Musical Fidelity for GS20

[admin_exported]

I am expecting to receive, tomorrow my Monitor Audio GS20 speakers. I will have to decide with what amplifier I should drive them.

I am thinking about Musical Fidelity A1. Could anybody, please, tell me if this is a good choise or should I consider A5.5?

And wich CD player would be a good matching.

Any help would be apreciated

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,Any warm sounding amplification will suit the GS20's, e.g. Arcam, Musical Fidelity, Cambridge Audio or even a pre power NAD system. However I would suggest the A5 over the A1 personally. In terms of CD player the matching A5.5 would be appropriate, however I recommend when auditioning you try CD players with different characters. For example, one of the best systems I heard combined the A5.5 with a Cyrus 8x player (lean balance). Not to everyones taste, but worked for me.ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

I suspect that the A5 would be a better bet than the A1. If my experience of class A sound is anything to go by, except valves, it can be a little brittle and glassy. Not sure if this is a common trait or not. Either way, the A5 is fantastic!

 

[Anonymous]

So in your opinion the choice of MF to drive MA GS20 is a good one. Thank you, and about CD player, would A1CD do or I must consider 5.5?

Thank you both for your help

 

[Anonymous]

I'm afraid I wouldn't know which is better. Personally I'd go for the A5.5 CDP and amp (or A5 for a better deal!) but it would be worth a trial if you're keen.

 

[Anonymous]

OK igglebert thank you very much. I will try to audit the two. Thanks again

 

[Ajani]

Musical Fidelity is an excellent match for Monitor Audio. Monitor Audio uses Musical Fidelity gear to test their speakers (it used to say so in the FAQs section of the Monitor Audio website, back before KEF and Musical Fidelity got all 'exclusive')....

For the record: the best small/medium sized room Hi-Fi combo I've heard, was a pair of Monitor Audio GS20s driven by a Musical Fidelity X-T100 Amp and X-Ray V8 CD Player...

 

[Anonymous]

That is good news. It's allways gratifiying to know that one's choice is supporteg by real experts. Thak you to let me know

 

[d_a_n1979]

Have you thought about having a look/demo with the Arcam FMJ A32 or A38 integrated amps.

Both will work VERY well with the M/A speakers and woul;d marry well with a decent Arcam CDP (i.e. CD192)

 

[Anonymous]

As for my signature says, I 'd highly recommend Musical Fidelity pieces of kit to pair them with Monitor Audio. It sounds lovely for me.

And me too... I'd go for the A5 or A5.5 series.

 

[Anonymous]

Whatever your decision, I think you will end up enjoying the Monitor Audio GS20's. I think they are hugely underrated and supurb value for money.

 

[Anonymous]

Finaly I have my MA GS20 at home, for the moment I am driving them With my old Sansui AU 777 and the fact of the mater, is that it never sound like this whit the Sansui speakers, it's amazing.

Now, thak you everybody for your help but let me make a special reference to Ajani who told me "For the record: the best small/medium sized room Hi-Fi combo I've heard, was a pair of Monitor Audio GS20s driven by a Musical Fidelity X-T100 Amp and X-Ray V8 CD Player..."

For a woundrous coincidence I have runned into a System exactly like this one, a ex demo, that I can by for circa 1200 Pounds. I've been told it's in miunt condition so is it worth bying?

Thanks again to all you wonderfull people.

 

[Ajani]

almarjao:
Finaly I have my MA GS20 at home, for the moment I am driving them With my old Sansui AU 777 and the fact of the mater, is that it never sound like this whit the Sansui speakers, it's amazing.

Now, thak you everybody for your help but let me make a special reference to Ajani who told me "For the record: the best small/medium sized room Hi-Fi combo I've heard, was a pair of Monitor Audio GS20s driven by a Musical Fidelity X-T100 Amp and X-Ray V8 CD Player..."

For a woundrous coincidence I have runned into a System exactly like this one, a ex demo, that I can by for circa 1200 Pounds. I've been told it's in miunt condition so is it worth bying?

Thanks again to all you wonderfull people.

If I was in your position, I'd buy it without a second thought... but that's because I've already heard that combo... My loving that combo doesn't necesarily mean that you will also... so I'd only suggest buying it, if you have the option to return it (if for some reason you don't like it).... But yeah, it sounds like a great deal...

 

[batonwielder]

That is an excellent deal. Does it come with the external power supply? Try and haggle a bit for a deeper discount. If it hasn't been sold already it means it's been sitting there for at least 6 months. I think it would be worth it.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes it does Triple X. And by the way I have the combo now running at my home. A can use it for a week. The vendor has mouted the system using bi-wiring Nordost Blue Heaven speakers cables and interconnect. Yould you recomend these or my I expect a similar result at a lesser cost?

By the way, I have not tried yet the MF A 5.5 but this one sounds real good.

Thank you all

 

[Anonymous]

Well, you can use this cable if you think it sounds good.

But, as you have it all at home... please check whether it sounds the same when not biwired... I think biwiring is nonsense and it's just a vendor's strategy to sell double amount of cables.

There's also a ehanced power supply unit available from musical fidelity which can improve the overall performance of the system...

Anyway, I would give the chance to the A5.5.

 

[Ajani]

almarjao:
Yes it does Triple X. And by the way I have the combo now running at my home. A can use it for a week. The vendor has mouted the system using bi-wiring Nordost Blue Heaven speakers cables and interconnect. Yould you recomend these or my I expect a similar result at a lesser cost?

By the way, I have not tried yet the MF A 5.5 but this one sounds real good.

Thank you all

That's excellent news... glad to see you're enjoying that combo...

One thing to keep in mind if you are considering the A5.5: while it has the advantage of significantly more power (250 watts instead of 60) it lacks the tube output stage of the X-T100... so you might be sacrificing some of the sound quality for more power and bass...

 

[Anonymous]

I have the GR 10's & drive them with a MF XA200R , SOURCE = MF A3.2 , I think that an MF amp about 250 wpc would be a great choice but it depends on many things (room size etc etc)

 

[Anonymous]

I

Dear friends, after all the good advice, I have purchased a MF 5.5 amp. The sound is gorgeous. Now I have a big problem with the source. As I had at home the MF XRay V8 and a PS3. The fact of the matter is that I don't notice such a great difference on the sound, perhaps a little brighter for the PS3, but this one has the advantage of reading the music in my computer.

I would like to have opinions about what to do, shall I carry on with the Playstation or should I consider a CD player, and what?

Besr regards,

 

[Anonymous]

The Blue Heaven is excellent cable but doesn't suit all systems. I found it made mine too bright but hearing it on a Primare/PMC system it sounded great. If you want to spend less on the speaker wire then I would strongly recommend Chord Odyssey 2 speaker wire.

Sounds like you're onto a winner with that system. I wonder how the A5.5 will compare.

 

[Anonymous]

I was lucky enough to hear a MF 500 running GS60's the other day. Very nice indeed. That gentleman had Nordost Frey for speaker cable/interconnects. Was superb.

I'd say save a little more and buy the dreamcatcher, they gel wonderfully with the MF MA combo.

 

[Anonymous]

after spending money on a decent amp and speakers it would be foolish not to have a dedicated cd player, and lets face it musical fidelity seems the most appropriate choice, its easy to be swayed by the ps3 reading mp3 files etc but you are not listening to the true recording but a chopped down rendition of it! Try a proper cd player with a genuine good quality cd and compare it with a recording of the same music played on your playstation and i think your answer will be glaringly obvious.

 

[Anonymous]

An interesting and unusual twist to the tail there. I found a decent difference between my Roksan Kandy III and the XRay 8 when I upgraded so I'm rather puzzled by your observations with a more revealing amp! Live with the XRay for more time and you'll absorb the differences and a better comparison can be made.

 

[Anonymous]

Try to find and ex-demo of any of the discontinued series of MF. In my case I found a brand new (but discontinued) MF 3.5 CD. It has de design of the current A series (with the black plates at both sides in the front panel).

It sounds superb for me.

And In my opinion, once you've arrived that far, your equipment deserves a quality CD player.