Musical Fidelity....Anyone Knowledgeable?

[Marks57]

Hi, I am trying to decide what to do with my current Musical Fidelity situation and would appreciate any input you might have.

I have a Musical Fidelity A3.5 integrated and an A3.2cr power amp. Currently, I am bi-amping my mains with the A3.5 driving the low pass and going pre-out into the A3.2cr to drive the mids and highs.

The A3.5 is a dual mono rated at 150w per channel and the A3.2cr is a dual mono rated at 130w per channel, both into 8 ohms. My speakers are 6 ohm (Tannoy S-10's), so I assume I am actually driving more than that, but I don't know if "x" watts @ 8ohms and "x" watts at 4 ohms means that when driving into 6 ohms, you get "x" watts, where "x" is halfway between the 8 & 4 ohm rating. Any feedback on if this is a fair assumption?

My main question is, would I get better performance selling the A3.5 and buying the A3.2cr preamp and using it with the A3.2cr amp? I might try it initially with just a single amp and if needed, could buy an additional A3.2cr amp to bi-amp. I noticed a difference when I bi-amped, but not night and day. I am thinking it was overkill for my setup. I get hung up on the A3.5 having 150w and the A3.2cr having only 130w, but I know 20w is relatively little gain.

My only rational for swithing configurations is the A3.2cr is twice a heavy as the A3.5 and I have read that the A3.2cr has a lot of technology from the Nuvista products. Also, having the separate preamp would help......I assume?

If there are any Musical Fidelity buffs out there and would have an opinion on this, I would be grateful.

Thanks, Mark

[JCD]

I probably shouldn't answer this as I've never heard this particular brand, but since no one has yet, I'll give you my opinions on the subject..

Bi-amping -- unless you're going with an active crossover, I didn't think this improved the sonic abilities of the speaker. Using an active crossover completely changes this answer.

Going to a pre-amp -- based on the opinions of of some folks I trust, going with a preamp over an integrated amp with an outboard amp should improve your sound. Probably not a lot, but there are supposed to be some benefits. (I'm equating this to using a the pre-outs on a receiver)

However, like I mentioned, I haven't heard this particular brand, so I can't say with certainty, just give you my general rule of thumb on the subject.

JCD