Musical Fidelity

Musical Fidelity is a British producer of high-end audio equipment focusing on streaming music players, and its core product range of amplifiers of various types (power, phono, headphone, integrated and pre-amplifiers). Other products have included headphones, Digital-Analog Converters (DACs), CD players, Bluetooth Receivers, ‘all-in-one systems’ (including Phono turntable). Founded in the United Kingdom in 1982, they are known for their unusual industrial design, Nuvistor tube use and Class-AB amplifiers. History Musical Fidelity was founded in 1982 by Antony Michaelson, a clarinettist and Hi-Fi enthusiast, following his exit from Michaelson & Austin, a predecessor company of which he was a partner. Musical Fidelity's first product was "The Preamp", which incorporated moving coil and moving magnet pre-amplification and a single line-level ‘Tuner’ input. This was originally designed to overcome his dissatisfaction with the Michaelson & Austin TVP-1 pre- amplifier. The first batch of “The Preamp” were made on Michaelson's home kitchen table and sold out almost at once through a local dealer. The dealer asked for more product, which resulted in Michaelson making the decision to go into full-time production. This was followed by the ‘Dr Thomas’ power amplifier, designed by Dr Martin Vaughan Thomas, capable of outputting 100-plus watts. Later products included the Preamp II, and the Typhoon Power amplifier.