Maggie 3.6 amplification concern


I realize there has been several threads about amps for 3.6's but most everyone insists that you need high power solid state. I am curious if anyone has tried less power? I am thinking of using 120 watt tubed mono's and others feel that you need 500 watts minimum to make them come to life. I would really prefer to stick with tubes, and I don't paricularlly care for some of the high wattage solid state amps that are out there. I just can't imagine that the BAT vk-60 mono's won't drive them well, I could be wrong though. Would it be better to get a slightly less quality amp with more power(i.e. bryston 14b-sst)? Any thoughts would be great, but please only if you have experience with more then just the amp you own. Thanks in advance for any help.
tireguy

Showing 1 response by douglas_schroeder

I gave up my Maggie 1.6's for something better, Eminent Technology LFT-8A's. No comparison in overall quality of sound. They actually made the Maggies seem lifeless. Within five minutes of hearing the Eminents, I knew the Maggies were gone. No regrets,ever.
Both speakers, however benefitted greatly from virtical biamping.
At one point I had a Threshold T-50 (50 watts class A) on the Maggies. Thought that sounded beautiful. I read posts that insisted that power is what they need. So, I had an Outlaw multichannel amp (200wpc) I was using for surround. Tried biamping with it. Woa! Amazing improvement from a decidedly mid-fi amp. You dont' need to break the bank to get great sound. I'm sure, however, that you would realize even nicer improvements in a higher end biamping setup.

Currently, I'm running 'stacked' (twin pairs) of Eminents as main speaker. About 1,400 watts total going into all four. Twin Vandersteen subs for bass. Trust me, the power does make a world of difference. Let's say this; a Chevy and a Lexus both do 60mp. But the experience dirving them is quite different. Similarly, a 50 watt amp and a 200watt biamp will both give you nice sound, but your experience hearing them will be quite different. I believe that once you hear it, you won't want to go back.