Magnepans love power...
Back when I had 1.6QRs, I hooked up a "50" (more like 25-30!) watt EL34 Yaqin MC-10T amplifier. It sounded pretty good - provided you didn't listen at loud levels or any music with deep bass.
Perhaps a Ming Da MD75 would work...
but as someone already said, look in the used market first - VTL, Conrad Johnson, even Audio Research come along under $1k once in awhile.
Other option: get a good SS amp and run a tube preamp with it?
Back when I had 1.6QRs, I hooked up a "50" (more like 25-30!) watt EL34 Yaqin MC-10T amplifier. It sounded pretty good - provided you didn't listen at loud levels or any music with deep bass.
Perhaps a Ming Da MD75 would work...
but as someone already said, look in the used market first - VTL, Conrad Johnson, even Audio Research come along under $1k once in awhile.
Other option: get a good SS amp and run a tube preamp with it?