NO-You will need at least a 35 watt tube amp just to get good low level sound. The Maggies will suck a 15-20 watt amp dry in no time.
Find a decent 40 watt golden tube or similar and you may be happy. However, from personal experience, don't even try it with less than 60-100 watts. |
Rogue Audio integrated maybe?...I'm using the M-120 Magnums to drive my Apogee Duetta signatures. Better bass than the Krell Kav-500 they replaced, just as deep and twice as musical!...who said tube amps can't do bass.
Dave |
I have personally heard mags with an underpowered good sounding tube amp and it was bad. Sound was plain with no detail. Everything was foggy and would not play loud by any means. I would suggest after what I heard is to have at least a 50 watt tube amp. If you were to go solid state I would suggest something of at least 100 watt.
Good Luck and keep us posted of what you buy... |
My local dealer set up Maggie 1.6's with a Manley Stingray in his used equipment room, and the sound was incredible. I would not have thought that 50 Watts UL would have done so well. I had owned the 1.6's twice previously and tried several tube amps that offered near 100W channel, and didn't have the dynamics that the Manley had. This one will drive the 1.6's without a doubt, and although a bit more $$$ even pre owned than you may want to spend...would be worth it for a quality made integrated, that works with the 1.6. El84 tubes provide tight, punchy bass and tubes are good sounding and affordable. A change of its 12AT7 input tubes to TFK or Mullards will take it up another notch
Good luck! |
I have owned maggie 1.6 and tried Rogue 120 magnum and also manley stingray and quite frankly the stingray sounded more alive and is suprisingly a great match. I was going to mention it before reading the post above. One more vote for the stingray. the rogue sounded blah in comparison like i would expect most tube gear to sound with maggies in general, just no current to drive them babies... |
Hi Philjolet,
Yes, the stingray with its 5 ohm impedence out mates with the 4 ohm Maggie. The Manley does very well dynamically. I had one on my Usher 6371's and could be living quite nicely with it now if not for that dreaded upgrade bug!
I wish I had the Manley when I owned the Maggies. The funny thing is...I was looking for both amp and speaker at the time I heard the Maggie/Stingray combo at my dealer, I almost bought them both, but couldn't bring myself to buy Maggie 1.6's for a third time in my life! :-0 ...so I bought the Stingray and found the Ushers later( which really was a bit more synergistic overall)
BTW.. I like your system. somewhat similar to my own in some respects with a Rega on the Linn(mine is a Origin Live Silver on a Thorens 125) and the same Muse 9 Signature, which is quite good!
Hazel motes-
If you can find a pre owned Stingray, it will be worth the search. |
Kehut. The 1.6's are calling you. Yes you can buy them again. And again. And again.
Thanks geeks.
I will definitely avoid anything under 30 watts.
(I presently have them hooked up to an old NAD integrated (C370). But I can't help but wondering what they will sound like with tubes.)
Manley Stingray quest begins now. Any other suggestions? Any leads on a used Stingray? |
i think a arc classic 60 might do it... has anyone tried it ??
maggies like a lot of current and arent as sonically amp sensitive as other speakers...
a really good muse, classe, pse would do the trick with a really nice tube pre (muse mono's for $650 and a bat vk3i for $800 - $1500 total and you a sweet, reliable setup...) |
this isnt what you want to hear, but high powered ss is the way to go for maggies.....seek out mccormick, cj, forte, or bryston. a nice used amp and pre would be reasonibly priced and allow you to get the magic from your maggies. |
There are some solid state integrated amps rated at 100 wpc or higher; the Consonance C-100 and Qinpu are a couple nice sounding "budget" integrated amps that will easily drive your Maggies. Any of the push-pull tube integrated amps using KT88s or 6550s should also be able to drive your speakers without any problem. |
Philjolet
"I have owned maggie 1.6 and tried Rogue 120 magnum and also manley stingray and quite frankly the stingray sounded more alive and is suprisingly a great match. I was going to mention it before reading the post above. One more vote for the stingray. the rogue sounded blah in comparison like i would expect most tube gear to sound with maggies in general, just no current to drive them babies."
Hmmm, I'm surprised by this. My 4 ohm Apogee Duetta Signatures are harder to drive than the Maggie 1.6's...go a lot deeper in bass also (25hz)...oh well, I've heard stranger things.
Dave |
CarverPro ZR1600 and Maggie 1.6. Synergy? I don't know, but it would cost you less than a grand to find out. |
I have 1.6 maggies and they like a lot of high current power. The best budget way ($300) to power these (IMHO) is with a vintage luxman R117 receiver using the cd bypass when utilizing your cd player as a source. I'm now using my old threshold 4000 (200watts/channel class A) and the speakers can take even more so I'll eventually bi-amp. IF YOU ONLY PLAY JAZZ AND SMALL VOCAL GROUPS you can go with a lower powered tube amp but I expect they would really open up with more powerful and expensive walcott and VLT mono amps etc. |
