montesquieu
15-03-2015, 16:58
It's been a very tough call, but I am now ready to offer for sale my Music First MkII preamplifier.
This is the full-size 430mm version of the fabled Music First TVC, with the 25% larger cores. It differs from the 'Classic V2' (which it close to double the price of when it was still in the MF catalogue - it's now been deleted as it sat too close to the Baby Reference when that was released) by having a remote, as well as twin XLR inputs and outputs to complement the full set of RCA inputs and outputs. Additional features include +6db signal boost and a ground lift. An additional feature is the fact that if used on balanced output, the transformer setup converts the signal to balanced, a great way to use unbalanced kit to best effect with a balanced power amp, enabling a mixing of balanced an unbalanced sources.
Overall its the most transparent, most silent preamp I've ever owned and it worked stupendously well with just about every bit of kit I threw at it, from my Audio Note tube DAC and Longdog Audio phono stage, to Radford, Quad, Lyngdorf, Sony V-FET and EAR power amps. The soundstage, 3D-ness, way with timbre and so on made this one of the best preamps I've ever heard in my system.
However it didn't get on with the recently arrived Aurorasound Vida - a very rare lapse in the performance of this wonderful phono stage. In the end I had to decide whether I sell the Vida (very much an 'arrival' phono stage for me and the only thing in four years to knock the Longdog off its perch) or go back to an active preamp, which the Vida undoubtedly needs. I did try it with a valve buffer which came extremely close to solving the problem - but ultimately it felt like a fudge rather than a final solution.
So it's with a heavy heart I'm selling this MF MkII which for a long time I thought was going to be 'the one'.
It's the copper version … Jonathan Billington makes a silver one but he's careful not to call it an upgrade over the copper, indeed I auditioned both and preferred the copper - the silver is only more expensive due to materials cost). Retail on this was around £4000 when new.
I'm offering it at £1500 collected from my place nr J4 of the M3 (Camberley/Farnborough). As you can see from the pics the black anodised finish has gone a bit strange on a section of the back panel - JB wanted me to send it back to him for examination, but as it 1) doesn't affect the sound and 2) is invisible when it's being used as it's only on the back, I decided not to bother.
A couple of links:
http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/musicfirst/musicfirst.html
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://www.highfidelity.pl/%40main-469%26lang%3D&prev=search (some good pics)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/MF-front_zpskurg6sv9.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/MF-front_zpskurg6sv9.jpg.html)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/MF-rear_zpsgoalan5l.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/MF-rear_zpsgoalan5l.jpg.html)
This is the full-size 430mm version of the fabled Music First TVC, with the 25% larger cores. It differs from the 'Classic V2' (which it close to double the price of when it was still in the MF catalogue - it's now been deleted as it sat too close to the Baby Reference when that was released) by having a remote, as well as twin XLR inputs and outputs to complement the full set of RCA inputs and outputs. Additional features include +6db signal boost and a ground lift. An additional feature is the fact that if used on balanced output, the transformer setup converts the signal to balanced, a great way to use unbalanced kit to best effect with a balanced power amp, enabling a mixing of balanced an unbalanced sources.
Overall its the most transparent, most silent preamp I've ever owned and it worked stupendously well with just about every bit of kit I threw at it, from my Audio Note tube DAC and Longdog Audio phono stage, to Radford, Quad, Lyngdorf, Sony V-FET and EAR power amps. The soundstage, 3D-ness, way with timbre and so on made this one of the best preamps I've ever heard in my system.
However it didn't get on with the recently arrived Aurorasound Vida - a very rare lapse in the performance of this wonderful phono stage. In the end I had to decide whether I sell the Vida (very much an 'arrival' phono stage for me and the only thing in four years to knock the Longdog off its perch) or go back to an active preamp, which the Vida undoubtedly needs. I did try it with a valve buffer which came extremely close to solving the problem - but ultimately it felt like a fudge rather than a final solution.
So it's with a heavy heart I'm selling this MF MkII which for a long time I thought was going to be 'the one'.
It's the copper version … Jonathan Billington makes a silver one but he's careful not to call it an upgrade over the copper, indeed I auditioned both and preferred the copper - the silver is only more expensive due to materials cost). Retail on this was around £4000 when new.
I'm offering it at £1500 collected from my place nr J4 of the M3 (Camberley/Farnborough). As you can see from the pics the black anodised finish has gone a bit strange on a section of the back panel - JB wanted me to send it back to him for examination, but as it 1) doesn't affect the sound and 2) is invisible when it's being used as it's only on the back, I decided not to bother.
A couple of links:
http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/musicfirst/musicfirst.html
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://www.highfidelity.pl/%40main-469%26lang%3D&prev=search (some good pics)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/MF-front_zpskurg6sv9.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/MF-front_zpskurg6sv9.jpg.html)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/MF-rear_zpsgoalan5l.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/MF-rear_zpsgoalan5l.jpg.html)