Magnepans

I've used multiple amps on Mag 3.7s over the last few years.....

The best amps are the ones I have now, Bryston 28BSST2
runner up, Bryston 7BSST2
after that in order of "best sound"
Pass X350.5
Zesto Eros (I have a semi large room, and even these class A beasts seemed to run out of gas with the 3.7s)
Manley Neos (By far the worst sounding amps I've ever heard.....I cannot BELIEVE any person with average ears would keep these)  also ran out of gas quickly....

I do not believe tubes in general are a good fit for the Magnepans.
I do love a tube pre with them though, I run Convergent SL1 Renaissance w/ Phono

Magnepan has presented at the shows for years w/ Bryston, and I do think they are the top of the mark in terms of synergy.....I have excellent bass control, decent low end, sparkling highs and a meaty musical involving presentation with this combination.......you need a lot of juice with Magnepans to give them the headroom that you'll want.....

I've put some vids on utube, just search Magnepan Convergent

Noble 100,   Actually, they are about 20K new

I'm not giving him the info to say go out and buy a 2KW pair of monoblocks......I am giving him the information to illustrate that in my experience and flea watt tube amp is not a great option.......I have never heard a Class D amp I liked, but others will have differing opinions, but between a top flight class D and a mid flight tube, I'd probably go Class D also......

hasse,

The thing that struck me instantly on the Brystons was low level detail.....it is miles better than the Pass X350 I had.....beyond that, they're both musical, but I'd give the edge to Bryston......with other speakers it could be a different matter, but on the 3.7s, I far prefer the Brystons.  I will say that I feel the 28s are not marginally better in terms of musicality versus the 7s.  If I was doing it again, I would probably stick with the 7s....

In the context of driving 91db efficient speakers, 60w is just fine, in the context of magnepans, whatever their efficiency, it is flea watt in my opinion in an average sized room....

To clarify, I mention my luck with amps in terms of brands only.....I would never recommend this op should buy a pair of 28bsst2s to drive 2.5s, or even 7s for that matter........it would be ludicrous to spend a lot of money on amps to drive 2.5s, when he could take a fraction of those dollars and upgrade to 3.7s or 1.7i etc etc.  No matter what amps he puts on these they will sound veiled as all maggies were in that era, all the way up to 3.6s......if he stays with 2.5s check the used ads and buy the best class d amp you can find......if it's integrated, all the better!  see what specials underwood hifi has going, he had some emerald physics amps not too long ago that looked really good for the money......

Just looked and my last sale email from underwood hifi showed he had emerald physics 100.2 amp for either 599ea @ 100w pc, or two for 999, for 250w in mono, 

That's about 70 percent off or so and they're new......Walter @ Underwood is a great guy......

Nature boy, go read Harry Pearson's review of the 3.7's in Harry's Workshop, absolute sound and jonathan valins follow up article......it's a good explanation of why the .7 variants are such a huge upgrade over past Maggie iterations......quasi ribbons have a LOT to do with it, the .7i's are yet another step beyond......I think you would see a night and day difference, and with amps, probably not.......

Nature boy,

The 2.5r is a very old speaker.....the 1.7 would be quite a bit better, and the I a little better than that......of course the 3.7 or 3.7i would be an even more substantial bump in performance.......it's really a function of room size, the 3.7 is just a larger speaker than a 1.7......

Hasse,

When I say low level detail, I'm referring to minute details such as decay of a piano, or revealing of things you hear in older jazz recordings in a quiet passage such as a chair creaking, or the subtle brush of a cymbal....in those areas I thought the Bryston was better.  The X350 is certainly no slouch in the bass department......

The overall signature of sound for 7s versus 28s is so very similar, that if a person's wattage/headroom/room size needs were served by a pair of 7s, I would stick with it......I had a chance to get a pair of 28s for not a huge amount for upgrade, so I went for it......and while it's true it sounds like there is more headroom, the 7s still sounded similar for half the money.....but the 28s aren't leaving :)

I would not get too caught up in the whole true versus quasi ribbon question.......a quasi ribbon is ANY variation on a true ribbon, which is simply a ribbon in air w/ voltage applied......In the case of the 1.7i's, the quasi ribbon consists of a TRUE RIBBON applied to a mylar film, whereas in the case of the 3.7 and 20.7 loudspeakers, no mylar film......that's it!

Whoever said that the 2.5 sounds better than a 1.7i needs to go hear the 1.7i (and he said he had not)......I have heard both of them (in the case of the 2.5 though, it was a quarter of a century ago!)

The 1.7i's have a wonderful musicality with less bass than the 3.7i's, but in a small to medium space, you'd likely not miss it......we're talking 3x the cost to go to 3.7i's, but there are bargains to be had on 3.7's, in the 3k to 3.5k range........

If I were the original poster, I would absolutely dismiss purchasing a loudspeaker going on 30 years old......The current stable of Maggies are night and day different now in terms of coherency and musicality......it would be much like having a quilt removed from the old speaker.......and quasi ribbon versus true are TRIVIAL matters.....

In my mind the choice would be based on size of listening room and what you could make work aesthetically.......1.7i if space is limited and 3.7 or 3.7i if it's not (you can always upgrade the 3.7 to i status later for 500.00 plus freight......

The 3.7s are wonderful but the 1.7i is cut from the same cloth......

Here is a video of 1.6's, which the 1.7i's obliterate in my opin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRsVxyNiAOY

Here is a video of my setup back when I had the 7 amps:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8KkhdoYLZU

Just after adding 28s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgmHbORQ5Ew


How good are the 3.7s?

Least costly component in my system by a very large margin
and they're not going ANYWHERE.........they are not for sale.....and probably won't be for a very long time........

Yes, no budgets ever shared......but based on him originally looking at a pair of 2.5s and nothing else, I would suppose his original budget was no more than a 2 or 3 hundred.......now.....who knows....noone's talkin....


The thread primarily serves future browsers as a discussion of tube vs ss for magnepan.....