amp and pre for maggie 3.6

I have no particular advise but it is just interesting to me that this has to be the most posted topic on Agon.

What to drive Maggies with?

Probably because they are so popular and also a bit difficult to drive.

Just in case you have not done this, search the archives...

I am in the same boat as you becuase I want to run a pair of maggies. From researching here, I have already bought a pair of classe CAM350 mono blocks to run the Maggies which I have not bought yet. I currently have 230 watt tube amps which are not going to be big enough based on what is said here and audioasylum. The 3.6r need a lot of current in a large room which most tube amps can not deliver. There lots of threads here on magnepan just search.

just heard a pair of 3.6's driven by an AR reference amp and preamp. About 100 watts of tube power. Very nice soundstage and ambience with a very beautiful presentation on soft, acoustic, orchestra dns generally simpler music. But they did get congested on more complex and rock music. There was no hump there on the drums and the bass was a bit bloated.

We put in a McCormack DNA .5 deluxe amp and it drove the speakers much better on the complex and harder stuff. It also sounded nice on the simpler music, but the bloom of the tubes was missing. more detail and space but a lack of that beauty. Perhaps it could have opened up more with a preamp that has more bloom than the AR. Overall I did prefer this sound to th tubed AR amp, but ultimately I would want that beauty back if I owned the speaker while retaining the drive they need.

P T M I. Have gleaned similar feeling from many posts I have read here. Why not a.bi amp arrangement , possibly utilizing .the best o both the tube and S S offerings ?

My friend setup a maggie's before, they were with the Jadis Defy-7...i heard it, tested it and it has clear vocals, crisp sound, and it has quality parts that last long.