MF Suprcharger 550W of extra power

[rollo]

 Has anyone seen the new Musical Fidelity Supercharger. It it said to add 550 W yo your existing AMP WITHOUT changing its character. Michael Fremer reviewed it in the latest Sterophile.
      If this thing works as advertised with low powered tubed amps I wanna hear it . How about you?

rollo

[Black Sand Cable]

I can just imagine what they want for it!

http://www.musicalfidelity.com/products/supercharger/index.html

My two cents, these things are a complete waste of money!

[WEEZ]

$5000/pr

[Black Sand Cable]

$5000/pr

$5000.00 for a pair of mono blocks that need another amp to be running with them? 

For that I could pick up a pair of HALO JC1 mono blocks (used) and have roughly $1500.00 left in my pocket and IMO, I would be much farther ahead.

[rollo]

Don't knock it until you try it. Yes $5000 is a lot of money. So is $1000 for a powercord, its only wire and 2 connecters. Its an interesting concept. If it delivers what it says it does, that is adding dynamics to ANY Amp without changing its character I would be at least curious to hear what it does. To date MF has produced some very good components.
    According to Fremer it does just that. Is it worth $5000, that my friends is in the eye of the beholder. A demo is in order. At least for the fun of it.
      So if anyone has a chance to hear one let us know.


rollo

[richidoo]

I agree an audition for the fun of it is in order. It will be interesting to see if my MF dealer falls for it and adds it into one of their high end demo systems. My bet is no. Their premium amps don;t need any help, and I don;t believe that adding it to a good tube amp will be transparent. Let's remember Mikey's MF and ss preferences. But it is on Stereophile cover, so it must be good!

[WEEZ]

I read the review.

(Just bear in mind that Stereophile and Musical Fidelity have a cozy relationship)

WEEZ

[Black Sand Cable]

Don't knock it until you try it. Yes $5000 is a lot of money. So is $1000 for a powercord, its only wire and 2 connecters. Its an interesting concept. If it delivers what it says it does, that is adding dynamics to ANY Amp without changing its character I would be at least curious to hear what it does. To date MF has produced some very good components.
    According to Fremer it does just that. Is it worth $5000, that my friends is in the eye of the beholder. A demo is in order. At least for the fun of it.
      So if anyone has a chance to hear one let us know.


rollo

Not to be confrontational but why would I need to try it when I know that I can better it for less money? I don't care how good or bad it is I know for FACT that I can better it. It's that simple.

Musical Fidelity is also something you either love or hate. They are universally despised by some and these mono blocks are not doing that image any help. If you read some of the UK forums at the moment most are haling these as a complete joke. The MF die hards are of course praising it as the greatest thing since sliced bread but one should expect that.

As for your power cord comment, I will leave that one alone other then to say that if you are talking about one of my cords, the price is easily justifiable based solely on the cost of the terminations and the wire. Ever tried one of my $1000.00 cords?

Don't knock it until you try it.

As for Stereophile and there glowing review.....yeah sure . MF and Stereophile have been in bed together so long that any review published is subject to debate IMO.

[rollo]

Black Sand Cable,
                         Sorry if the I raised the hairs on the back of your neck. That was not my intention. My comment about price of powercord [ any $1000 cord ] compared to Supercharger was not a dig, just an example of todays pricing scheme. Silly me. No confrontation intended.       
     
            If you can build a better Supercharger great. We would all be curious and would love to hear it. The concept is certainly interesting. My 16W SET amp with 500W backing it up could be a good thing. Or it could mess up the whole deal. I cannot be as bold as you in your opinion without hearing the device. 
            As far as Fremer and MF, thats quite an imflamatory and defamatory remark. Hope you can prove what you say.  I am not a Fremer Groupie, nor do I believe anything until I hear it. Hearing is believing as it is sujective to the listener and system at hand. Synergy you know.
           No I have not heard your powercord in my system, so I cannot comment on its performance. I use Omega Micro Active PCs for the CDP and TT and ESP for the Amps. Bought them used at $350 and $250 repectively. To date NO powercord has dethroned them in my system. None. If you would be willing to send your best cords to me for a comparison [ two for amps and one for front end ], we could evaluate it at our next Audiosyndrome club meeting this month. I would review them fairly and without predudice. Are you game for a blind test ?  The club will pay for return shipping. We will have Larry Smiths' new powercord on hand as well and whatever Roy Harris has on hand. Could be fun. Email me if you are interested.

rollo
      Chill man, this is what the forum is all about. I don't think speakers that cannot go below 40Hz and sell for over $5000 are worth it either. Just my opinion.
           

[bpape]

I'll add my 2 cents. 

The first thing I thought of when I saw those was the old 'power boosters' that amped from speaker level in car audio.  Going from that to a true pre-out to amp in was a revelation.  I'm just not seeing how this is a viable thing to do - much less a cost effective one.

If I was going to spend $5k on these (not to mention the other $Xk on the 'real' amps), I can think of a whole lot of other things I'd be looking at rather than a power booster.

Carry on.

Bryan

[rollo]

I'll add my 2 cents. 

The first thing I thought of when I saw those was the old 'power boosters' that amped from speaker level in car audio.  Going from that to a true pre-out to amp in was a revelation.  I'm just not seeing how this is a viable thing to do - much less a cost effective one.

If I was going to spend $5k on these (not to mention the other $Xk on the 'real' amps), I can think of a whole lot of other things I'd be looking at rather than a power booster.

Carry on. 

Bapape you are correct about the revalation in car audio thats why I thought it was at least worth a listen. Economics aside, if someone has an existing Amp they love and would benifit from the extra power why not give it a try. If they can't afford or are just unwilling to spend the money. Someone, if the concept proves well will make a cheaper version for the masses. It might be worth a try to see if the concept works in real world systems, not just the reviewers. My addtional 2 cents.

rollo

Bryan

[rollo]

Nothing like talking to yourself PRICELESS.


rollo

[bpape]

ROTFL.

Missed your response - sorry.

I'll be interested to see what some real world users have to say about it.  I used to put a lot of stock into what Fremer said.  Now, I'm not so sure any more - and it's not just this review. 

Bryan

[rollo]

ROTFL.

Missed your response - sorry.

I'll be interested to see what some real world users have to say about it.  I used to put a lot of stock into what Fremer said.  Now, I'm not so sure any more - and it's not just this review. 

Bryan

   


  Me too. Thats the point of the post. Not Fremers reputation. Thats another issue, that may be valid or not. A new/old concept taken from car audio. Is it BS or the real deal. Just thought it might be interesting. All reviews IMO are subjective to the reviewer. The system and room of the reviewer have alot to say in the outcome of the review. All must be taken with a grain of salt.


rollo