 Musical
Fidelity M250 Mono Amplifiers
My downstairs neighbor, Neville, returned from a
trip home to the motherland recently and dropped by the apartment for a visit. The fact
that I'd completely rearranged all of the furniture and A/V equipment didn't make an
impression on him (of course, he's probably used to that), but the minute he
entered into the apartment his eyes lighted on the five Musical Fidelity M250 monoblocks
powering the Magnepan 5.1 speaker system and he said in a voice that almost sounded
hypnotized, "Lots of boxes with blue and amber lights . . ."
Silly lad -- hasn't he learned that, when it comes to
audio-videophiles and their boxes, that it’s the same as with girlfriends: One's too
many and a hundred ain't enough?
Some have too much, yet still do crave
If you're an A/V fan who wants the simple life, it's hard
to beat the modern A/V receiver. These days at least, receivers offer superb performance
at relatively affordable prices -- and best of all, everything you need is in a single
box.
The price you pay for that convenience and affordability is
that receivers actually don't do everything equally well. They generally have great
switching and processing ability, but power remains the part you still have to pay the
most for -- and that still takes up the most space. Therefore, when designers have to make
concessions to bring in receivers at a specific price point (or make them fit in a given
chassis size), it is the power amplifier section that most frequently gets downsized.
Yes, good as the contemporary A/V receiver is, it is still
the child of compromise. If you want to really optimize home-theater performance, you can
always assign a separate amplifier to each loudspeaker, just as the ardent audiophiles do.
This offers several advantages. First, separate chassis mean each amplifier has its own
regulated power supply, and each unit has its own heat dissipation -- both of which
contribute to better operation. Also, separate means separate -- there's no chance
of interchannel crosstalk or interference.
There's another operational advantage, too -- one that's
almost counterintuitive. Running long runs of interconnect and short runs of speaker cable
actually works better than the opposite -- there's less signal loss with a long line-level
run than with a long run of speaker cable, and a short speaker-cable run preserves the
amplifier's ability to damp the drivers (and that translates to bass control).
Oh, the little more, and how much it is!
Musical Fidelity's M250 Monoblocks seem compact at
3.5"W x 3.7"H x 15.6"D, but each package weighs in at a hefty 26 pounds.
The weight indicates the tank-like build quality. The casework is a ribbed aluminum
extrusion and the faceplate is a beautifully anodized white-metal panel. There are two
LEDs and an on/off button forming vestigial "eyes and a nose" over the
"mouth" of the amp's name and the company logo. (Maybe it won't look that way to
you, but to me it looks ready to join the cast of The Brave Little Toaster.)
The amps are designed to be hidden behind speakers or in
out-of-the-way corners of the room -- once you set 'em up, you don't really need to mess
with 'em any more. They're equipped with two different power-up options: They have a DC
trigger input and they can also sense incoming signal and power-on within a second or so.
(An amber LED indicates their "ready" status; when activated, a blue LED is also
lit.) After 15 minutes without a signal, the amp goes into standby mode, waiting for its
next signal.
As do other Musical Fidelity products, the M250s also have
signal-loop output, which means you can use two (or more) per channel for biamping or
triamping. Each monoblock boasts four binding posts (for biwiring, where appropriate). An
IEC jack and a global power switch complete the rear-panel accommodations.
The amp delivers 250W into an 8-ohm load. It has a similar
circuit topology to the Nu-Vista M3, but without that model's choke regulation. That
translates into low-distortion, wide frequency response, and exemplary phase coherence.
And great bass -- not just lots of it, but well defined and totally controlled.
 All for $1195-USD per chassis, which puts a five-channel gaggle of
M250s at almost precisely the same price as the stellar Simaudio Moon Titan I
reviewed last year -- not inexpensive, but less than $1 per watt per channel, which is a
pretty good deal for monoblocks.
Ay, now the plot thickens very much upon us
The Musical Fidelity M250s really are as easy to use as
their literature claims. While the presence of two power switches on a unit that employs
signal sensing may seem needlessly complex, it makes a great deal of sense. The rocker
switch on the rear panel of the unit controls the amp's access to AC. Switch it off and
the amp gets no juice; turn it on and the amp is ready to be powered on by either an
incoming signal or by your pressing the front-panel power button. Once I set 'em up, I
never had to visit 'em again. When I watched broadcast TV, the FR and FL amps powered on
and gave me stereo; when I watched any multichannel source, all five amps were ready to go
by the time there was anything to reproduce.
Shortly after I installed the M250s, I changed loudspeakers
in my A/V system, going from the relatively easy-to-drive Axiom Audio Epic Grand Master
speaker system to one that was more revealing of amplifier quality and far more
demanding of amplifier power: a Magnepan 5.1 system consisting of MG3.6/Rs, an MGCC2, and
MGMC1s.
The Maggies sounded fantastic on the M250s -- so much so
that I had to reconnect the last truly great receiver I had auditioned, the Integra DTR-8.2. I didn't
really think the Maggies and any receiver would make a great match, but if there were
a receiver that could handle the big panel speakers, it would be the DTR-8.2. Even then,
it wasn't exactly a fair test of monoblocks versus receiver, since the Integra is rated at
110Wpc and the M250 delivers 250W. The difference I heard (and I heard a big
difference) was almost certainly due to the MF's extra power -- after all, the Maggies are
a notoriously reactive load -- and power, in cases like that, doesn't so much corrupt as
cure all ills.
The MG3.6/Rs really sang with the M250s. They had
lots of slam and a color-free midrange that just made me yearn for great vocal recordings
-- from Palestrina to Jean Ritchie. And bells -- man, did they float in the air,
seemingly forever. Tibetan Bells II by Wolfe and Hemmings [Celestial Harmonies CE
13005] never seemed more psychoactive -- the deep sonorities of the silver singing bowls
seemed capable of entering into the spaces between molecules and shaking solid
objects apart. Yikes!
However, as well as the M250s played music, I have
heard better two-channel amplifiers -- not inconspicuously Musical Fidelity's own Nu-Vista
300, which has an even more relaxed sense of control and no trace of the M250's tendency
to turn opaque when pushed really hard (which you have to be determined to do -- we're
talking stupid-loud at this point).
For home-theater purposes, on the other hand, I have never
heard the M250s bettered.
The new special edition of Lord of the Rings: The
Fellowship of the Ring boasts phenomenal sound and some of the most impressive foley
stage creations I have ever heard. The M250s were capable of letting me hear the grasses
move all around me, even as battles raged and steel rang off of steel. The amp's ability
to sort out the gentle susurration of wind without shorting the din of battle impressed me
enough to actually divert me from the film a time or two -- not the effect Peter Jackson
was looking for perhaps, but hey, A/V geeks -- what'cha gonna do?
Similarly, the soundtrack of Spider-Man serves to
anchor its fantastic plot in the sonic details of the mundane. And, since Spidey inhabits
the same world I do -- which is to say New York -- I'm even more critical of the sounds of
his world than I am those of Middle Earth. But once again, the M250s performed the
Herculean task of carrying the dialogue; the Bam!, Pow!, Crash! comic-book
movie sound effects; and the impressively real sounds of real life all at once -- and with
overlapping volumes and layers to boot.
He is not better; he is much the same
I've never auditioned a receiver that would go head-to-head
with the M250s -- not for performance, and certainly not for power -- but I did have a
Simaudio Moon Titan multichannel amplifier on hand. The Simaudio is the best multichannel
power amplifier I have personally auditioned and it is functionally equivalent to five
monoblocks -- all it lacks is five power cords and five separate chassis.
The Moon Titan is immense, even compared to a stack of five
M250s, but some folks will find it easier to accommodate than the five monoblocks. I
personally found carrying and parking five 26-pound chassis easier than finding the space
for, and a shelf that would support, the 105-pound Moon Titan.
Playing music, the Titan delivered slightly more
deep bass information. Tracks like "Chill Out" from Black Uhuru's Liberation:
The Island Anthology [Mango 314-518-282-2] had more middle-of-the-chest thump
through the Simaudio, although otherwise the two amps were hard to distinguish.
With complex, layered, multichannel soundtracks, however,
such as the overlapping dialogue in the party scenes of Cat's Meow, the monoblocks
had more separation and definition -- all the little snippets of conversation retained
their individuality amidst the hubbub. Of course, that's how monoblocks are supposed
to behave, but ain't it grand when s'posed to actually does?
If it sounds as though I'm saying I could take my pick
between the two very different multichannel amplifier options and be happy with either one
-- that's about right. However, this is not faint praise. The Simaudio Moon Titan is a
superb piece of kit and reproduces the HT experience in full. It's built like Fort Knox
and it is the rare multichannel amplifier that can go head-to-head with a brace of
monoblocks and cede almost no sonic ground.
And the quality shows -- all you have to do is look at it
and you know the Moon Titan is serious.
That's also true of the Musical Fidelity M250 -- for all of
its jewel-like beauty, it too simply screams precision engineering in its fit'n'finish.
And, I'd have to say that its little details -- such as the ease of location of the five
discrete, easily carried M250s -- had me digging the Musical Fidelity amps for their high
"cuteness" rating. I have spoken previously of the "Tonka truck"
factor in appealing to American men of a certain age. If you never played with Tonkas, you
might prefer the more forthrightly Caterpillar butchness of the Moon Titan. It's a very
close call -- which only illustrates how phenomenally good both products are.
Whate’er he did was done with so much ease,
In him alone, ‘twas natural to please
Sometimes more is better. With Musical Fidelity's M250
monoblock power amplifier, five times 250W turns out to be one hell of a lot of
performance. Ditto value. If you've got $6000, the space, a speaker system that likes
getting a lot of juice, and the desire to take your home theater to the next level, you
can't go wrong.
After all, even if one is too many, sometimes five
is just right.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhometheater.com
Musical Fidelity M250 Mono
Amplifiers
Price: $1195 USD each
Warranty: Two years parts and labor
Musical Fidelity Ltd.
15/16 Olympic Trading Est. Fulton Road
Wembley, Middx HA9 OTF
England UK.
Phone: (44) 0181-900-2866
Website: www.musicalfidelity.co.uk
North America distributor:
Kevro International, Inc.
902 McKay Road
Pickering, Ontario
Canada L1W3X8
Website: www.kevro.com
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