Musical Fidelity KW250S

[postup]

Recently was offered by MF dealer (1 year old ex-demo, full warranty) this incredible all-in-one (250 wpc, CD, etc, DAC, tuner). Looks like Uniti on steroids, fewer bells and whistles though. Fills all the needs and then some.

Pricewise, it is approx. 3200 pounds (new was around 6000 pounds) vs. 2350 for new Unity over here.

Before arranging for listening sessions, some info required: Anybody has experience with this piece of equipment? Any info on reliability or problems with KW250s? Any ideas on speakers? Anything else of note? Internet does not provide much; namely, if I go this route, there won't be much change for some years to come.

And yes, the dealer also carries Yamaha (Soavo 1 & 3) and Dali (full range) in terms of speakers, those will be the speakers to test in the showroom and decide. Maybe I could arrange for home demo, what speakers would you suggest as most suitable? (Proac and Spendor could be arranged for home demo).

Thanks, postup

 

[Thaiman]

I had the MF in my 2nd system and it was OK, no more...no les.

The build quality is very good apart fromthe transport's tray which look rather cheap and nasty, they were also some report of faulty volume control. The warm up time is quite essential, the feets of the unit need to be blue before you could judge the sound properly. While the 250S, as a unit, is BIG and heavy, sound wise is quite opposite being light and nimble.

The presentation is very HIFI, spread out quite wide but nothing seem to locked on place, instruments never sound convincing either and bass sounded too damp and roll off too early. Having say all that, the sound is very easy on the ears, never get aggressive or bright regardless of recording. It can go quite loud without breaking up, depending on your speakers of coure. The digital inputs while handy, it was purely an afterthought, it's own transport sounded so much better.

At the price you are thinking of paying even nearly half the rrp, personally, I can't recommend the MF as the main system. Of course this is just my humble oppinion and my taste may be million miles away from your so you should demo, as always (with Dali or Proac I think)

 

[mitch65]

Had one for a while, Lintone Audio were selling them for £1500.00 with a 2 year warranty. The only real problem was the shear size of the bloody thing, the other half forced more to sell it in the end. Without doubt I would take the uniti anyday of the week though, digital inputs, wireless, internet radio, etc, etc.

 

[postup]

Thanks, Thaiman, Mitch:

I discovered KW 250s while auditioning a Yamaha set-up (A/CD 1000 + Soavo 3); recently started auditioning equipment in the Uniti price range (one or several boxes).

My interest in KW250s came after listenting recently to MF A1008/power supply + CD1008 (alternated with Acoustic Arts CD) powering KEF Reference 207/2. (Both CD players were great, AA maybe more airy, faster, more to my liking. Fantastic set-up, from Latin jazz and blues to recent Plant/Page stuff; however, far beyond my means). From what I read, KW 250s was supposed to be built on best parts of A/CD 1008, that's why I would consider paying such an amount, which is still cheaper than A/CD 1008 together.

Now I see some ex-demo KW250s can still be had for cca 1500 pounds in UK (I might be better off importing that thing ....). Will talk to the dealer and see what can be done about the price, then perhaps arrange for an audition.

Will see how it fares compared to Uniti equivalents (I already listened to XS/CD XS with Spendor SP3/1R, very good, my glass of wine)..... In my opinion, Yamaha lost that one.

postup

 

[Anonymous]

Id suspect the MF A1008 is very different to the KW250s. The MF A1008 Amp+CD could be had for around £2K in the UK a year ago and that was awesome value for money imo.

Thaiman - you seem to have a vast experience of lots of equipment. I currently own a MF KW750 and am thinking about either switching all my amps to Bryson to integrate into a HiFi & Home Theater setup - or potentially maybe getting a couple of MF A5 Power Amps to team up with the KW750. I dont know whether the A5 has a similar sonic character as the KW750 to justify going down this route however? I am making an assumption that you have listened to every amplifier in the world....right?

Im setting up a Bryston demo soon - if the sound is better - I will be changing regardless

 

[Thaiman]

Vinny7:
Id suspect the MF A1008 is very different to the KW250s. The MF A1008 Amp+CD could be had for around £2K in the UK a year ago and that was awesome value for money imo.

Thaiman - you seem to have a vast experience of lots of equipment. I currently own a MF KW750 and am thinking about either switching all my amps to Bryson to integrate into a HiFi & Home Theater setup - or potentially maybe getting a couple of MF A5 Power Amps to team up with the KW750. I dont know whether the A5 has a similar sonic character as the KW750 to justify going down this route however? I am making an assumption that you have listened to every amplifier in the world....right?

Im setting up a Bryston demo soon - if the sound is better - I will be changing regardless

I don't change my home cinema set up very often, to be honest I found my 2 channels system does a better job with Movies than my (humble) dedicated AV system so I can't help you I afraid. Bryston is good (I heard the newer 3 and the older 4), a lot of details and control if a tad cold. well i could say that about most Pro Studio company I suppose.

As for musical Fidelity, I had an A5 as a stop gap amp and end up keeping it a lot longer than I intended to as it was very good for the price, certainly better than Krell 400i at that point in time (imo), still I only can imagine the KW 750 would have more of everything!.and then some.