Unusually, the Musical Fidelity has a wide range of outputs in both digital and analogue form it seems unlikely that it would be used as a preamplifier but I guess it’s possible to bi-amp with a power amplifier if you have particularly insensitive speakers and a thirst for volume. Inputs are both traditional analogue and contemporary digital, with the former in both balanced and single ended forms and the latter including USB and S/PDIF types in sufficient quantity to satisfy most system set-ups. The preamplifier circuitry has been placed right at the back of the box next to the input sockets, a move that keeps signal paths about as short as is possible.
EQUATE STAY AWAKE DRIVER
This is perhaps a reflection of the fact that this is a low feedback design with a Class A driver stage, but more likely because of the sheer quantity of power on offer. This is not like the legendary heat sinking atop a Musical Fidelity A1 Class A amp, which was hot enough to grill a burger. Each of the heat sinks that flank the chassis are dedicated to a channel and serve to keep a dozen bipolar transistors at a steady operating temperature, one that rises pretty high if the temperature on the outside is any indication. Or should that be ‘amplifiers’, as this large but not excessive chassis houses a pair of monoblock power amplifiers and a preamplifier and each has its own transformer and power supply, hence the high mass. Instead, the M8xi is very much a Class AB amplifier. But there is of course more to amplifier quality than sheer power if it was that easy then the M8xi would probably be using Class D amps which deliver the most Watts per pound (sterling and avoirdupois) you can get. At 46kg the M8xi has the scale of a serious power amplifier and the specs to match these are quoted as 550W into eight ohms and 870W into four with a peak offering of 1.2kW, so clearly ‘high quality’. I imagine that it was nearly as heavy as the M8xi that takes its place in the company’s line up today as the biggest integrated in the catalogue. It does explain however why Musical Fidelity has been building substantial integrated amplifiers since 1990 when the M8xi’s A1000 ancestor was released. 200 Watts was required to get it into the ‘high quality’ zone and produce 106dB but to push it to the 110dB peak called for 500W.
Equating level with quality is a bit dubious but it did reveal that you need an awful lot of power to get high levels out of even a reasonably high sensitivity loudspeaker like the B&W 802D (listed on the back among other popular models).
To get this message across, he produced a cardboard calculator on which you dialled in the sensitivity of the loudspeaker next to the power output of your amplifier and this gave you a quality rating based on potential SPL (sound pressure level). I recall that at some point in the dim and distant past Musical Fidelity founder Anthony Michaelson decided that the world needed educating about real world power requirements.
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