Musical Fidelity A5 Phono Stage Quality?

hochpt21

Is anyone here using, or has heard the phono section of a Musical Fidelity A5?

For various reasons one of them being space, I am looking into integrateds for my LSi rig. Vinyl is a big part of that, and I'm curious if the phono section of the A5 would at least match the quality of the PS Audio GCPH.

I have read pretty good things about it in my research, but was hoping someone here had experience as well.

Thanks,
Paul

Erik Tracy

Are you talking the A5 integrated or just the preamp?

I have the A5 integrated. I use a Technics SL1200mkII w/ a Denon HOMC DL-160 cart on the A5 phono input and really like it!

I was curious if an outboard phono pre would be better and tried a stock first gen Jolida JD9 phono pre and was not impressed at all - no matter what I set the loading to....I think the A5's internal phono pre was much more balanced, sweet, and much better bass presentation.

hochpt21

Erik Tracy wrote: »

Are you talking the A5 integrated or just the preamp?

I have the A5 integrated. I use a Technics SL1200mkII w/ a Denon HOMC DL-160 cart on the A5 phono input and really like it!

I was curious if an outboard phono pre would be better and tried a stock first gen Jolida JD9 phono pre and was not impressed at all - no matter what I set the loading to....I think the A5's internal phono pre was much more balanced, sweet, and much better bass presentation.

The integrated. That is good to hear.

What speakers do you use it with if you don't mind me asking?

Erik Tracy

hochpt21 wrote: »

The integrated. That is good to hear.

What speakers do you use it with if you don't mind me asking?

B&W CDM1NT bookshelves w/ an Epik Valor sealed sub.

hochpt21

Thanks for the info.

unc2701

I used the phono stage on the A5 preamp for a few years. It's pretty good- I came off an Audio Research PH3 and it was not up to par with that, but not to the point that I felt the need to keep the PH3 (I had them together for a bit). So- I don't think it'd leave you wanting in any way until you got the upgrade bug.

The bad: the phono stage crapped out (I think- never truly isolated the issue). Ballpark estimate was going to be like $200 to repair, IIRC. Somehow, I managed to sell it for more than I paid for it on ebay with a massive disclaimer that it had a dead phono stage. So- you can view that as a positive for the resale value on the A5.