Musical Fidelity FCD / A5CD

[admin_exported]

My set up comprises the following:

Musical Fidelity FCD,

A5 pre and Power,

Sonus Faber Signums,

Nordost Red Dawn interconnects and Blue Heaven speaker cables

I have been generally very happy with this system, but in the quest for audio Nirvana I picked up a good priced second hand Musical Fidelity A5 CD thinking that this highly regarded player would sound like a refined version of the FCD, however once hooked up I noticed the sound to be slightly bright and fatiguing.

After many days of back to back listening to both players The A5 CD at all times was lacking some bass punch and had a forward tone, when compared to the FCD, although treble was crystal clear, detail impeccable and low end went very low!

So this is the question: do I stick with the FCD or will a change in cabling realise the potential of the A5 CD, any thoughts ?

 

[Anonymous]

I also have both the FCD and the A5 CD and although on my system there is not a huge difference (both superior players despite the poor reviewing the FCD received) the A5 definitely has the edge. The A5 I have was, however, modified/upgraded by http://www.jsaudiorepairs.co.uk/ (ex-MF engineer) and this maybe the reason for its superiority. Over the last few months I investigated with a friend different interconnects in different systems. The difference could be dramatic with one interconnect excellent in one system and dreadful in another. Before this I tended to dismiss a large contribution of interconnects to the sound of a system.

I think you need to try out several different cables before you make the decision you can't rely on an review of any cable as its performance will depend on the system in which they were tested.

The ones I have linking the A5 to a Roksan Caspian pre-amp are Chord Chameleons, there are probably ones that would be better but the house was filling with interconnects and money was getting short.

 

[Anonymous]

@Pura Vida:

I know this is off topic but I was thinking of getting an A5 pre and power and a pair of Signums like yourself.

It says the Signums can handle between 30 and 150w without
clipping. These baby's put out 250w and 500w into 4oh (as per the Signum's
impedance).

How are your Signums with the the A5's? Can you play them loud up to the 12 o' clock position say without any problems?

I'm currently have SF Concertos which are rated at 200w and I can crank them half way with no problems on my A5 Integrated (which is also 250w)

Just worried in case I blow the Signums :/