ConradJohnson: Tubes or S/State for Maggies.

PETER IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU SHOULD GO SHOPPING FOR AN AMP. GO AND LISTEN TO SOME MAGGIES AT A LOCAL DEALER EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT THE SAME MODEL. MAGGIES NEED ALOT OF POWER TO DRIVE THEM AT FULL RANGE AND AT LOW LISTING LEVELS TO ACHIVE GOOD DYNAMICS. A TUBE PREAMP AND A SOLID STATE COMBO MAKE FOR A GREAT SOUNDING SYSTEM. I HAVE A PAIR OF MAGGIES . I AM USING THE PLINIUS SA2501V TO DRIVE THEM AS THEY ARE POWER HUNGRY. I HAVE AN AUDIO RESEARCH PREAMP AND A CARY PREAMP TUBES OF COURSE. SOUNDS GREAT. I WOULD NOT GET LESS THAN A 100 WATT AMP FOR THESE BABIES. IF THERE IS NO LOCAL DEALER. GIVE A CALL TO JOHN RUTAN AT AUDIO CONNECTION 973 239-1799 OR VISIT HIM ON THE WEB AT WWW.AUDIOCONNECT.COM HE WILL GUIDE YOU IN THE BEST DIRECTION AS HE IS A MAGGIE DEALER. HAPPY HUNTING FOR AN AMP. PAT

I originally owned Mag IIIA's for a whole bunch of years. It will take many hours to break them in again after the servicing. Also I ran them with a Music Reference RM9 100watts with 6550 (el34's wouldn't control the panels enough). The Conrad Premier 11s is a wonderful amp but you will be wanting more current since IIIA's are 84db sentitive. Two Premier 12's or Premier 11a on top with SS on the bottom... but for simplicity and you love of your spouse get Solid State, and spend the savings on your front end!

I later purchased an ARC D400 MkII and used my friends CJ2500 solid state, both do an excellent job and I would highly recommend either or amplifiers. Especially since you have a tube pre-amp. I used an Audible Illusions L1 at the time. It was a wonderful setup for jazz/blues/female vocals.

Also try switching the mags with the ribbons tweeters on the inside instead of the outside!

Enjoy... I'm still kicking myself for letting mine go.

The more power the better. And the inside-outside ribbon controversy is endless. Trust your ears.

I have CJ equipment at home and it is now installed in one of my client's sound room at their factory (they manufacture speakers). Their speakers are rated at 85 db. They used a CJ MF 2500A and Premier 18 LS at CES and the sound was amazingly clear, clean, articulate, musical and natural with a wide and deep soundstage. And this was in a hotel room with little sonic treatment.

At home, I was using a MV 60 driven passively and wanted more dynamics and punch. I went over to a MF 2250 A and PV 14L SE. I could not ask for more.

My kids' music teacher (head of local high school music department and jazz studio musician) literally took my system. He used the CJ MV 60 and his own preamp on his Maggies and agreed that the sound was amazing, but the Maggies needed a little more than one MV 60. He contemplated a second MV 60 and even a pair of MV 60 SE, but sold the Maggies and bought speakers from my client. He is keeping the one MV 60 and has a CJ preamp on order.

I have heard Maggies with ARC, Musical Fidelity, Electrocompaniet and CJ. The Electo and CJ sounded the best. The ARC was clean and smooth, but sounded lifeless and uninvolving. The Musical Fidelity was just plain dark. The Electro was fast and sweet, but I gave up on them years ago. I still have 3 AW 100 carcasses in my basement. The CJ just played music. There was no contest. For objectivity: the ARC and MF were in the same location and I bought the MV 60 there. The Electro was in someone's home and I again took the MV 60 over. I heard the MF 2500 (not a MF 2500A) at a third location.

The MF 2500A is musical, effortless and does not have any of the typical qualities of a SS amp. Of course, you can say that about 3-4 other SS amps too. But since your thread was CJ focused, I thought I would share all CJ stories.

Please do not hesitate to email me if you want to go deeper.

I will be the contrarion here. I use a premier 11a to power Martin Logan ReQuests. I have it out of my system as a KT90 gave up the ghost and I am waiting on a replacement set of tubes for it. In the interim I have a beloved old Hafler 500 powering my ReQuests. For my money I would pick tubes everytime and go with ideally the 12's if you have the cash but I personally would buy a premier 11a or a solid state CJ. I think tubes make a definite improvement over sound quality with the exception of dynamics. I can't wait to get the 11a retubed & back in the system and it does a fine job for 85% of my music listening. It just can't cook the Who or Led Zeppelin on the rare occassions I want to relive my youth.

I would recommend you definitely try both tubes and solid state amps if you have the chance before you make the plunge. For what is worth I have never heard solid state CJ gear but I adore their tube gear so temper my comments with this confession.

Have Fun.

Steelhead,
I have an 11A and wasn't aware you could use KT90's in it. How would the sound be different from Svetlana 6550's and would any modification be needed?

I used a cj MF2300 MOSFET amp on my Maggie 3.5r's for seven years before switching late last year to a pair cj premier 12's. I agree with Steelhead above - tubes are where it's at. You may suffer somewhat in dynamics, but, for my money too, the tube sound mates well with the maggies. As a matter of fact, long ago I used the original cj MV75 tube amp on a pair of Maggie IIIA's with great results. Go for the tube amp - you won't regret it!

Well, there you have it. CJ is a real option. However, we are split between tubes and ss...the same old story. Nothing wrong with that. It comes down to your inner self this time. The consensus is that you cannot go wrong with a CJ amp and your speakers.

For what's it worth, the one thing that I noticed about the MF 2250A vs. MV 60 was the noise level. The 2250A is dead quite, more so than the MV 60. If you can get this with the Premiers, then you will have a difficut choice. The MF is simply silent and pure.

I love this forum.... 3 votes for solid state, 3 votes for tubes! Nothing is straightforward in this hobby, that's for sure. I think I am going to get a 2250 or 2500 and see how it sounds, and do a comparison with a pair of Quad II forty monos driving the maggies; (I use these in my main set up driving Quad 988's). That should give me an idea how the tubes compare to the s/state and take it from there.
Thanks for all the opinions; I have a clearer idea of what I want to do as a result of your input.
Cheers,
Peter

I am using a pair of MF 2500's with a PV-9 pre-amp to drive a pair of ML sl3's. The CJ amps replaced a pair of ARC D-130s. To my ears the CJ is warmer and more musical than the ARC's. I am very happy with the results, but if and when I change again (I'm sure I will, I always do), it will be to CJ tubes.