Magnum Dynalab 308 drive Magnepan 1.7 or 3.6?

Ctunney,
If your amp is 80 watts@8ohms and 160 watts@4 ohms, that is a good indication of a powerful and well designed amplifier since it doubles its power as the resistance is halved. I think 160 watts will drive the 1.7s but, on this forum, it seems the majority believe the more power the better with maggies. I took the advice and drive an older pair of 2.7s with probably an excess of power-400 watts@4ohms. Another important amp feature is how low of an impedance it can handle since most magnepans do dip below 4 ohms at some frequencies. The above is basically a summary of what I learned by reading the forums here on Agon. If you'd like to read them for yourself do a forum search: "amp for maggies" or "magnepan 1.7". Lots of good info. Good luck and enjoy!

Generally Maggies are an easy load. Moderate phase angles and no huge dips.
see link to measurements.

http://www.stereophile.com/content/magnepan-magneplanar-mg36r-loudspeaker-measurements

Now, the real questions to me are 1. how loud do you play your system?
2. how large a space? 3 Do you have the space to devote to panels? You will need a minimum of 3 feet behind the speaker to the 'front' wall.
Also, do you have a sub? If yes, will you run the panels full-range or allow the sub to handle below crossover?

Great. Thanks for the replies so far--makes me feel confident that my amp will drive the 1.7s. (I read so much on here about how much the maggies require, and I am new to this, so just don't know...)

Magfan--1. I usually play at moderate volumes and a littler louder, too. 2. My space is large. It is a living room/dining room combination space that is 15x40. Having a minimum of 3 feet behind the speaker might be tough the way our room is set up. And no I don't have a sub--wasn't thinking of getting one. Just now, anyway...

I have also heard that you can sometimes get away with turning the maggies sideways, which would work better with our furniture...

The Maggies do need space behind the to work properly. I have tried everything from 2 to 5 feet from the back wall. I have settled on 4 feet.

One very cool but not anticipated benefit of the 1.7s is that I am listening much more at lower levels due to the 1.7s incredible detail. This keeps my amp in Class A mode (under 10 watts). This also provides more opportunities to listen without disturbing the family.

My 1.7s get VERY loud with my BADA 190 watt amp.

Another couple considerations for Ctunney::
Except for the 20.1 which is push / pull, Maggies are not the same front and back.
I personally prefer 'backwards' and listen to the pole piece side NOT the mylar side. Magnepan made the switch some years ago, probably because people liked the hotter (IMO) presentation. My 1.6s came with a resistor to lower the HF level, if I preferred.
Also, you can place them tweeters 'in' or 'out'.
So, If you get panels, you'll have some experimentation to do.
I'm not a fan of the sideways setup. Others apparently are. My speakers are about 65" apart, inside edge to inside edge and are toed in about 11 degrees.
Once I did the detail setup, I measured so I could put them back exactly.

Try to make compromises so you CAN get at least 3' behind the speaker. This is one of the things that everyone agrees on. Toe in is the other. NEVER straight to a wall.