3.6R and Amps

There's an excellent review of the 3.6Rs in Stereophile a few months ago, and in it the reviewer goes into a lot of detail on matching an amp to the speaker. You might want to look it up.

I heard these Maggies driven by a Reference Line Silver Signature amp (Stereophile Vol.20, No.7)and was flabbergasted. So much so that I bought the amp. Works equally well on my Apogees. I've been a big fan of their pre-amps and the amp line is also fantastic. They go for about $3000 used and are quite rare on the net. You will be doing yourself a dis-service if you don't try to dig one up and check it out.

Recent Stereophile review of Classe CAM-350 monoblocks said these are THE amps for the Maggies. Also about a year ago, the same mag mentioned SimAudio W-5 amp as an excellent choice. I've also heard the Bryston 4B (or 7B's) sound great. Lastly, the mighty PowerMaster from EAD is another great choice.

Thanks. Does anyone have strong feelings about the Pass x600 as well?

I use the Moon W-5.Have yet to hear anything better.

I have 3.5R's and have been very pleased with Bryston 7B monos, a friend has the same speakers and he is using Rogue Audio 120 monos, excellent sound from both. These speakers like power. I favor monoblocks when driving planars.

Has anyone tried the Cary 805-C Mono Blocks?? Steve

I have a pair of 3.5R and am running them with VTL MB750. I tried Bryston 7B, Audio Research VT100, Atma Sphere MA2 Mk2, Levinson 332, Cary 805C and the VTL's. From what I heard, the VTL smoked the others. Having said that, the price was 2x as well. I really liked the 805C, but you will miss the bass. I was constantly adjusting the feedback, more and the bass was better, none and the midrange was better than any of the above. In solid state the Brystons are a strong choice...spend the rest of the money on a tube preamp. But if you want the best these speakers can do VTL is a good choice. As a side note, I did not compare Classe, Pass, or BAT these may be great too.

From what I understand, the 3.6 run best with solid state amps.

Gladstone - see my review of the Pass X350 at Audioreview.com. Killer results from my MG20Rs. Will go to an ARC REF2/Pass X600 combo when I can afford them...