Anyone have a Music First Preamp ?

I've had both Lightspeed and MF in my residence recently.

The Lightspeed is only better than the Music First when the input Z of the amplifier is significantly north of 50K ohms, at least 100K ohms to be conservative. Given finicky system matching requirements, I would not say that the Lightspeed is better than the MF, but I would say "Well, it depends".

Having said that, in the right system, I do prefer the Lightspeed. I prefer the B1 to the MF as well, but the dual channel volume control on the B1 drives me nuts.

Wilsynet,

May I ask which MF you had in your system?

Yes, the MF is likely to have wider application, and that in and of itself has value.
Having said that, I would be surprised if one would consistently pick it over a
BENT Tap with the S&B, or better yet with the Slagle AVC which I thought was
even better than the TVC version. So for more universal applications the BENT
Tap is the passive of choice for me, but when you have the impedances, cables,
and gain right I have found the Lightspeed to be the best of the bunch - and all
of them are at least very, very good in the right systems. Some times you need
gain, some times you need impedance matching help and these wonderful
preamps might not serve you nearly as well. So no universal claims, but system
context is everything for forming an opinion. I've not yet tried the Magnetic Line
Amplifier by Electra-Fidelity which seems like a very interesting new design with
what would seem to be great transformers that would address most if not all
impedance matches, but like anything in audio, at a cost compared to the
"simplicity" of the Lightspeed. We are indeed lucky to have so many choices.

I had the entry level Music First passive preamp in my system, but don't recall the model number. A local Music First dealer contacted me because I was in his area and he wanted to borrow the Lightspeed for comparison. In exchange, he offered to have me borrow the Music First, and said that the unit usually retails for $3000+.

I told him before he took the Lightspeed that it really wanted 100K ohm input Z from the amp. He came back and told me the Lightspeed sounded like crap. I asked him about the input Z of the amp, and he said he doesn't pay attention to that stuff and has no idea. Anyway, you can lead a horse to water I guess.

Dealer of the Year?