- As promised, Musical Fidelity now offers two multi-channel power amplifiers: the Musical Fidelity M6x 250.5 5 Channel Power Amplifier and the Musical Fidelity M6x 250.11 11 Channel Power Amplifier.
With the now available multi-channel power amplifiers Musical Fidelity M6x 250.5 5 Channel Power Amplifier and Musical Fidelity M6x 250.11 11 Channel Power Amplifier, the English hi-fi manufacturer Musical Fidelity expands its commitment in the home cinema sector as promised, because these solutions follow the Musical Fidelity M6x 250.7 7 Channel Power Amplifier, which was launched in September last year. As the name suggests, five or even eleven channels in Class A/B are available, whereby finest sound and pure power are supposed to provide an outstanding film experience in the home cinema concern.
Putting the focus back on sound quality
According to Heinz Lichtenegger, CEO of Musical Fidelity, the home cinema segment has developed in the wrong direction in recent years, concentrating on a few essential features, namely everything to do with DSP, both in picture and sound.
As described, this is indeed essential, but not everything, because the quality that is ultimately achieved in home cinema is not determined by this alone, but to a large extent also by the amplifier, and it is precisely here that savings have been made over the years in favour of more and more functions, especially in the area of classic AV receivers.
If it’s all about more and more functions, which, in addition, have essentially only marginal or simply nothing to do with the actual task of a solution, such as the entire streaming topic in network AV receivers, then this leads to a development that can be observed in the home cinema segment over the last few years.
Products with more and more functions, more and more logos on the packaging, whether it makes sense or not, a new model generation every few months and, as a result, a price war that is downright ruinous for the industry. And if the quality is no longer right, the customer will also turn away, Heinz Lichtenegger concludes. Therefore, it is important to counteract this development. This is exactly the concept behind Musical Fidelity’s new surround solutions.
Classic HiFi Virtues Transferred to Home Cinema
The concept behind Musical Fidelity’s new multi-channel power amplifiers is to clearly separate the functional groups again, a classic preamplifier and power amplifier solution, if you want to put it that way. On the one hand, there is the AV processor, which is provided by proven specialists, and on the other hand, there is the amplifier, which is designed to be used as a pure amplifier, with a focus on quality, because it can be used for many years without compromise. Everything that obeys rapid development is outsourced to the AV processor, the performance bolide concentrates solely on Class A/B amplifier technology that has been tried and tested for years.
Five or even eleven mono blocks in class A/B
All AV power amplifiers from Musical Fidelity are designed in the same way as the English hi-fi manufacturer has been known for years, namely discrete and in the form of one amplifier module per channel.
The manufacturer explicitly points out that for optimal results, an amplifier must not only deliver impeccable measurements, but also a fine, warm, appealing sound and adequate power in order to actually reproduce the full dynamics that define the home cinema experience.
With the Musical Fidelity M6x 250.5 5 Channel Power Amplifier systems, amplifier modules are available that deliver an output of no less than 250 watts per channel, on speaker systems with an impedance of 4 ohms. The manufacturer even specifies 400 watts as the peak power.
The Musical Fidelity M6x 250.11 11 Channel Power Amplifier is a little different, with three amplifier modules, each with a power of 250 watts at 4 ohms. These are designed to supply the front channels, i.e. left, right and centre. In addition, there are eight channels with a power of 150 watts each at 4 ohms or 250 watts peak, which the manufacturer provides for the effect channels.
Well-equipped connection panel
It goes without saying that the developers of the new Musical Fidelity M6x 250.5 5 Channel Power Amplifier and Musical Fidelity M6x 250.11 11 Channel Power Amplifier systems provide all relevant interfaces, first and foremost five or eleven Cinch inputs, as well as five or eleven XLR connections for balanced wiring.
Of course, the Musical Fidelity M6x 250.11 11 Channel Power Amplifier and Musical Fidelity M6x 250.11 11 Channel Power Amplifier also provide five or eleven RCA outputs, respectively, for looping through the signals. Trigger inputs and outputs provide central control. The loudspeaker systems are connected via solid screw terminals.
The front of both power amplifiers is adorned only by a standby button and status LEDs for each available channel, which is all that is needed in this case.
Solid construction
There is hardly any space inside the two power amplifiers, even though they are two quite powerful solutions. Here, amplifier module is lined up with amplifier module, each equipped with generously dimensioned heat sinks, since no fans are used at all.
Of course, the oversized power supply of the Musical Fidelity M6x 250.5 5 Channel Power Amplifier and the Musical Fidelity M6x 250.11 11 Channel Power Amplifier also take up a lot of space.
The Musical Fidelity M6x 250.5 5 Channel Power Amplifier measures 435 x 195 x 430 mm and weighs 30.4 kg. The Musical Fidelity M6x 250.11 11 Channel Power Amplifier measures 435 x 205 x 43 0 mm and weighs 35.5 kg.
Finally, both systems are available in black or silver.
Prices and availability
The two new power amplifiers for home cinema from Musical Fidelity are now available, the trio announced by the English company is now complete. The Musical Fidelity M6x 250.5 5 Channel Power Amplifier costs € 2.990,- the recommended retail price for the Musical Fidelity M6x 250.11 11 Channel Power Amplifier is € 3.990,-.
Getting to the point
Once again, it’s an exciting decision for Musical Fidelity to expand into the home cinema sector, clearly relying on its tried and tested virtues, i.e. not dealing with surround processing, HDMI and similar complex issues, but with power amplifiers alone. This is the area in which competence can be demonstrated, in which features that have always distinguished the amplifier systems of the brand can be distinguished, and which are now also to be offered to home cinema enthusiasts. As is well known, the Musical Fidelity M6x 250.7 7 Channel Power Amplifier made a start, which will now be followed, as promised, by the Musical Fidelity M6x 250.5 5 Channel Power Amplifier and Musical Fidelity M6x 250.11 11 Channel Power Amplifier.
| PRODUCT | MUSICAL FIDELITY M6X 250.5, MUSICAL FIDELITY M6X 250.7 AND MUSICAL FIDELITY M6X 250.11 |
|---|---|
| Price | Musical Fidelity M6x 250.5 € 2.990,- Musical Fidelity M6x 250.7 € 3.490,- Musical Fidelity M6x 250.11 € 3.990,- |
| Brand | MUSICAL FIDELITY |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Musical Fidelity |
| Distribution Austria | Audio Tuning Vertriebs GmbH |
| Distribution Germany | Reichmann Audio Systeme |
| Distribution Switzerland | Marlex GmbH – Audiophile Produkte |
| More about this manufacturer at HIFI BLOG |
