Musical Fidelity A3.5 an improvement?

breal74

I am currently using a Marantz SR5005 as a preamp and a Parasound HCA 2205AT as my amp to power a set of diy speakers I built using ScanSpeak drivers. Since the family and I hardly use the setup for home theater any more I have been thinking of upgrades geared more towards a better two channel experience.
My question is would a Musical Fidelity A3.5 offer a big leap in sound quality, or should I look into a better preamp? I am happy with my speakers which are a HUGE improvement over the RTi12's I had before. Thanks in advance for the help.

treitz3

Please help us to help you. What is your system?

Tom

breal74

I am currently using a Marantz SR5005 as a preamp and a Parasound HCA 2205AT as my amp to power a set of diy speakers I built using ScanSpeak drivers.

breal74

I also use a Peachtree DACiT and Sonos.

tonyb

Personally, the Peachtree in my view isn't a good match for the Sonos. Too much cloud cover going on there.

Have you ever heard a MF unit ? I would look at a used MF 308 as a pre, someone else here just picked one up and loves the darn thing. The thing with Sonos is, it's ok for cd quality music, but it isn't going to do hi-rez, which for a lot of people including myself, that's ok. It also requires a better dac than the Peachtree dacit imho.

A separate pre, depending on the quality, will sound better on music. Depends on your budget too. So what we suggest will depend on that. Cables are another aspect you may want to look into.

breal74

I have not heard the Musical Fidelity sound, but have heard favorable reviews.

I am a big fan of the Sonos for its ease of use and CD quality works good for me now. It seems every month a higher resolution player/s comes out so I am waiting for the digital dust to settle down before I buy a new source. What would be your suggestions for a dac to play well with the Sonos?

My budget is around +/- $1000. As far as cables I am using BlueJeans for my digital, PBJ's for interconnects and 4TC's for speaker cable. Power cables are a mix of Shunyata Venoms and PS Audio.

tonyb

$1000 for a pre...right ? I've seen the MF newer M6 pre for around that price and certainly the A308 is around there give or take a few hundies. The Parasound P5 is smack in your budget and comes with a better dac than the Peachtree for the Sonos. There's one almost brand new on Chicagos Craigslist for 900.

Tubes is another matter, not sure if you want to travel that road .

Cables....hard for me to determine since your speaks are custom jobs. I'm guessing the Kimber speaker cables, PBJ Ic's and PS audio power cords are giving you a warm, somewhat clouded musical experience ?

breal74

tonyb wrote: »

I'm guessing the Kimber speaker cables, PBJ Ic's and PS audio power cords are giving you a warm, somewhat clouded musical experience ?

. BINGO!
My new speakers are a huge upgrade over my old RTi12's. More depth, clearer, more defined mids and a much wider soundstage by two plus feet on each side, but still seem "clouded". Now you have me thinking all my gear is not a good match, or just too warm.

tonyb

breal74 wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

I'm guessing the Kimber speaker cables, PBJ Ic's and PS audio power cords are giving you a warm, somewhat clouded musical experience ?

. BINGO!
My new speakers are a huge upgrade over my old RTi12's. More depth, clearer, more defined mids and a much wider soundstage by two plus feet on each side, but still seem "clouded". Now you have me thinking all my gear is not a good match, or just too warm.

The Marantz, I don't have a problem with if your going to continue to use this system for HT, but if your not, better awaits you for 2 channel. Depends on how far you want to go bro...change all the gear, some of the gear, etc.

I can tell you this right off the bat, your cables are horrible matches giving you that clouded musical experience. If you want to try changing up some cables off the bat first and see if that helps you, we can start there. Probably the cheapest way to go as you'll have to change them anyway even if you change gear too.

One thing that has to go....the Peachtree Dacit. No offense to Peachtree fans out there. Many other choices, better choices await for not a lot of scratch either and will do wonders for your Sonos. First up is the Cambridge DacMagic....can find them used for around 2-300 bucks. I use a Cary Xciter dac on my Sonos with fantastic results and used they run about 600. If money is tight though, hit up the Cambridge, great dac for little coin.

Then we have a digital cable to go from the sonos to the dac. You want a digital coax cable and one of the best I've heard to date is the Veloce from Blackcat. New they run 140 bucks roughly, used about 80 bucks, but well worth it. BTW...I hope while your using the Sonos, you have all your own music downloaded in a lossless format, not mp3, like flac or apple lossless, makes a huge difference too.

Then we move on the pre amp. Many....many choices. I'm going to stick to SS instead of tubes for my suggestions....for now anyway. Musical fidelity has to rank up towards the top. Look for a A308, A5, M6. The Parasound I mentioned earlier, the P5, has a good dac built in with inputs for your Sonos too and could allow you to kill 2 birds with one stone. Speaking of killing 2 birds with one stone, All the Musical fidelity pre amps I mentioned are available as integrateds, a pre and amp in one box, and they are exceptionally good at that. Plus it would cut down on the amount of cables needed.

Forgot, you'll need a set of rca cables to go from dac to pre amp....MIT comes to mind, and nothing short of their AVT line in my book. Shotgun S3 or higher if you can find them at a decent price. Other choices that are cheaper are our own Douglas connections....google him or send him a PM as he's a member here. He can fix you up on some RCA cables for not a lot of coin. Another brand I like is Analysis plus. Be prepared for sticker shock though with MIT and Analysis plus, that's why you have to hunt this stuff up used as they run half retail. Where to look ? Audiogon, HI-FI Shark, U.S. Audio Mart. Some here like Audioquest too....PNF cables also. Power cords...I find the PS Audio a touch too warm and the Venom a touch to sterile, Pangea is right in the middle, neutral while still allowing detail to come through. Only look at their SE versions, 9se for amps, 14se for components.

The parasound amp you have is a nice amp, a touch on the warm side and if you go with either of my suggestions on pre amps, might be a tad too much. Try keeping the amp as a last resort to change out. Instead I might use Audioquest RCA cables between pre and amp to keep that combo from becoming too overly warm. Unless of course you go with an integrated mentioned earlier....which to me would be the way for you to go.

Just some thoughts for you to chew on for awhile. Selling the Marantz and the Parasound for a Musical fidelity integrated would up your game tremendously.

Now that I've confused the heck out of you, let me wrap it all up. A Musical fidelity integrated, either the 308 or A5.....Cambridge Dac or other equivalent, and your done aside from cables. Which would require only one set of RCA cables, one digital coax cables, and of course one set of speaker cables. You don't need a tuner for radio as your Sonos can grab any radio station from around the globe.

hochpt21

I just got a Musical Fidelity A308 integrated for my LSiM 705's. I was worried that it wouldn't be enough juice for my speakers at 150W, but based on recommendations here I went for it. It is a high-current design and provides more than enough juice and the sound is wonderful.

If you are looking to ditch your preamp and your power amp to go integrated. Musical Fidelity would be a great choice. Without hearing your gear or the MF A3.5, it is tough to tell, but I feel based on my experience with MF and the reviews that it would be a great move upward.

I guess the main factor would be how hard your speakers are to drive. The MF A3.5 is 150W, but you can move up the line slightly to the A5 that is 250W. Both are high-current designs, but depending on your speakers specs, you may need more wattage.

From what I found when researching my MF is the A5 can be had used for just over your budget. The problem....they don't come around very often (for good reason), so you have to be patient. Eric Tracy on this forum has an A5 and loves it.

I have become a MF fanboy in a very short period of time. Build quality, sound quality, their gear just makes you feel like you purchased a quality product.

And possibly most importantly of all.....resale value. If you buy used and are patient...you could probably try the A3.5, and not lose any money on a resale if it doesn't work out.

hochpt21

Plus, Tony has heard both and said the A5 is slightly LESS warm sounding than my A308, so that may be a better match for your cables.

tonyb

He needs to change those cables no matter what. But if I were to change one cable right now, it would be the PBJ's for some MIT shotgun S3's....and throw some Audioquest IC's between the Marantz and amp. Ps audio power cord on the Marantz, Venom on the Parasound.

tonyb

Breal,

Just for sh&ts and giggles, try connecting your Sonos straight to the Marantz and using it's internal dac over the Peachtree. Just connect any digital cable you have already to any digital input on the Marantz. Should give you a cleaner sound....while also taking one set of cables out of the equation.

tonyb

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/ele/4806267600.html

Here is a newer M6i integrated...200 watts per channel, notice the sonos box on top.

1500 bucks...great price.

breal74

Thanks for all the replies. I have used Audioquest diamondbacks, MIT EXP, and Blue Jeans interconnects in the past, but I will fool around with cabling again. I have the Venom PC's hooked up to the amp and receiver. I have tried Pangea SE PC's and the PS Audio's on both, but will spend some time swapping PC cables around and have a listen.
As far as the dac goes, I agree that it is time to move it and it's welborne labs power supply along. I did see an Exciter dac on the gon, but I think I am leaning toward tolerating my system saving more money to take a bigger swing for some really nice gear.

tonyb

What were the other 2 Skip ?

hochpt21

tonyb wrote: »

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/ele/4806267600.html

Here is a newer M6i integrated...200 watts per channel, notice the sonos box on top.

1500 bucks...great price.

That's a pretty smoking deal!

breal74

I know. I wish it wasn't on the other side of the country.

tonyb

breal74 wrote: »

I know. I wish it wasn't on the other side of the country.

They have this new fangled thing called shipping....

Skip, send me a PM if you can't disclose here. Curious minds and all that.

F1nut

Likely the last amp you'll buy.

http://app.audiogon.com/listings/solid-state-musical-fidelity-kw-500-integrated-dual-mono-amplifier-in-factory-box-2014-12-16-integrateds-80020-broomfield-co

breal74

tonyb wrote: »

They have this new fangled thing called shipping....

Thanks for the update!

F1nut

Here's another fantastic choice, http://app.audiogon.com/listings/solid-state-musical-fidelity-trivista-300-2014-12-17-integrateds-77084-houston-tx

tonyb

Your trying to get me in trouble aren't cha...darn that's sweet.

F1nut

I use to own one, Tony. Incredible sound, perfect tone.

polkfarmboy

F1nut wrote: »

I use to own one, Tony. Incredible sound, perfect tone.

I have had my eye on that since listed and its killing me as that has been on my audio bucket list for the longest time. Big MF fan here and can only imagine how that upper end stuff sounds.

The only thing thats stopped me buying it is because the sellers a d**K and a liar. Here is a thread I done about this guy... http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/164618/audiogon-seller-backed-out-after-taking-my-money#latest

I left him negative feedback and audiogon removed it and for what?

F1nut

Looks like he gave you dibs on the Tri-Vista. Might be time to kiss and make up.