Phono - 122, line- 155/245; power - 411. Don't know about the MBL as I heard this at a different occasion. It was a nice component as well.
/What other SS amps are competitive in performance?
Quite a few, I would imagine. However none that I know offer the compactness: Dartzeel's amp is good, Symphonic Line's "Kraft" class A also competes very well (excellent with 155 driven by 122), as does a Boulder model I forget which, as well as the older Lamm (tube). There are others I don;t know.
However, if price is a factor, none of the contenders I mention are any cheaper...
The most important thing IMO is that the FM (and to a degree Dartzeel as well) offers "pre-optimised plug & play" solutions: that is, all the components & peripherals you need are available and perform extremely well.
So, you just go to the shop, put whatever you need in yr shopping bag (amps, wires, equalisers...), go home, plug in and listen to music. No discussions re, damping factor, analyses on bass extension, "soundstages", curtains lifting or falling, room treating et alia, or voodoo tweaking...
You know, when you're spending that kind of money it's nice to have someone else worry about all these things:)
