect on musicality and the overall sound produced by your hi-fi. High quality pre amp seek to be as simple as possible internally, in order to maintain signal quality and integrity. Most designs seek for the shortest possible signal paths and direct cable routing internally to prevent longer runs of cabling allowing for interference and negative effects of resonance, RF and power supplies.