The Musical Fidelity A1 is a renewed edition of the surely iconic eponymous integrated amplifier from the 1980s.
Once upon a time, the A1 was launched by Musical Fidelity in the 1980s as a budget (integrated) amplifier. It boosted the manufacturer’s name recognition tremendously. In any case, it must be said: the new A1 looks eighties and modern at the same time. To which you should keep in mind that the design is just the same as the archetype, just a little bigger. On its back side you find a battery of connections: five RCA stereo inputs outputs with fixed and variable levels and also a phono input. The latter can handle both MM and MC cartridges. The amplifier delivers a maximum power of 2 x 25 watts into 8 ohms. Basically, the amplifier operates in class A mode, but the circuit is set up in such a way that when power peaks appear it can temporarily switch to class B.
Discrete construction
All circuits in the Musical Fidelity A1 are – like the original at the time – built with discrete components. The low noise preamp circuit is even exactly the same as the original, with some minor modern updates here and there.
Then again, what has not remained is the budget price. For the new Musical Fidelity A1 you’ll have to pay €1599. Not the end of the world, but also not deserving the description ‘budget’.