The MA-1s are teh best amps I have heard in my system. I did listen to many amps for a time. The next closest amplifier I have heard was the Pass Labs Aleph3. In may ways they share a lot in common - very highly resolving, musical without artifical euphony. Compared to the Pass, the MA-1s have a more natural midrange. I did get a couple upgrades. There were some resistors that were added to the output tubes on all new production amps that weren't in mine. I also had them make the Caddock Resistor upgrade at the same time. The result was the removal of a bit of midrange harshness that i had been aware of before the upgrade in cpomparison to the Pass, which was gone after the upgrade. They work well with my Talon Hawks without autoformers, even though the Hawks are nominally 6ohm speakers. The S30 with autoformer and M60swithout autoformer didn't do well on these speakers at all. The M60s with autoformers were OK, but not great.
Also don't overlook the physical beauty o fhte MA1s. They look stunning with their polished stainless chassis, and rows of big 6AS7G tubes. The tubes are especially nice with their finned anode plates. If only the filamnets could glow white instead of orange. Oh, well. Oh, and you cna change the color of the indicator lights on the front panel with different lenses you can buy from Fender guitar amp dealers (Musicianh's friend)
