Best Cheap Amps for Magneplanar Speakers

Thx Dave.  I cannot find any ...

Are there any solid-state designs that will give a similar sound to what frogman describes for tubes?  (I have a tube pre if that helps).

I know there are MOSFET amps that are designed to simulate the circuit topology and sound of single end triodes...

I think NuPrime is one (?)

used PASS for a single kilobuck?

Bryston 4B or 4B SST?

frogman - are there any SS amps that can give that inner detail, etc. with Maggies like tubes do?

maybe a suitable topology using MOSFETs for example?

and now back to our show...

I should have said in the OP that I have a tube pre-amp and would prefer a SS amp if possible.

Also, it needs to be a significant upgrade from my current Sunfire Cinema Grand (a Bob Carver design).  That means I'd like to buy something I can test at home, which means new.

Thanks for all the ideas!

Well, that's what I'm afraid of...

The Sanders magtech is $5,000 so outside the scope of this thread - unless they have a less spendy one I'm not aware of.  It is also designed to drive wildly varying impedance loads of electrostatic speakers.  maggies, while planars, are NOT electrostatics and present a simple 4 ohm load across the freq. range.  They certainly can use a lot of oompah but are a lot 'kinder' to amps than electrostatics.

If I decide to replace my somewhat elderly Sunfire with something at the $3k or above range, it might be the new Benchmark...

Thanks everybody for the responses!  And have a good new years.

does your mom know you are using her computer?

Yes, I just want to see what is out there to replace the Sunfire - building a candidate list.  I hear the caps go bad after 20 years too, and mine is about that old...

600 is not a huge discount on a new A23 which comes with a return privilege and warranty for about 300-400 more - you aren't the seller or his friend are you?

ok, just checking

I stand by the need for a bigger discount tho (for me, as I want to try amps in my system)

try not to be such a troll, phud



I'll let everyone know when and if I replace my amp