Ordered my new amp today... been a long road!

30 gauge wire is very thin. 

Same first thought

Captain, wire gauge is inversely proportional to wire diameter. 30 gauge is very thin. 10 gauge is the thick stuff.....

Enjoy the new amp. I hope it provides the performance you seek.

as above. the lower the number the heavier the gauge. example - 10 gauge is a heavier gauge than 16 gauge. congrats on the new amp. 

30 gauge looks like this.  Ummm, slightly less than ideal ;-)

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31qMK8N9XiL.jpg

"my Martin loans sh#t the bed every year for about three years so I bought a pair of 10Ts". Anyone???

@captbeaver I saw a prior thread of yours indicating you're using a 30A circuit for this setup???

Congratulations, you are going to love your new amp.  There is a reason the A21 has been around for (guessing) about 15 years and now out is the A21+ which is basically the same amp with refinements and more power. There is a beauty to have an amp with a good amount of refinement and knowing you have the power for whatever comes.

  

30ga... was sarcasm ... lol 

I have great 10 ga custom power cords. :)

yes 30 amp

Acresverde:

I had nothing but problems with the ML’s. 

Bad Panel... NOT cheap
both bass drivers... at different times. ML didnt even charge me for the Bass drivers... been a weak link with them. I even sent my McIntosh amp in to get checked and was clean! Frustrating and costly.

I decided to get pistons again and be done with it... the 10T’s are solid inside and out.... the damn stands weigh more than the ML’s!

I want to listen to music and enjoy, not listen for defects. 

Martin Logan’s... not loans. Dang phone

Aerial 10Ts? 

I just got my A21+ and P6 combo and is the best amp I ever owned 
the bass clarity  and details on this amp is way better than my McIntosh 601 and C52 
now I’m using this combo with my klipsch RF7II without subs but I’m getting more bass than with subs 
PM me for more info 

I have a halo a31 and im using a kimber pk10 palladian but the pk10 ascent works great also.

Yes aerial 10t’s

Nice speakers BTW.  I hope that your new amp gives you the sound that you are looking for.

Happy Listening.

Thanks... Loved the logans when they worked... the Vista's were trouble. I have owned ADS most of my life and a good friend and rep in the business had a friend with a pair of 10t's he was selling... I didn't pay that much attention until I found out Micheal Kelly's history. I got the Logans up to spec and sold them pretty cheap. Bought the AA's with stands without hearing them... 4 hr drive... from my friend. I used them with the MC7100 but no balls to runs the 10T's. Sold it and bought the A21+. I have a simple C-41 Mac pre and great simple cables... 

It shipped yesterday so by the 30th I think it's go time.

I want more than ever to be done... I keep good systems... Still using my 1976 Boogie MK1 I bought from Randell Smith. 

I have a small room dedicated to music and painting... time to buy some Hendricks Gin... :)

I'll report back when she gets here and I trick my friend next door into getting her upstairs. lol

Congrats Captain......I said the same thing many, many components ago.

I’m 63 now.... lol

I dont think I can top these with my budget... started with  Crown IC 150 ...Crown DC 300... JBL L-100’s when in the AF 1977.

I have a stick up my @ss when it comes to streaming... cost’s are high and continuous bill per month and you dont own anything...

never say never...lol

Great choice!  I use Parasound amplification with my 10T's and they are a great match.  Let us know your thoughts when you get the new system up and running.

Hi Cap
I had to respond to your post because I've had the same quest.
I have a mc250 to drive my Maggie 1.7i's and thought more power would be the answer. So I purchased the parasound p5 and a A21+. What a disappointing result. The p5 is a very good preamp with all kinds off versatility but the A21 had little or no soundstage and muddled up the highs. The lower range was all there but no musicality.  Very disappointed.  The little mc250 with 1/10 the power did better with the p5. I hope you kept your mac and your receipt.  Sorry for the bad news.

Cap, if audiomaze is unfortunately correct I have an inexpensive amp alternative. I have Aerial Acoustics 8b’s, which are power hungry like the 10t. If the Parasound doesn’t work out suggest you look for an old Proceed HPA 2, 500w/ch at 4 ohms, basically a Mark Levinson amp from when Madrigal owned both Proceed and Levinson. You can find the HPA 2 for around $1,500 on Audiogon. It has the grunt to drive your new speakers and its sound is neutral.  I’ve been happy with mine for over 15 years. Hope you don’t need it. 

Happy listening. 

audiomaze, on 4-6-19, on another thread you wrote regarding your Maggies ….. "Then another salesperson said it will sing with a McIntosh mc 275 tube amp great imaging a smooth sounding but still something missing. Than I bought a parasound A21+. WOW!!! Paired with a Parasound p5 it was off to the races . Only 5 years to get there but worth it.".....

It appears something pretty big happened to change your mind about the Parasound? I would be curious if you would share.

Hi jetter.
When I first got the A21 it sounded so much more of everything I was just overwhelmed with the sheer weight of the sound . But after a while I noticed the highs were muddled ,lots of sound but no detail. So after weeks of changes ,cables, power conditioning and some major tweaks to my Maggie's with improvements to the mids and bass ,still no soundstage. That's when I dug out the old s.s.  mc250 and did some serious a/b tests.  It's been three weeks and I still haven't used the A21+. I want to be happy with it but can not seem to get it to come alive. Any suggestions would help.  Thanks

@audiomaze - I have read that the Parasound amps take a very long time to burn in (like 400-600 hours sometimes.  Some people say 1200 hours on the JC1)}.  That being said, my own experience with A21 and JC1 amps were the same as yours.  The amps are very refined in the midrange, but in the end, the highs just were not crisp enough.  I even did the Hi-Fi Tuning Supreme silver fuse upgrades (that was an expensive test of nothing).  The A21 has 5 fuses that affect the audio signal path and the JC1 has 7 fuses.  The silver fuses did help but in the end the sound became too unatural (sterile / solid state) from the silver influence.  This is just the sonic signature of Parasound.  I think they fuse the crap out of the amps because the fuses actually slow down current draw and helps voice the amp to be more warm sounding with rolled off highs.  This is exactly the same thing you see in the Marantz equipment, which is also voiced warm.   The 10T speakers that captbeaver has do tend to be very bright on the highs, so the Parasound might actually be an nice fit.

Hi aux, I was hoping to search what amp you are using and came across this you wrote at the end of last year ……"Yup, Parasound is definitely warm. It generally has pretty good high frequency response (depending on speaker), but it will have a little slower attack on the midrange."

This sounds different to what you wrote further above. I am thinking of buying another amp for a third system and it would be a learning experience if you would mention what amps you have used since selling the Parasounds and what you ended with..

I think I will be fine... I actually sent both tweeters to Michael Kelly to have them checked for problems... seemed a bit bright. Reasonable charge and no problems. If the A21+ is warm I'm grateful for that. I have a big system in a small space. The 10 T's need power and warm power is great for me. The little Mac was warm but started to fart out with Tower Of Power and Uberjam... Then Two Against Nature really put the Mac in time out... those little blinky lights are not good... :) I am fortunate to be able to own and listen to great equipment in both my listening and with my band... I play Two Rock amps and own one of four Rodgers Super 18 amps ever built by the legendary Larry Rodgers... I still play my 76 Boogie I bought new.  Most of my effect pedals are custom built... I am truly grateful. It's been almost two years since I have been able to sit and experience music in my small art studio and listening room. I tend to like warm reproduction. Maggie's and Logans are a different animal compared to a set of pistons always ready to move air. I will prob never go down the panel path again. What a nightmare..... I may be the only person that has a ML panel in their garden! 

 
Give me pistons or give me death!
( not really the death part but it sounds good.)

@jetter - sorry, I can't remember writing that and I had so many different fuse combinations in my Parasound equipment that it was possible I was getting confused.  The Parasound is definitely not the fastest amp.  When using stock fuses, I think it has good mid-midrange, but the upper midrange and highs are warmed/softened and rolled off somewhat. 

--
After trying several amps in my system and hearing a crap load of equipment at RMAF, I am actually back to using Emotiva XPR-1 monoblocks for everything.  Except I have basically ripped out all the guts and did a massive rebuild/upgrade on everything internally (HUGE project).  The XPR was always an awsome sounding amp (with Furutech fuses), but I always wondered if I could do better and the Emotiva did have just a little bit of harsh grain to it.  So, right now, I have four modified XPR-1 amps and a modified Emotiva XPA-DR2 amp for surrounds.

Oh, in addition to Parasound JC1s, I tried Bryston 7B3 monobocks.  Those were not actually bad, but way to fast/thin sounding.  They could not keep up with either the JC1 or Emotiva in body and bass.
I tried some Classe M300 monoblocks.  All the sound was there, but to me it just sounded flat.  Completely non-exciting.  No life or emotional engagement.  I'm sure caphill will chime in here and tell me that I'm completely crazy, but that is what I ended up with in my system.  Strangely, when I switch to stock power cords on the Classe amps, it got a little better, but I just was not impressed at all.

Thanks for sharing your journey auxinput, much fun.  My latest venture is having my old Museatex Meitner monoblocs update by John Wright, who use to work for that company and Meitner.  Expecting to receive them at the end of the week or early next week.  They have been in storage for a lot years due to a protection circuit problem that I was too lazy to have fixed.

Less than a week...

Your going to love the A21+.

Capt. with all due respect 30 gauge for a POWER cable is NOT funny. It IS illegal by code and unsafe. I realize you were just having fun, but given some of the initial responses some folks were not aware of that. Also given the strange things people pick up on this site who knows what idiot might actually try it. Finally, it raises an interesting question for the site admin: what happens when people post things that are illegal and unsafe? Good luck with your new amp.

Chill out fire marshall Bill - aka oldguide... people way too serious sometimes 

Capt, I think the answer to your amp issue is to move up the McIntosh chain with a used amp.  

I went through a few amps on the way to MC501s for my 3.6 Maggies.  You will not need that much power, but the Mc sound paired with Maggies can be magic.

I would love that move but I needed a new amp and I mean new with warranty ect. as this my be the last big investment I can make for a good amount of time. At the price I got this amp for I couldn’t buy a 20 year old Mac... lol

The 30ga. power cable was obviously a joke... I can’t afford 30 gauge wire now that I bought this amp... :0 I'll just use a old set of christmas lights I have in the shed. ;)

My short list for power amp include Parasound (P21 or Hint 6) and PS Audio (M700). In your quest, did you audition any PS Audio amps? Not many dealers seem to handle both...

Speakers like the 10Ts need current. Some speakers may be perfectly happy with transformer based amps like most tube models and McIntosh.

I also just bought the A21+. I’ve had it a few weeks and did some minor testing but am waiting for a custom cabinet to be finished and installed (it’s only been a year long wait but we love our cabinet maker - there’s a reason he’s in high demand). Cabinet install is supposed to happen next week while I’m on vacation (stay-cation) so looking forward to getting my whole system up and jamming.  Here’s to hoping we both find something close to nirvana with the A21+. 

Yes they do need current and the 21A+ has that in spades. I really want the headroom and lower volume SQ this will bring.

I have not heard any amps... no place to do that here. After I sold the Mac, it was all down hill till now. My wife Is disabled and for her to go 3-5 hours and then audition amps at a couple stores is painful for her... I have a dear friend in the industry I trust completely and he knows my gear, after all I have bought every piece except the Mac pre from him for 20 years, including the 10t’s he had in his third system. He has had the 21A+ hooked to the 10t’s and suggested this amp considering my budget and my listening habits. He has never led me astray... just the opposite. 

Cheers Feldman.

You need some better wire my friend and also clean all the tips of your wires with DeoxiT..

Spend about $200 on speaker wires.. I like Better Cables on Amazon..
I recently bought a pair of PS Audio M700’s and cleaned every connection ..

Good luck..

I have some good cables...

I made some 10ga cables... I also have a set of Transparent Music Wave

Enjoy, Capt. 

Feldman
Be careful with installing the A22+ in a cabinet. This amp can run very warm. Justly a headsup.

The best amp I have ever heard is currently in my system and was built by Peter N. of Montana speakers. If you check out his website they don't even sale my amp. Custom
built. He hooked it up against the Krell FPB 600 and wasn't even close. Need to be a weight lifter to move it. Built like a tank. Quality at every level. Runs my Was speakers with the help of Jeff Rowland preamp. Great guy to visit with. He even drove my speakers to me from Ca. to Mo.

@captbeaver ,I am sure you will love the A21+. The A21 as such is a phenomenal amp.I see someone mention that the A21 had "little or no soundstage and muddled up the highs ". Looks like something is not right either with that particular piece they own or their system. The same person alternates between A21, A21+ and A22+. So something is fishy there. On another thread this same person mentions " Than I bought a parasound A21+. WOW!!! Paired with a Parasound p5 it was off to the races . Only 5 years to get there but worth it.".I would not consider this person's advise on this amp at all, unless that person cares to explain what's going on with his system.I have been using the Parasound A21 for a number of years and been very happy with it. The A21+ can only be an improvement.

It will be here Tuesday night... how am I going to trick my friend Matt next door to help me get it upstairs? Oh yeah... beer!

My friend Chad is driving it here from Charlotte NC... 

You Should have kept the McIntosh gear.