Budget amp that will give Magnepan 3.6Rs better depth of soundstage


I have 3.6Rs and using Emotiva UMC200 pre/proc and an Outlaw Audio 7100 in a 14 by 14 foot room. So I don't need to turn the volume up to massive levels. The amp will do 100 watts per channel into 8 ohms and 165 watts per channel into 4 ohms. I have been thinking of getting a separate two channel amp for the 3.6Rs. I have read that it takes lots of current to get the best soundstage with instrument placement and depth. I am getting wide soundstage and good sound, but the depth is somewhat muddied enough to not get instrument placement. I am looking for a two channel amp that will give me more of the potential of the 3.6Rs, but be able to be purchased for less that $750 used.  Is there any amp that will be worth upgrading to for that kind of money or do I need a new pre/proc as well?

cdavis2260

Showing 3 responses by jjss49

not gonna happen

that is the hidden cost of owning maggies... you need damn expensive associated equipment to make them sound their best

in my experience the most cost effective amps (used) to drive big maggies well enough in a regular size room to normal levels are

klaus’ odyssey amps (even the less expensive older ones are excellent, khartago or stratos -- caps upgrade helps)

primare i-30 integrated 100 wpc, 180 wpc into 4, stout and very musical

older musical fidelity a308 or similar

older van alstine synergy or similar (a little more sharp sounding)

older audio research 100.2 (100/200 into 4) - lovely tube like warmth, if you can find one

 

 

as a longtime maggie owner of various models (mg 3a, .7, 1.7i, and currently 3.7i), i heartily support the worthwhile pursuit to try to identify and catalog suitable amplifiers to drive maggies to satisfying volumes while producing the tremendous sonic purity the speakers are capable of -- done right, sonic ’nirvana’ can be obtained on a very reasonable budget

i shared some of the experiences with specific amps that are more value oriented in an earlier post, but let me add some add’l thoughts here

-- in general, going for older well made well reputed upper tier solid state amps is a very good idea (classe, bedini, bel, belles, muse, threshold, better musical fidelity, older krell class a and so on) provided the amp is well kept and carefully checked out for aging internal components, usually power supply caps - amps approaching 25-30 years in age will usually need at least a proper health check by a qualified tech, some may need recapping to manage their idle noise levels etc if the intent is to use the amp for another decade plus 

-- historically brystons are well known good mates with maggies, in the 90’s and 00’s, wendell often used brystons with maggies at shows, at a point in the 2010 era he switched to pass labs amps -- my own experience with brystons (and sanders magtech, incidentally) is that these are stout amps in power delivery but lack the nuance, silkiness and tonality of the best ss amps on the market (admittedly more expensive ones)... latest gen brystons (cubed series) are said to have closed this sonic gap (i have not heard this series but they’ve also gotten quite expensive, so the price gap to pass, ayre, hegel, coda etc has narrowed as well)

-- older adcoms to my ear are similar to older brystons - have the brute force needed but lack the fineness of sound, they can sound strident and grainy, flatten apparent soundstage

-- want to call out odyssey once again, these are somewhat large somewhat clumsy looking boxes with very very fine sounding, very powerful, very capable amps inside, symphonic line (germany) designs and parts in economized chassis (cosmetically not functionally) -- in my experience they give you top of class sound at a very reasonable price

-- if one goes integrated, the hegels are absolutely top notch sonically - stay with h160/190 and above for maggies