Magnepan LRS- what amp should i consider? (sub $2,000)


Howdy!   Help !
I'm not very current on high end equipment these days- I bought my Vandersteen 2CE's about 20 years ago, and haven't been tracking the market since.   

But, since I'm going to "test drive" a pair Magnepan's LRS soon - I need to lasso a more powerful and detailed amp (my Adcom 50 wpc thang is not gonna cut it).  I could go new or used. I listen to a lot of Jazz and G  Dead, and often play things loud.  The room is 11 x 21, and has some useful sound absorbing panels behind the listening "station".

I'd really appreciate any thoughts on a suitable power amp or integrated amp - at a somewhat reasonable price. And- given the rest of my qwipment (noted below) should I invest in some cables & interconnects too?

My (fairly humble, but exciting) system:
Harmon Kardon T60 TT w/a Audio Technica VM 540 ML stylus-  running thru a Nakamichi 610 preamp.  I'm streaming my >8,000 song iTunes library from an Apple TV box into a Cambridge Audio DAC 100. Also have a HSU sub hooked in too. I don't own any fancy cables or interconnects.

Thanks!
philvk16
I don't know about the new amps, but I did like the Crown DC300 and 150's back in the day with big JBL's... For Maggie, you need multiple amps and active crossover for sure!
Currently using a Hegel H360 with my LRS and it makes them sing very nicely.  High damping factor, 250 wpc into 8 ohms and 420 wpc into 4.  Super smooth character and well balanced.  Over your budget used but try and audition one of their less expensive models.  My Rogue Atlas Magnum 3 tube amp and Rogue tube pre sound great also.  Just don't get quite as loud/dynamic.
I have the LRS’s being driven by the Rogue Sphinx ver 3 (tube preamp stage and Hypex Class D amplifier modules with MOSFET output devices. High speed switching the output devices is the secret sauce) in very small room (9’1” x 11’5”). They are set up on the short wall with tweeters on the outside toed in, so that the tweeters are aimed just on the edge of my ears. The speakers are 39” from the front wall and 15” from the side walls. The seating position is the same distance as the speakers are apart forming an equal lateral triangle. In other words it’s set up for near-field listening. Also they are mounted on Sound Anchor LRS stands at the highest mounting position, allowing the top of the speaker to reach an elevation of 57.5” in an almost vertical position. These stands tip the speaker about a 1/4” forward when measured from the top of the speaker to the back wall. Bass is better, the vertical sweet spot opens up, and the sound stage gets bigger vertically. This makes near-field listening not only possible but incredibly good! For room treatment I use ASC’s newest (most absorbent) 16’ tube traps, but not behind the Maggie’s, as they’re too absorbent at 39” from the speaker. They’re placed 1/4” from the inside edge of each LRS with the metal rivets on each tube trap directly facing each other. If the edge of each speaker were a knife it would be dissecting the tube traps in half right between the double rivets. This results in well defined bass, better low level detail, and in the near-field setup most of the reflected sound doesn’t come into play anyway with Maggie’s since their wave dispersion is way more direct than dynamic box speakers, that have a reflection dispersion close to 360 degrees vertically and horizontally. 
I’ve had Maggie 3.6R’s in a larger room with class AB amplification and loved it! And while the high end was more extended in the 3.6R’s and the bass deeper. The speed, driver coherence, transparency and over all balance top to bottom of the LRS’s being driven with the Sphinx ver 3 was preferable. The tube preamp allows for more roundness and body to the music, especially with voices. And with the amplifier’s Class D MOSFET output providing a firm grip with a damping factor >1000, the amp sounds like a tube amp with balls! 
Herb Reichert of Stereophile reviewed the first version of the Sphinx and now the Sphinx ver3. In his review he used the Sphinx to drive Maggie .7’s. Here’s what he said, “The Sphinx V3 made the modest .7 Maggies sound like the best speaker ever. What more could I want?” “The V3 was always more exciting and engaging than its now-classic forebear. I promise, you have my word: The Rogue Sphinx V3 will someday be remembered, like the original NAD 3020 integrated amp, as one of the greatest high-value audio products of all time.”


@skiguy. Thanks for the very detailed rundown on your LRS setup and qwipment. Sounds like you’ve been finessing that room big time!  I appreciate that you’ve shared such a lot of your experience with the Maggie’s- very interesting and helpful!  
I am running a set of Proceed HPA amps on a pair of 1.7i's.  it sounds pretty good even with a single HPA.  I got lucky and have had no problems with these amps (they were known to have some QC issues).