MSB M202 MONOBLOC AMPS, DEALER DEMO, BEST SOLID STATE EVER?

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"Delivered superior performance to all others I have heard" - Chris Bryant, HiFi Critic.

MSB does it once again! This 200 watt monaural Amplifier uses the MSB strategy of design simplicity with a totally new architecture.  There is not another AMP in the world like it!

Dealer demo monobloc pair, approx. 4.5 years old, 8/10 due to age - amps are in excellent condition. Instead of having power switch inside amp, you have choice to power directly bypassing switch entirely, or use heavily upgraded external 30amp power switches (see image below).

Retail on these is $17,500 (current retail is $27,000), sell for $10,900 with a 1 year warranty.

Note to International customers: Voltage is easily switched between 110-220V to 220-240V by external switch on rear panel.

These are the absolute best sounding solid state amps we've ever had here, and we've had more than a few $20k plus amplifiers. Another, super hi-end, dealer friend once came here and when seeing the amps said he almost bought a pair and thought they were as good or better as any solid state amp he'd ever heard!

Testimonials

"Superb reference standard sound quality combining wide bandwidth... Exceptional dynamic range, considerable speed and expert timing.
 An intelligently engineered and elegantly presented amplifier."
 - Paul Messenger, Hi-Fi Choice

"Here is an amplifier that has delivered superior performance to all others I have heard so far... The M200 is a welcome addition to the world of high-fi exotica."
 - Chris Bryant, Hi-Fi Critic.com

"Of all the very many hi-end solid state amplifiers we've had here over the years I'm confident this is the very best sounding of all and personally I love the styling"
- Jay Kaufman, owner Audio Revelation

For a short, informative video on the MSB M200 amplifier, click here.

Overview

A Simple Approach
The M200 monoblock provide a simple but effective approach to good sound. An amplifier does two things, in increases the voltage of an audio signal and it increases the current. Class A amplifiers completely overlap the positive and negative signals providing great performance but with huge power losses. Class A-B overlap only a little with much lower power use but compromised performance. The MSB amplifier uses a fully CLASS A stage to increase the voltage signal, and a CLASS A-B stage with no voltage gain to increase the current supplied. This unique hybrid gives the best of both - a great performance with reduced power requirements.

Built out of Desperation 
Designing the Platinum DACs we found that there was not an amplifier available that could let us hear everything that our DAC is capable of.  Some amplifiers would hold an image together well with multiple instruments playing but were not capable of fully resolving the individual instruments. Other amplifiers would simply sound wonderful until more than two or three things started happening at once!  We even listened to a few amplifiers that were completely missing notes in low frequencies!  The M-200 amplifier was designed from the ground up to be full of resolution, dynamics, to hold a solid image for each instrument no matter how many are going at once, without being harsh or edgy.  We needed a Reference Amplifier, and that is what we built! Next we listened the suggestions of our customers and added some more features and the M202 was launched.

Not Square!
As you've probably noticed, the M-202 Amplifiers are round!  This design allows us to keep the signal paths as short as possible for the best possible performance.

Truly Balanced Architecture
Both the inputs and the outputs of this Amplifier are completely Balanced.  There is no funny business going on here! The M-202 also offers a single-ended input that is treated separately from the balanced input.  A simple switch located near the input jacks allows you to switch the Amplifier between Single-Ended operation, Balanced (high gain, + 6dB) and Balanced (low gain). 

Control Features
Based on customer requests, the M202 has both a total power on / off and standby mode all selected by the lighted toggle on top and via a remote jack on the back. It also has a high/low Bias switch allowing the Amplifier to run in a cooler mode for hot environments, and hot as a pistol for the very best sound possible, even at the expense of a high air conditioning bill.

The heart of the MSB M202 Amp is our MSB designed current mirrors. This approach is expensive but allows amazing accuracy. With such great accuracy we can even operate with zero feedback, greatly improving our phase response. Negative feedback is a trick used by most amp designers to improve linearity but its cost is in degraded phase performance. Our use of zero feedback is significant breakthrough and indicates the care taken in our design.  

Other improvements include the use of toroidal transformers keep noise levels low as does the dense packaging. High quality connectors are used on the back of the unit with both balanced and single ended inputs.

How good are these amps?

As of Feb. 2012, all of us at Audio Revelation have still yet to hear any solid state amp as good as these. 

Specifications

M-202 Amplifier (per Mono AMP)

• True Balanced (XLR) Input Impedance 36kOhm


• Single-Ended (RCA)Input Impedance 18kOhm


• Input Sensitivity:
    4.34 Vpp @ 200W (High Gain +28db)
    8.68 Vpp @ 200W(Low Gain +22db)


• Common Mode Range:+/- 20 V


• Max. Linear Input Range:10 Vpp


• Max. Input Voltage:20 Vpp


• Transistors:All Bi-Polar


• Feedback:0 Negative Local Feedback, 0 Negative Global Feedback


• Damping Factor:80


• Signal to Noise Ratio:>120 dB


• Power Rating: >200 Watts at 8 Ohms, 400 watts into 4 Ohms


• Capable of driving a 1 Ohm load


• Static Power Consumption: 250 Watts


• Filter Capacitance: 220,000 µf


• Transformers: Dual 600W Toroidal Transformers.  


• Dimensions: 12" diameter, 18" tall, 90 LBS


• Control Features:
     - Switch for Balanced or Single-ended operation.
     - Lighted switch for On-Standby-Off
     - Switch for High and Low Bias Modes.
     - Jack for remote power on and off.

Audio Revelation 2630 Pirineos Way #24
Carlsbad, CA 92009
FOR EMAIL INQUIRIES, PLEASE CLICK: Jay 760.944.0444 9am-6pm PST Monday through Saturday
Visits by appointment only please. www.audiorevelation.com


Visit our sister site at www.stylusexperience.com

STOP - READ THIS. We are a business member of Audiogon and pay a fixed monthly fee and therefore no commissions on sales. It is much easier if you respond directly to our email at [email protected] rather that thru the Audiogon system. If you want a faster response (as well as our gratitude), please use this email to ask questions or to make a purchase. Thanks in advance!