#75 lighter but I owned a Radford STA25 Mk III. It was 1978 and I
was desperate to transcend the limitations of an ailing Rogers
Cadet. Not that the Goodmans Eleganzas were all that hungry; I
just knew that I had to run something with greater dynamics,
better bass control and a sweeter midband. The Radford was the
amplifier with all the street cred and a friend was willing to
part with his. Little did I know that over a decade later I'd be
reviewing its great-great-grandson. But had you told me this, I
wouldn't have been surprised.

I still own that STA25, which served as the heart of my system
for five years. What I learned from it has only been made
apparent during the past few years, since Arthur Radford allowed
Woodside Electronics to undertake the upgrading and manufacture
of his classic. The STA25 Mk IV was a natural starting point, a
modernised version of its ancestor. So, too, were the mono
versions, dubbed the MA75s. These in turn led to the replacements
for the STA25 Mk IV, the new STA35. And all of these begat the
amplifier under review, the Class-A 50W monoblock MA50
Renaissance. And they confirmed the lessons imparted by the old
Mk III: that the basic circuit was so 'good' and so 'right' that
it could evolve along with the rest of the electronics industry
-- right into the Digital Age.

Back when Arthur was at the helm, items like trick cables and
tweak resistors weren't even part of science fiction lore.
Gold-plated sockets, ultra-low-impedance speakers, sophisticated
solid-state components for mere pence -- John Widgery, the 'heir'
to the legacy, has addressed or exploited all of these and more
in the time he's been entrusted with the Radford's development.
He's now graced the amplifier with Class A operation and greater
security with nasty loads by reworking the power supply to
include solid-state regulation feeding the phase splitters. Other
changes include a move to cathode bias, creating both the Class A
operation and removing the need for manual bias controls, as well
as a return to EL34 valves. Martin Colloms deals with these
changes in full elsewhere in this review; I cite them only to
reinforce the relationship to the venerable circuit of the
grey-painted predecessors.

The empirical differences connect the MA50s to its current
siblings while one key change actually links this to a
long-departed ancestor. If my memory serves me well, this is the
first amplifier in the STA series since the sought-after STA15 to
do away with manual bias facility. It may be a minor point, but I
know from discussions with dozens of valve amplifier
manufacturers that this is the sole remaining cause of
techno-fear in would-be tube converts. As non-technical as I am
-- my skills are limited to soldering good enough for
kit-building duties -- manual biasing never worried me,
especially as most modern valve amplifiers provide meters (eg
Raymond Lumley) or tell-tale LEDs (Beard, Radford) which make
rebiasing no more of a challenge than setting record levels on a
cassette deck. Still, if someone leery of tubes can be assured
that an amplifier is virtually maintenance-free, then it's one
less obstacle for the nervous one to overcome.

That aside, the ergonomics and operation of the MA50 differ
hardly at all from most solid-state products. Radfords run warm
even in low-powered, Class AB or B form; the MA50s give off
enough heat from each bank of four EL34s to make the mesh cage
uncomfortable to the touch, hotter than the 150W Raymond Lumleys
and almost as scalding as the 12-valved Beard P1000. These need
breathing space, so allow room for two 17x16in radiators
(including switches and terminals) if you're considering the
MA50s.

As with other current Radfords, the MA50 is finished in black
with gold trim, the cage covering all of the valves in the
interests of safety. (If you want romance in the form of exposed
valves, consider the presence of pets, children or maladroits
before removing the protective cage.) The front sports only an
on/off switch and a green 'on' indicator, while the back offers
three-pin IEC mains input, fuse holder, a gold-plated phono
socket and five-way binding posts for speaker connections.
Switch-on is accompanied by a 'sproin-n-ng' sound, but the amp
settles down immediately. A half-hour is ample for pre-listening
warm-up.

One curious aspect of the MA50s which had me worried when I tried
them with the 3 ohm Apogee Divas was a smell of melting plastic
or paint. Had I cooked the Radfords? Was a light show soon to
follow? Naaah...it was the actual burn-in procedure, described in
the literature as 'quite normal'. It disappeared after a couple
of days, but did bring back horrible memories of faulty
anachrophilia.

Although the Radfords will handle devilish impedances when the
transformer is rewired to suit such loads, I opted for something
a bit more in line with the capabilities of a 50W valve
amplifier. The Radfords were auditioned with Celestion SL700s,
the rest of the system including the Marantz CD-12 CD player,
Oracle Delphi turntable, SME Series V arm, Audio-Technica ART-1
moving-coil cartridge, Audio Research SP-9 and Air Tight ATC-1
preamplifiers. Cables included Lieder speaker wire and Mandrake,
Lieder and masTER LINK interconnects.

This was no blast from the past, as I learned through a
side-by-side comparison with an STA25 Mk IV. Readers with
experience of Radford products will recognise the mid-band, with
its rich, rounded sound and ample detail, but the extremities may
cause some shock. Partly this is due to the extra headroom and
greater dynamic capability provided by the extra power. You'd
expect the bass to have greater impact, just as you'd expect a
gain in maximum level and whatever else an extra 3dB can provide.
But you cannot prepare for what the Class A operation and those
extra decibels do for the edges of the frequency spectrum.

I've never had any complaints about the way Radford amplifiers
handled the bottom octaves. I've tended to use Radford amplifiers
with small monitors and I'm not all that bothered about life
below 70Hz. But for those of you who don't believe that there's
any bass to match the bass which damages bladders and induces
nausea, YO! The Radford works with 'eavy metal!!!

Uh, sorry about that, but I just did not expect the Radfords to
rise to the drum/bass barrage opening of Helloween's Live In The
UK or the darker moments of This Is Spinal Tap. (This also speaks
volumes for the SL 700s, which continue to confound those without
the requisite amount of respect for British skills with small
enclosures.) Don't think I'm referring only to extension. I'm
talking about weight, control, power -- hell, I'm talking about
MASS. I cranked that sucker up to 11, no -- 13, and was hit with
a wall of sound of Spectorian bulk. It was, to drift into the
vernacular, awesome by any 19in rack-mounted, heat-sinked
standards. Yes, kiddies, the Radfords have the stones to deal
with hard rock, deep rap/funk and -- dare I mention it in this
company? -- large scale orchestral works. No, I don't mean in
tandem with 3 ohm loads but with a half-dozen ohms or more. But
remember: the SL 700s ain't exactly Jamos when it comes to
sensitivity. Yes, the Radfords have bottle both literally and
figuratively.

At the other extreme, we're almost talking solid-state. Say 'Bye,
bye' to 'the classic valve sound', the cuddles and whispers of
ageing tubes and Ortofon SPU cartridges and slow-cones. The MA50,
when required, can cut like a knife, with all the sharp notes
having edges defined with absolute precision and no
fatigue-inducing grit or grain. It's lean to the STA25's plump,
and the synergy with the SL700 produces such an absolutely
enticing treble region that you can easily forget that the SL700
is a descendant of the dull-as-Clayderman SL6. The downside is
that the MA50s can seem a bit dry, as evidenced by the curious
portrayal of space.

As with all monoblock amplifiers, interchannel grief is a
byproduct of the sources and preamplifier, so you can always
assume that left/right integrity is above reproach from the amps'
inputs onward. The stage recreated by the MA50s -- again
referenced to the SL700s -- is simply massive in all three
dimensions; stage height rivals anything I've used in recent
memory. Width extended beyond the edges of the speakers, but it
fades off abruptly enough to warrant the use of a tape measure. A
most staggering illustration of this phenomenon occurs in
'Troubles' on Champion Jack Dupree and His Blues Band, with
Dupree in conversation with Mickey Baker, one voice dead-centre
and the other stage-right, past the right-hand speaker. The
precision with which the voice is positioned is the among most
emphatic proof I've heard for silencing those who refuse to
accept such a condition. By the time the recording -- a 1967 Mike
Vernon production and a testimony to his brilliance -- moves on
to 'Caledonia', the guitar is so far to the right that you'd
think Maggie Thatcher had discovered the blues. But this is a
choice of between superlative image placement and
three-dimensionality over a sense of 'air' and atmosphere. A
minor complaint, but one you should relate to your personal
preferences.

The Radford MA50 power amplifier is one of very few British
amplifiers which I would enter into the global high-end
battlefield. At #2127.50 per pair, inc VAT, the Radfords retail
for a lot less than equivalent-quality imports. (John Widgery
points out, sadly, that a trip westward across the Atlantic puts
this into direct competition with amplifiers which sell for
#3000-plus in the UK.) Now I know that a couple of kiloquid is
far from sensible money when the man on the street considers #500
for an entire system to be nothing short of criminal, but I have
to describe the MA50 as a bargain in relative terms. What I see
here is another indication that British valve amplifier
manufacturers are -- finally -- aiming for greater glories than
30W/channel affordables can provide. The natural competitor for
this amplifier is the pending Beard P1000, while EAR, Croft,
Raymond Lumley, Grant, Cadence and a few others join to make up a
field of valve-driven powerhouses which can satisfy the home
market with aplomb. I'm just glad that one of the best of the
current crop wears the same badge as the first amplifier which
made me valve-mad a decade ago.