AMS50 (DISCONTINUED) - Overview
The mighty AMS50 follows the AMS35p and precedes the AMS100 in the trio of exceptional power amplifiers within our AMS range. Each amp features the same core Class A excellence, but packaged at different levels of size, power and price. This means you can pick the power amp that best suits your specific speakers, room and budget, while knowing you’re buying the premium performance at every point.
As its name suggests, the AMS50 offers 50 Watts per channel into 8 Ohms, though this doubles to 100 Watts per channel into the 4 Ohm impedance of many modern speaker designs.
The AMS50 is the perfect partner for our Primo pre-amp, sharing the same state-of-the-art engineering and premium aesthetics.
As Noel Keywood enthused in his Hi-Fi World review: “The big AMS50 has an array of qualities that mark it out as an utterly superb amplifier no matter what loudspeaker it is paired with”. He concludes: “it is probably the best solid-state amplifier I have ever heard”.
AMS50 (DISCONTINUED) - Design and Build
The AMS50 takes a fresh approach to power amplification. It’s a pure Class A design that also takes inspiration from our flagship 1kW TITAN power amp.
Our 30+ years of amplifier experience leave us in no doubt that the ultimate musicality is offered by Class A power amps, with pure Class A designs providing the very peak performance. But pure Class A is only part of what makes the AMS50 so special; it also benefits from the years of research and development that went into its remarkable TITAN big brother.
Of crucial impact is its fully complementary, balanced, bridged circuit design. We believe the AMS50 to be the first ever 50 Watt pure Class A amplifier using this bridged configuration. The resulting advantages are significantly lower distortion and greater power-supply noise rejection.
This superior technical performance is clearly measurable. The AMS50’s distortion is less than 0.005% wide band, and its signal-to-noise ratio is equally outstanding – you simply won’t hear this amp unless you want to!
Another contributing factor to the AMS50’s excellence is its genuinely dual-mono design. In essence, its impressive casing houses two completely separate, mono amplifiers, each with their own power supply.
On the subject of the casing, there’s no escaping the might of the AMS50, which measures 32.5cm high, 48.3cm wide and 46cm deep. With its custom-made heatsinks added into the equation, the AMS50 has a surface area of six square metres.
Some have said this makes the AMS50 surprisingly big, considering its 50 Watts per channel power rating, and that there are smaller Class A amps offering the same or even greater drive. Scientifically, however, the AMS50’s generous dimensions are essential to ensure efficient heat dissipation for a Class A amplifier of this power rating. Therefore, any rival design claiming to offer similar or superior specification in a more compact casing design simply isn’t a pure Class A amp – and won’t have the unique musicality that ideal configuration confers.
The AMS50 is the perfect partner for our Primo pre-amplifier. The pairing offers exceptional sound quality, combining the peerless tonality of a pure Class A tube system with incredibly fast, distortion-free solid-state performance. The resulting sound is so natural and three-dimensional, you feel as if you can reach out and touch the musicians.
Connectivity options on the rear of the AMS50 include both balanced and line-level inputs, plus two pairs of speaker terminals per channel – makes biwiring easy.
As with the entire AMS range, the AMS50 has a timeless design. The three-part front panel, top and back are machined from solid, military-grade aluminum, and finished to meet our exacting specifications. The AMS50 is available with a Titanium G2 front panel, finished in either silver with silver badge, or black with silver badge.
As the Hi-Fi World review urges: “Musical Fidelity’s new AMS50 Class A power amplifier is required listening”.
