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Is it good to drive the magnepan 3.6?

I have 2 classe Twenty-Five power amp, and I just purchased a pair of Magnepan Speakers: model 3.6 and its rate is 4 Ohms speaker. I was wondering, if I "bridged" my power amp to function as "monoblocks" to drive a pair of magnepan 3.6. Will it cause the amplifier to "see" a 2-ohm load? Does that stress the amplifier's current capacity and will the amp be overheated?

Here is the power amp's rated output:
Rated Output :
8 Ohms Stereo: 250 Watts
4 Ohms Stereo: 500 Watts
8 Ohms Mono: 1000 Watts
4 Ohms Mono: 1600 watts

I don't have that much of experience on this audio system, so can any one give me some advice , please e-mail me.
Thank You
vinhd

Showing 5 responses by macdadtexas

macdadtexas
1,794 posts
 
Actually, 500w is about the minimum that I have used that will open up Maggies. As any Maggie owner will tell you, "more is better" as far as power goes. Now, I have not used the Classe's before, but I would suggest using them in a mono configuration and you should be more than fine.

I tried 12 different amps with my 3.6R's before I found my current, and final configuration. Good luck, don't be afraid to try something else if you are not getting what you want.
macdadtexas
1,794 posts
 
1) NAD 218 THX (not enough juice)

2) Parasound 3500 (lots of power, a bit bright)

3) Parasound A21 (v nice, warm, full)

4) Parasound JC1's (sublime, very full rich sound)

5) Innersound ESL 300 (massive power, never runs out, very detailed, great match)

6) Bel Canto Ref 1000's (massive effortless power, very detailed, not warm)

7) McIntosh 501's ( not a match, sounded muddy )

8) Cary Audio 500MB's (tube like sound, HUGE Bass, great match)

9) Bryston 7B's (power, nice, but not my favorite)

10) Pass Labs X 350's (good amp not my favorite)

11) Spectron Musician III ( I bought after I alreay had the Cary to try it out, nice, but to my ear, not as detailed as the Carys)

Sorry, it's only 11, unless I forgot one?? Cary's are my favorites, I also loved the big Parasound JC-1's and the Innersounds. The only amps I had that just didn't match, and it could have been with my other gear, were the McIntosh and PassLabs.
macdadtexas
1,794 posts
 
Ahh, I forgot, because I only had it for a short time, the Musical Fidelity NuVista power amp. So that's the 12th one. I didn't like it with the Maggies. I sold it to a buddy with Linn speakers and it sounded great. I think he still has it, they are hard to find amps.
macdadtexas
1,794 posts
 
I know this was a question about amps for Maggies and how they sound, but I am now afraid that I need to take notes for an upcoming exam. Will we be able to use our notes on the exam, and do we have to show our work??
macdadtexas
1,794 posts
 
Herman, I went to grad school at Rice and we had an honor system for exams, so I am going to ask to bring mine home!

I think this has been my favorite string to watch over the last week, maybe better than the election as far as banter back and forth.
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