ATMA-SPHERE MA-1 MK11.3 with magnepans, am I completely mad?!


I have a pair of magnepan 20.1, which I run active. I user a pair of 600w amps on the bass panels and then I use 80w KT88 monos on the mid-bass + tweeters.

I am considering buying a pair ATMA-SPHERE MA-1 MK11.3 silver edition in lieu of the KT88 monos.

The maggies are a 4 ohm load and I believe that they are a pretty "flat" 4 ohm and don't dip below that.

The ATMA-SPHERE MA-1 MK11.3 are 140w so I think they could be a winning match, but what do you think?

psilonaught

Pretty sure I’ve read in the past that Ralph @atmasphere said his amps work really well with Maggies, which, frankly, surprised me but there it is.   

Well, Ralph is on the forum, so either PM him or wait to see if he'll respond.

Of course, you can always call the shop directly. He usually answers the phone.

I agree with @soix, his amps are known to work well with low impedance speakers.

Bob

I've done a bit more reading and I think the match can work, so I've told the dealer that I want to buy the amps.

I can always return them if the match isn't working but I think it might be a stunning combination.

The numerous positive reviews of the ma-1 convinced me!

I think you're on to a winner. The amp' s those put out will be more important than watts.

I thought the issue was impedance. 

The Maggies dip pretty low and the Atma amps like to see higher. I did hear a rig that used Z Transformers (the anti-cables guy) between Atma-Sphere and Maggies and it sounded great.

Best talk to Ralph.

If you have a woofer amp, and the mids and highs are handled by the MA-1 I think you have a shot at it. You might want to also try the ZEROs with the amps (www.zeroimpedance.com); do both ways and see what you prefer.

WOW, if that works out, I'll bet you'll have a killer system. Would love to hear it

Ok thanks for the vote of confidence, I'm going to message the dealer and pull the trigger on them !

I would be using the ma-1s with a KR Audio type 45 DHT preamp, with Emission Labs 45 mesh globes and an Abbas Audio 4.1 SE pcm, nos tube dac.

My crossover is a sublime audio k231.

This setup should give me an extremely organic digital system.