Despriately looking for amp for Maggies 20.1

Classe sounds really nice with Maggies, new CT series has a CT-M600 - Monaural Power Amplifier that should be able to drive those 20.1's nicely.

A friend replaced his Ref 210s with the Mac 1201s. Big difference. Lots of power, added soundstage depth, more detail. the best i have heard any Maggies.

Hotsauce

As a fellow Magneplanar enthusiast, I am glad to hear your Krells are working well.

Just curious re "several HT receivers" but did a dealer recommend that combination?

For other suggestions here.....I have never tried them but suspect Parasound monoblocks would also do the job.

I have MG 20's, and for the longest time was using a pair of Krell 300 MDA monos. Before that I blew up several HT recievers trying to feed these current hungry beasts.

I've used a pair of Fisher 80AZ monoblocks, and am currently using a pair of Dynaco Mk III's.

All of the above get hot to the touch, but I've had no failures running them 8-10 hours at a time.

Thanks

I have heard them with McIntosh 1201's. Really nice and gobs of power!!

Pepe

One big room with everything in it. The Maggies fill it with sound even if I don't have them properly driven

It's a space time dimension (x,y,z, ct). they call it a 4 vector. Bacially 3 dimensions with the last dimension being seed of light x time. At least it is dimensionally correct.

Johnnyb53,

Nice post. Its tough to get any meaningful results by measuring any 20.1 sound parameter at 1m!

Re the AV123 LS3 specifications i don't understand why no disclosure is made of weight and frequency response.

02-27-09: Swampwalker

My room is huge 30x40 with 12 ft walls and 20ft ceilings

WTF???? Its late here on the east coast, but I've never seen a room described w 4 dimensions!!!

I'll take that to mean the roof meets the walls at 12', but the roof peaks at 20'.

The listening room has the internal volume of a 2,000 sq. ft. house with standard 8' ceilings. No wonder it's difficult (impossible?) driving the speakers to fill the listening area.

I heard a pair of 20.1s about a month ago that sounded great. They were using the Ayre 300w monoblocks. They were also augmented by a JL 212 powered subwoofer. And the demo room was nowhere near 30x40.

If you do the math, it's easier to see what you're up against. The 20.1s have a sensitivity of 85 dB at 2.83V, or about 1 watt measured at 1M away. 256 watts would produce 109 dB at 1M, but that's far closer than you would be sitting. Normally you lose 6dB every time you double the distance, but the 20.1 is a line source, so the distance losses should be cut in half and a second speaker (at least with a mono signal) adds 3dB to the volume. Still, 256 watts into the two speakers is only giving you 103 dB at 24 ft; 512w would give you 106 dB. Then there's the matter of the low impedance and the strain that puts on most amps.

Contrast that with the AV123 Focus Line Source LS9: It puts out 90 dB with 1w input at 1M. Being a line source, it only loses 3 dB for every doubling. So a 256 watt amp produces 118 dB at 1M, 115dB at 6ft, 112 dB at 12 ft, 109 dB at 24 feet. WIth two speakers that's 112 dB. It could theoretically hit peaks of 115 dB with a 500 wpc amp. With a 21-driver array and 12 flared ports, it can handle 500 watts easily.

I can understand you wanting to stick with your Maggies, but your listening room size calls for more loudspeakers, more sensitive speakers, or both. At the very least a good powered subwoofer would go a long way toward making it possible for the 20.1s to fill that enormous room.

"My room is huge 30x40 with 12 ft walls and 20fr ceilings"

WTF???? Its late here on the east coast, but I've never seen a room described w 4 dimensions!!!

bryceeboy-I own soundlab m2's and was wondering if you ever mated yours with any of ralph's atmasphere amps?

My room is huge 30x40 with 12 ft walls and 20fr ceilings

Thanks keep those cards and letters coming I am printing all this out. OK what if Roger Sanders dies in 6 months who will service the Amps. I like Roger and he is why I ended up with Maggies. But!!! McIntosh has been there forever I realize I will change my mind over the next several years if I live (I'm 70) SO. I have met someone who is a local semi-genous. He a McIntosh fanatic however I can not realy test his 402's till I get my fuse put back.I will keep everyone informed. AS this plays out.

I own similar speakers and would recommend Sanders ESL monoblocs. They manage the amplification needs of this challenging speaker without breaking into a sweat or blowing fuses! Ps. They sound great and are good value too.

I´m surprised no one has mentioned the more powerful amps from VTL and ARC.

Classe Cam 400s should do the job nicely. A pair on Agon now for 5500.00 from a guy I have bought from in the past, his equipment is always impeccable.

I've owned 1.6's and 3.6's and auditioned 20.1's.Each time Bryston was the amp of choice.I also concur with the amp recommendations provided by others on this thread.

While not a Maggie owner I have owned Soundlabs forever and they are also a challange to drive. To date the best amps I've found are the BAT 600SE mono's. Total control over the Soundlab. Others that were good were Spectron, Theta's and Wolcotts but nothing even came close to the BAT mono's. Good luck!

Maybe give Magnepan a call and get their opinion on what you are trying to accomplish;I always heard their customer service is first class.

Check out Wolcott P280M, wonderful sound quality and user friendly. Will easily drive your Maggies.

I power my MG-20's with a pair of Threshold SA-1's on the bass panels and a pair of Pass Labs XA-100's for the midrange/ribbon tweeters. If it's in your budget try to biamp your 20.1's and the Pass Labs X-.5 series or the XA-.5 really would make them "sing".

A pair of the new Sanders Sound Systems ESL Mono Amps will clamp onto those babies and never let go. Buttloads of power and control.

The EAD powermaster series are a very good match.The 1000 that I am using doesn't show any weakness at any volume(up to about 95db) and the sound quality is exceptional.I'm biamping with 4 of the 5 channels which adds to the overall performance but it does a great job 1 on 1.

One of the larger Rogue tube amps.

I've heard this with those Maggies....very nice!

I don't own 20.1's but have heard them many times. bi-amping or using 4 mono amps is the way to go if you really want them to perform. One of my friends used 4 bryston (I do not remember which model) mono's with the bryston crossover. My preference would be for levinson, pass, Krell or similar highend amps (since the load on the 20.1's drops down to below 4 ohms.) They are great when you have enough power. Of course your needs will depend on the room etc.