Tube-amp for Magnepan?


Hi.I have currently tested Audio Research VT60 with my old Maggies (MG2A),
It seems that the 50w is too weak in power.I experienced a lot of distortion already at "10 oclock"-position on the preamp.(could there be something wrong with the tubes?) At low volumes it sounded fantastic!
The 4ohm connection was a lot worse than 8ohm.The Maggies are 6 ohms...
A friend suggested either a VT100 from AR or maybye Mcintosh 275.The latter is more in my budget..I currenty run a Papworth MIA200 ,200W solid state-quite good but a bit boring.I really want to test out tubes!Have anyone any recomandations?
efuglset

Showing 1 response by amandarae

I have tried Cary V12, Music Reference RM200, two Conrad Johnson Premier 11, and ARC VT100 to name a few during my maggie days. It works fine but bass is not its strong suit. Well, in maggie land, 50 hz is called "deep bass" anyway so it might work for you.

To me, there is no comparison using SS amps on maggies! I had good luck with Odyssey monos, Threshold S-500 x2, and even PWM amp like the ICE H2O. Also tried Levinson and sounds great, although I only had brief expereience with the ML's.

I guess you can try OTL and see how it sounds. The only downside, to me, is when it's time to replace tubes (there's plenty of them on it!). I always wonder how long the tubes will last on OTL amps driving planars or electrostatics.... not that I want to see for myself, just curious.