It is best to keep things simple here. As such is the principle of the passive pre-amplifier itself. From the beginning it brought the challenge , but also made a company famous.  Transformers are nothing new and they are well known and vastly used in audio from the very early days. But such a transformers which are capable to disappear  sonically when physically remain coupling equipment are the great rarity and the master skills are needed to create them. MFA knows HOW to do that!

Main advantage of the passive pre is its complete SILENCE. No main ,no gain, no noise engaged. Saving on quality power cord is an extra bonus. To us however it is its versatility what we like most. It is a perfect tool to connect balance to unbalanced and handle the signal without the quality loss. It is also great measurement probe to find out if the gain in the system is sufficient enough to drive speakers with full control. Hence we take it with us any time as it pays back and always helps. Plus all of them can be always made into customer’s specification, which is respectively matched by one of print on the front plate.

Classic range is present on the market since 2003 when it 1st time hit the market in its copper version. Later Silver one expanded the range, but not many had been build and they remind a true rarity. Classic remains available in its original form till today. From 2007 it had been reworked and improved V2 version joined the family.

Classic Pre-Amplifier

• 24 position volume switch. 0dB – 52bB of attenuation
• +6dB switch
• 4 x RCA inputs 2 x XLR inputs
• Both XLR and RCA outputs
• Ground lift switch to provide total galvanic isolation
• Zero transistor or valve hum

Classic V2 Pre-Amplifier

• 24 position volume switch. 0dB – 52bB of attenuation
• +6dB switch
• 4 x RCA inputs 2 x XLR inputs
• Both XLR and RCA outputs
• Ground lift switch to provide total galvanic isolation
• Zero transistor or valve hum
• 25% Bigger transformer core area
• Bigger bass response
• 25% more input headroom

Cutely named Baby Reference evolved from MFA’s past full sized Reference pre. Little one outperformed it in every department, hence put it into well deserved retirement. It came back into the same small footprint box which is company’s trademark. Two years after its première in 2012 Baby got the major improvement  too and its V2 version is now the top of the range.

• 6  inputs, both RCA and XLR
• Dual outputs, 2 x RCA or 2 x XLR or 1 of each.
• Ground lift switch to solve grounding issues.
• Complete transformer isolation between source and load.
• 24 position or 31 position volume switch
• Choice of front panel and case work colours
• TX102mk4 reference transformers
• From April 2015 now using a number of laser cut Mu-Metal laminations.

Since we remember Music First Audio’s Classic step up was the best made in the UK product of this kind. Employing S&B’s legendary Tx 103 Mc transformers and giving a variety of gain ratios and loadings it is capable to suit any cartridge on the market. Of course Steps and loads are fully custom-able as well to match any exotics , but standard one covers pretty match everything we tried.

With entire evolution in progress in MFA labs all the good things could not miss the Step up. Hence new and improved version based on latest Tx 103 transformers took the place on top when Classic had been kept in an offer.

With entire evolution in progress in MFA labs all the good things could not miss the Step up. Hence new and improved version based on latest Tx 103 transformers took the place on top As we often had inquires from our customers about particular SUTs, and not everyone needs the flexibility of the Classic, then we asked Jonathan to include such a product into his range. He has been offering them anyway for long time on market demand but never quite decided to establish it as a separate product range. Now it happened and this is how SUT 632 was born. As one can imagine 632 is an open concept. At the same price customer gets the unit build to match his specific requirements. Most often these are standard ratios , but sometime we have something exotic build, like for example 1:100 SUT for our Ortofon MC2000 mkII , with its 0,0014 output signal. Suts are coming in nice small boxes in variety of colours matching MFA offering.hen Classic had been kept in an offer.

Phono pre-amps are the latest addition to MFA’s range and this is when Jonathan’s passive journey comes to the end. Here it is where the power is needed , but so are his transformer building skills.

Highlights:

• Using an external +/- 18 v power supply
• Using a pair of mu-metal cored output transformers to give both  RCA and XLR outputs
• The transformers with a 3:2 step down ratio enable the output to drive longer cable than a conventional phono amp
• The use of high quality components throughout give a magnificent performance

MFA Reference Phono Pre-amplifier is more complex and full valve based unit. It makes current company’s reference range product. It is two box design with PS being completely separated.The Music First Reference Phono Amplifier is an all valve moving magnet phone stage, employing innovative (possibly unique) circuit design, careful component selection and LCR RIAA equalisation.

Dual Mono is further exploring 632 circuit which comes as a completely internally separated execution.

Highlights:

• An external power supply provides a +/- 18V AC voltage
• There is a bridge rectifier comprising of 4 discrete ultra fast soft recovery diodes, a bank of audiophile quality Elna Silmic electrolytic capacitors and two high performance low noise voltage regulator circuits.

The main amplifier circuits comprise two active gain stages with passive RIAA equalisation. Each amplifier stage is biased into ‘class A’ with the use of constant current diodes. Mundorf ‘M-Cap Supreme’ capacitors and low noise metal film resistors are used as the main elements in the RIAA stage. High quality Polyproylene decoupling capacitors are use throughout. The output transformers are each driven by a THAT1646 balanced line driver. Radio frequency noise is minimised by a filter between the THAT chips and the transformers.