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Can single ended 211 or 212 amplifiers drive magnepan 20.7?

Dear All

I have been reading up about maggies and am chasing after a huge immersive soundstage that the maggies provide, and would like to combine them with a sweet and musical sound that single ended tube amplifiers provide. 

I currently own the cary 805 ae mono blocks which uses a single ended 211 class A output of ~25watts, and am wondering if an amplifier like this or something much bigger like the 212 single ended tube amplifier with 40-50w of class A1 output can drive the magnepan 20.7s? 

Cant seem to find much info on the web, or people with any experience. Would definitely appreciate any advice or sharing of experiences here! :)

 

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

Thegreenman

thegreenman

Showing 1 response by nogaps

nogaps
12 posts
 

No direct experience with the Maggies, but having a sensitivity of 86 dB...I wouldn't think what you're proposing will work, either option.  I once drove a 90dB set of speakers with 60 watts of (KT88) tube power.  Sounded..wonderful..but volume-wise..I could only get to moderately (low-ish) volume.  

By all means pursue the Maggies, but you'll need a tube preamp and some real power.  My current system, due to change completely in a couple months, runs a tube pre into a McCormack DNA1 power amp into 86dB speakers. It totally works. I've enjoyed this system for 10+ years..no complaints.   

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