The Musical Fidelity M8 500s power amplifier was designed in accordance with the company’s philosophy of distributing production costs in proportion to their impact on the final result. According to the company’s specialists, in luxury high-end “designer” equipment, metal work can account for up to 98% of the project cost, although it has very little to do with sound quality. In contrast, when designing the M8 components, heavy investments were made in the most important components for sound: electronic components (transistors, capacitors, resistors, etc.), printed circuit boards and power transformers.
Moreover, even premium-level components for wholesale purchases do not greatly affect the final price of the product. The design as such here is subject to the principle of reasonable sufficiency: a welded steel chassis, powerful heat sinks made of a standard profile, thick front panels without any decorative elements. The only thing the designers allowed themselves was manual grinding of the front surface and stylish nameplates made of medical stainless steel. And with such strict minimalism, the m8 models look solid and convincing.
The two-channel terminal Musical Fidelity M8 500s is made according to the same ideology as the 700m monoblocks, but in a more compact version. When combining the channels in the case, the quality indicators did not suffer, only the output power decreased to 2 x 500 W at 8 ohms instead of 700. Although a kilowatt is more than enough not only for stereo, but also for front channels in a home theater. And the space savings here are quite significant. The main features of the Musical Fidelity M8 500s: a “dual mono” design with a pair of powerful tori, fully balanced circuitry and final stages capable of delivering up to 200 A to the load. The proprietary Musical Fidelity circuitry resulted in a distortion level of less than 0.007% in the frequency range 20 Hz – 20 kHz up to rated power.
The amplifier has both balanced and regular RCA inputs, for the selection of which there is a separate switch. There are two pairs of acoustic terminals, which allows you to organize separate connections of the LF and MF/HF sections in the acoustics. In general, the powerful power of the Musical Fidelity M8 500s amplifier does not yet guarantee intelligible sound at high volumes, but in the 500s the balance between quantitative and qualitative indicators is masterfully maintained. At colossal sound pressure, both intelligibility and timbral accuracy are maintained. Only near the very top limit, with a dense spectrum of the phonogram, can one notice some harshness, but the control of the diffusers in the middle and lower bands is still impeccable.
Accordingly, it will be possible to select acoustics for this terminal not by sensitivity, but solely by sound qualities. He can handle anyone while maintaining complete neutrality.
Characteristics of Musical Fidelity M8 500s
Output power (8 Ohm): 2 x 500 W
Maximum output current: 200 A
Dumping factor: >330
Boost frequency band (+0/-1 dB): 10 – 80000 Hz
Distortion factor (20 Hz – 20 kHz): <0.007%
Signal-to-noise ratio: >-120 dBA
Input impedance: 50 kOhm
Inputs: linear RCA and XLR, 3.5 mm trigger
Maximum power consumption: 2000 W
Dimensions: 440 x 160 x 460 mm
Weight: 29 kg
