Magnepan 1.7i Amp recommendations

for maggies you want solid state for sure, 100 wpc or higher

many out there, parasound, van alstine, odyssey, used mccormacks, used krells, etc etc

just browse solid state amps section used

hilde

i think the exceptions are few more 'normal use'  (depends on room and volume level obviously, or have one monster of a tube amp)

even little maggies suck a lot of juice, and furthermore, most maggie users will say the speaker needs good power and grip to come alive

further, maggies roll off at the frequency extremes, esp. bass, same for most tube amps, so reinforcing weaknesses at play here

of course, you have the tube amp already, put it on the low impedance taps try it, can’t hurt to try if you watch the amp carefully so signs of stress ... but i think most maggie users find their way to SS power amps, and put tubes in the earlier in the chain if they want some tube magic

@returntomusic

i am a big hegel fan, their amps simply sound great

i am also quite trusting of the gang at audio excellence in toronto, vilip, young j etc... they are able to extensively test what they are talking about in their shop, do proper a-b comparisons -- i have found their read on equipment VERY much on target

that been said, one should note that older hegels have quite obsolete onboard dac implementation at this point - if one buys a rost, h90, h160 much less even prior gen h100/300 amps, they will need to get a modern outboard dac to have top notch sound

the point of the latest line of hegel units - h95, 120, 190, 390 and so on is specifically to upgrade their dac sections

leaving aside the dacs, the preamp/amp sections of the older hegels ARE totally competitive and are truly excellent

i have chimed in over time on many many maggie threads about suitable amplifiers to drive them well

obviously, you can go upmarket and spend alot of $$ and get great performance, many choices (pass, gryphon, d-agnostino, upper hegels, coda, boulder... the list is long for pricey options) but i think what many are likely to value here are cost effective options (used), which i will list below - i own or have owned each and every one of these

-- odyssey khartago stratos or kismet, with cap upgrade

-- van alstine amps 100 wpc or greater, newer the better, older (synergy series and older) amps can be a little grainy

-- musical fidelity a308 or better... 100 wpc or greater ratings into 8 ohms... newer m6 quite capable but more costly

-- primare i-30 (outstanding value) lovely warm saturated sound, excellent grip and punch

-- kinki ex m1/+ (great value and superb performance in a chi-fi product... built to exceptionally high standard)

-- krell s550i - older model, but sonically excellent, exceptionally stout...

-- audio research 100.2 - lovely, best ss amp they have ever made, uber sweet sounding, very reasonable used now, $2000 or below

-- usher r1.5 -- nelson pass threshold design, improved at the margins/made in taiwan... a little on dark side sonically but very musical, built like the proverbial brick s-house

-- classe amps (old and new) are terrific, very musical with excellent current delivery, older ones ca100/150, model 10, and so on, are superb... recent models have gone into nosebleed territory price wise and are more 'modern sounding'

always check, age, condition etc etc when buying used... older ones deserve a health check by a good tech, maybe replace some power supply caps