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A much asked Maggie question

I did it! After some (a lot) of trial and error I decided on the Maggie 1.6's for my home theater surround system. I also went for the center CC3. I had been running a Dynaudio setup (Special 25's etc., etc.)with a Classe' CAV150 5 channel amp which sounded great.

Things still sound pretty darn good with the Classe amp, but I am wondering if more power would be a good thing for these babbies? The amp that seems overlooked (and in my price range) is the ARC D400. Does anyone have experience with the ARC SS amps and Maggies?

As you can see from my two channel system I really like their tube stuff, but I have no experience with their SS. Is this a sysnergistic match, or should I look at other SS amps?

The rest of the system consists of a Classe' SSP-25 processor, and a Sony ES9000 DVD/SACD player, and REL Sub. Cable is Kimber.

Thanks

Chris
cmo
raf450's avatar
raf450
1 posts
 
Chris,

The D400 is an excellant ARC product, greatly overlooked and definitely underrated. I've used it on the top end of an IRS Beta and more recently biwired on the maggie 3.6s.

IMHO the D400 is excellent from top to bottom with a tube-like midrange. It has all the qualities you would expect of an ARC product, incredible soundstage, transparency, dimensionality and detail. I used the D400 with an SP-11 Mk II preamp with Goertz Alpha Core speaker cables and ICs throughout. I think there is a definite synergy between the D400 and the Magnepan speakers, bringing out the best qualities of both products, and it should be fantastic with the 1.6s.

When I evaluated the 3.6s, the dealer was using Classe amps. I thought they were also excellant, but brighter or dryer than I was used to with the D400, which was slightly warmer and tube-like in the midrange.

The D400 is a definite bargain [actually a steal] on Audiogon. Good luck in your decision.

Richard
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