2. speakers
  3. 1355912322

Magico V3 with tubed amplification, will it work ?

Hello There,
I'm planning to upgrade my old Thiel 3.6 speakers.

I was considering Von Schweikert VR5 Anniversary, really liked then, divine soundstage, great transparency. But I have heard Magico Mini on some audio show, I have never heard anything like this, they sounded different then anything else, so involving, truthful, I was captivated literally... For me they bettered all speaker I have heard so far. (I know that they do not have slam of Wilson speakers). But price $20.000 for mini monitors, that is insane.
But, now I have noticed that V3 can be bought for $12.000, which is about as much I could afford. And V3 will have better dynamics and more bass which is all I would need.
I have talked with former Magico dealer and he told me that Magico will not work with 100W tube amplifier (Supratek Burgundy) or Clayton M100 (class A 100W) which I own.
He basically told me that I need strong 300W of solid state power from Spectral, ML, Krell, Ayre to make them sing. With 100W he claimed they will sound dull uninvolving.
I do not want to change amps so I’m in quandary. He was trying to convince me that Wilson Sasha is better choice and they are easy to drive and 100W will do just fine.
I’m not sure if this is genuine advice or just dealer talk, he is selling Wilson Audio now.
How can Sasha be easy load if it drops to 1.8ohm ? I’m not convinced, so I'm looking for second opinion. I heard on numerous occasions WATT/Puppy in shortcut huge soundstage big bass, but was never captivated by music the way I was with Magico. Hence my question:
Have anybody been using V3 with tube amplification ? Can Magico be successfully driven by 100W tube amp ?
sorlowski

Showing 1 response by mapman

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,807 posts
 
I envision Magico to perform similarly off tube amps as Thiel, ie yes it will work and have some nice attributes, but low end may not be as convincing as with good high current SS gear.

I have heard Magico Minis of beefy VAC tube amp sound very nice but in line with my assessment above. Have not heard V3 but dealer seemed to prefer Minis with that system. I suspect largely because V3s go deeper and fuller and tube amp is not the best match.

I've heard V3 at show demos sound very nice with full bottom end similar to YG Anat off of good quality high current SS amplification.
More to discover