The Gear to drive Mini Maggies

Jim, welcome to Audiogon :-)

Aside from the issues the others have (correctly) raised, I'm not certain that the Mini Maggies would give you what you are looking for. You mention your PC desk, which is the kind of application they appear to be intended for, but you also mention "MOSTLY near field listening," and that the room is medium to large size. I'm doubtful that the Mini Maggies would be good choices for those occasions when you want to listen from positions away from the desk.

I note this statement at the Magnepan site:

We are frequently asked if the Mini Maggie System can be used in lieu of one of our larger models. Yes, but we err on the side of caution. There is a good reason why line-source drivers are big. We suggest that you view the Mini Maggie System as a solution to a installation dilemma---especially well-suited for near-field listening in a VERY small room when used with two DWM Bass Panels.

I also suspect that, like the power amplifiers, the Descent subwoofer would not be a good match for the Mini Maggies, given its three drivers, three 250 watt amplifiers, and 105 pound weight.

Regarding the power amplifiers, I note that Magnepan offers the speakers in combination with a Wadia 151 DAC/amplifier, and states that:

Mark Winey, the president of Magnepan, has the Wadia 151 on his desk, driving the Mini Maggie System. We'll play it for you if you visit Magnepan.

Although you already have a DAC, my point in mentioning this is that the 151 is rated at just 50 watts, for the 4 ohm impedance of the Mini Maggies (and 25 watts into 8 ohms).

Is to big of an amp bad for speakers or in this case would it just be a waste?

To use most of the power capability of the amplifiers without overloading the electrical wiring and/or tripping circuit breakers, you would probably need a separate 20 amp line and breaker for each amplifier. Although, of course, you would not want to use most of their power capability, or both the speakers and your ears would stand a good chance of being damaged.

If you were to ever make the mistake of turning the components on or off in the improper sequence (the proper sequence being power amps on last and off first), and if the preamp or DAC were to generate a significant transient (i.e., "pop") when turning on or off, as some of them do, that might cause the full power capability of the amplifier to be momentarily applied to the speakers, with destructive results.

That might also occur in the event of an AC power dropout. Most likely the amps would continue to be able to amplify for some seconds after power drops out, utilizing internally stored energy, and a turnoff transient generated by the preamp or DAC during those seconds could very conceivably be amplified to 1000+ watts.

Also, a lot of amps don't sound their best when only a tiny fraction of their power capability is being used. Also, using a very high powered amp may result in your having to use the volume control of the preamp undesirably close to the bottom of its range, which can have a number of different adverse sonic effects.

And of course there are issues of size, weight, heat generation, and cost.

My suggestion is that you reconsider the speaker selection based on the range of listening positions you anticipate, and finalize or narrow down the choice of speakers first. Then address power amplification that would be an appropriate match, perhaps initially by researching the amplifiers others have used with the same speakers. And consider deferring purchase of a subwoofer until after you have purchased and had a chance to familiarize yourself with the performance of the rest of the system in your particular listening environment.

Regards,
-- Al

08-24-13: Schubert
You can run them with 100 watt SS or 50 watt tube, but they will not do all they can do with less than 500 watts a side at 4 omhs,stable to 2 ohms. Proved many a time, to many people. An EE Professor cum audiophile at U of Wisconsin proved it to me.

Schubert, was that with the Mini's, or with the larger models?

Regards,
-- Al

Lowrider makes a good point, essentially that the amplifier has to be in its comfort zone when providing enough current to drive 4 ohms. My impression, though, is that among 4 ohm speakers the Maggies represent relatively benign loads, as the "phase angle" of their impedance, which is a measure of how purely resistive the impedance is, is relatively benign. Non-resistive phase angles, especially if they are capacitive (as opposed to inductive), increase the current requirements that are imposed on the amplifier.

Also, in contrast to the Maggies the impedances of many other speakers that are rated at 4 ohms will drop to significantly less than 4 ohms at some frequencies.

I had noticed that the 28BSST2 achieves its high power capability in part by having "bridged" outputs. More often than not bridged amplifiers are not suitable for use with speakers having 4 ohm or other low impedances, because of the current limitations they usually have. I didn't mention that fact in my earlier post, though, because in this case the 28BSST2's rated 8 ohm power capability is so vast that the fact that it is bridged seems unlikely to matter under any reasonable circumstances. Not that I'm recommending that amplifier for use with the Mini's, though, as my preceding post should make clear. :-)

Jim, concerning your question about tube vs. solid state, very few tube amps can provide both 500 watts and good sound quality. And those that can are likely to cost a small (or perhaps not so small) fortune. Again, though, I'm not suggesting that you need such high power.

Regards,
-- Al