Musical Fidelity Speakers MC2 & MC4

I bought a pair of MC2s the other week for £45, they are lovely and transparent with vocal/chamber music. I bought a pair of MC4s straight after when I saw them on e-bay, which have lots of extra bass and a fuller sound if perhaps losing a little of the transparency of the MC2s.

Does anyone else really like these speakers? I don't hear much about them.

There are 2 pairs of MC2s going cheap on e-bay, one can be bi-wired and has a rear port (like mine) and the other has 2 front ports and only a single pair of binding posts, does anyone know why MF changed the design?

 

I owned a pair of MC4s for years, and thought they were pretty damn good. They were bought in preference to a pair of mk1 AE1s.
The only real downside was that they were trying hard to be the most ugly speaker ever made.
When new the MC4 was £500, the MC2 was £300.
Mine were only supplanted by a pair of Linn Kabers, which when new were around £1500. So yeah, I rather liked them.

 

The MC4s were certainly at the back of the queue when looks were being handed out. Those big foam 'grilles' have to go down as one of the worst speaker design faux-pas ever made (although maybe they are very sonically transparent), and it's not as if you can take them off to improve the aesthetics as the speakers themselves are just as ugly underneath.

 

I have had both. MF changed the deign to make more money - it was a complete rewrite and sounded dismal.

The mc4 should be just as transparent but perhaps has a richer balance in the upper bass.

 

I have the v1 MC2s but I think they are v2 MC4s, will these be inferior to the v1?

 

God, if you think MC4s look nasty - you've never had Epos ES14s (in walnut) on their own stands in a smallish room - now THAT'S ugly (but I loved it!).

 

Do they have the transparent bass drivers? If so they are the good ones.

 

yes, i can see the wires and the wadding through the MC4 cones, but not through the MC2 cones (i don't think that MF made any MC2s with transparent cones?). and they have a very pleasing sound which I can't imagine I will ever tire of.

I'm hopefully getting an A100 on sunday so I can get the original MF sound from them (assuming the capacitors etc. are still up to it).

 

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I loved mine. Excellent bass for their size. Not the deepest but so tuneful. Treble could be a little uncouth but i expect this was down to CDP.

 

Mine are the same as those except the grilles are wooden with black cloth and velcro pads to attach to the speakers. Your grilles are the same type as I have on my MC4s. Here's a pair on e-bay the same as mine, but I also have little sponge plugs for the back ports.



The second pair on e-bay look very different, here are some pics:

 

Those MC4s are not the first generation version. The mk1 had an offset port and translucent main drivers.

 

Yes those are the bad ones on ebay.

 

those are all MC2s, i assume the first picture, and andi's speakers are the first gen MC2s, also without transparent drivers which I think were only on the MC4s and the reference 4s. I've never seen a pair of MC1s, MC5s or MC6s does anyone have a pic?

Also, is it worth buying an A100 amp for £90 or are they all reaching the end of their shelf life now?

 

the mc2s didnt have transparent drivers you are right

 

The MC4 with transparent drivers were lovely speakers.
A friend owned a pair and ran them with MF A100 and Pink Triangle TT back in the late 80s. I have to admit to really liking that system even though I was a rabid flat earth crusader at the time

 

A100 amp for £90 sounds ok. Check the volumne control does not create to much electrical noise when you turn it up and down

 

Hi,

I had a pair of Musical Fidelity MC2 in the late 80s. These were quite enjoyable. I ran them with a Audio Innovations Series 300 then a series 500 amp. I also used them with a marantz PM 200(or was it a PM250?) amp. Then went on to using a pair of Snell J/II loudspeakers. I had a lot of interest when I sold MC2 speakers on.

I also heard the MC4 loudspeakers at the time compared with the J/IIs. Good detail but didn't match the intergration of the Snells. I prefered the soft treble of the Snells to the metal dome tweeter of the MF speakers.

The later versions were, IMO, were not as good speakers.

SCIDB

 

My main system uses a pair of MC4's through a charlize t-amp, and I think they are excellent! Although they can get a bit muddled in more complex music, but thats probably down to my poor source (onboard soundcard).

 

I bought the A100 amp today and I'm very pleased with the results. I'm using an early sony sacd player (with standard cds) and the results are not muddled (e.g. radiohead ok computer), have yet to try some beethoven and mussorgsky though.

 

i've also been through a pair of MC2s in my time. Sounded ok- were a bit bright and the bass wasn't deep at all.

I would like to hear the MC6s. Are the MC4s the ones with 3 tweeters, Neat MFS stylée?