Magnepan 1.6 speakers

It is indeed high current . I realized this when i went to upgrade the power cord. It is not a standard cord. The guys at Zu Audio called it a high current "Hubble" cord when i ordered one. I want to say i am very ,very happy with everything in my system. This is why i asked the question on spending the money for a second amp. My main thought is, the first 30 watts are in class A mode with the Cambridge amp. Adding another amp may keep it in class A at medium volumes since the amps wont be required to do as much work.

05-03-11: Maplegrovemusic
The cambridge stays. No need to defend it . I will be using it for many years to come.It is a high current amp. The question is about the advantages of adding a second amp, Regardless of what brand.

it seems that this statement has some merit per my calculations:
From the Cambridge Audio website:
the Azur 840W has a 1200VA xformer & yields 200W into 8 Ohms.
So, I calculate that the secondary voltage of the xformer is 40VAC & that the 1200VA xformer is rated to output a max of 30Amps.
It's a stereo amplifier so, we have 4 secondary outputs implying that each secondary gets 7.5Amps. This 7.5Amp is handled by 2 pairs of push & 2 pair of pull transistors in the output stage.
So, yeah, this amp is reasonably high current & should provide adequate current for the 1.6 speaker.
Of course, more is better as these are rather inefficient speakers (which is par for the course for ribbons/planars/electrostatic speakers). My suggestion would be to buy another exactly same Azur 840W & assign 1 amplifier for the left & one for the right. My suggestion would also be to not mix amplifiers as you cannot guarantee a match in the sonics, the amplifier gains, the amplifier input sensitivities.
FWIW.

The cambridge stays. No need to defend it . I will be using it for many years to come.It is a high current amp. The question is about the advantages of adding a second amp, Regardless of what brand.

I had the best experience with my 1.6's with a Levinson 335. They need a lot of current and high damping factors to control those panels. No offense but the Cambridge is just not up to the challenge...

I expect at 200 watts into 4 0hms that the cambridge is sufficient for jazz and vocals but underpowered for large orchestral music. My suggestions for 1.6 magnepans from less expensive to more expensive are: Luxman R117 receiver ($300 used), Classe CAP 151 integrated ($900 used), innersound esl 300 mark2 ($1200-1500 used), Classe CAM350 monoblocks ($3,600 used..overkill). I'd go with innersound and add a tube preamp (I use a lector zoe) but the luxman R117 is surprisingly good and a no brainer for less than the price of good cables.