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Tubes for Magnepan’s.

I think next up on my acquisition list is a tube amplifier. I'm not looking for the be all end all, cause I don’t think there is a definitive "Best", so am looking for as good as I can get for $3-4k.


Because tubes drive speakers so much more efficiently than solid state I am only looking for 40-50 watts to drive my modded Maggie’s, 1.7i's. (Or what you have when you add a new crossover and planer tweeters to 1.7i's.) Maybe 2.7x? I haven’t settled on that yet. And I have some Zu Dirty Weekend's upgraded to the max coming in in 2 months to replace my KEF's.

Anyway, I haven’t had a tube device since my Halicrafter short wave radio, and reviews are not the same as advice from people that own something. There is a Rouge Audio dealer in my area, last I looked, (opps, they no longer carry them), so I may have to go to another market to hear something, or get a try before you buy from a manufacturer or dealer.

You folks have taught me a lot, and I think asking users is the right thing to do on this change in direction.

Thanks in advance.
128x128william53b
william53b's avatar
william53b OP
211 posts
 
The one thing that is already done is changing the speakers over to bi-amp connections, so I can indeed drive the woofers with a ss amp and the mid-hi's with a tube amp. Experimenting with adding depth to the baffles today to improve bass. I think this has been disguised as frame bracing by other moders. It is after all, and open baffle design.
kellyp's avatar
kellyp
104 posts
 
Magnepans are not good enough to tell the difference, although you might get some pleasure out of it. I have a pair.  Rethink efficiency of driving speakers because tubes are generally less efficient, unless you are directly driving electrostatics, plasmas or such.  Compare similar classes, ie A to A or AB to AB.  Now that you mention crossovers. you would get much more out of an electronic crossovers and individual power amps.  That would be a step forward, whereas changing  direction gets expensive.


dken325's avatar
dken325
1 posts
 
Tube Amps; I have Two Dynaco 60 watts tube Amps push/pull KT88 outputs tubes. what is the value of these Amps ? can anyone tell me.thank you
ocean2059
20 posts
 
OP: I have been using the Doge 9 mono block with Doge 8 pre to drive my Magnepan 1,7s for the past five years in my living room system. I am pretty happy with the setup and could certainly recommend it. Doge 9 uses a pair of 211 with a pair of EL34 and four 12AT7 tubes in push-pull configuration producing 70 W in class A and 130 W class A/B. I listen to classical, vocal and some jazz and I felt that the power that Doge 9 provided is pretty sufficient to drive the 1.7s to a very satisfying level.  

Doge is a small Chinese company but they do factory direct order to US. My Doge 9s were shipped to my home in US within a week as I remember. Their tech service was sufficient and I've had email exchanges with their chief engineer and he always asked his email promptly, althrough with limited English language skills.
decathlon1991
220 posts
 
@wester17

I agree with you completely. Folks like you and I who have had a lot of success utilizing high quality tube amps with high current on Magnepan speakers have enjoyed the fruits of the incredible sound it produces. What’s funny is that if you call Magnepan and ask them what they test their speakers on is a local manufacturing tube amplifier company called Atma-Sphere. Here’s the thing. You have a lot of folks that will chime in about Magnepan speakers and tube amplifiers. Some are very bias to SS and that’s ok and most of them have never took the time or truly experienced the combination of tube amplifiers and Magnepan speakers so they wouldn’t understand and that’s okay as well. When you get a chance William53b, ask for Wendell Diller at Magnepan. He knows more about the speakers than anyone else. He will gladly discuss his experience and give you his advice. He’s a good dude. Here are the specs of some of the current models regarding speaker range.

https://scottwalkeraudio.com/brands/magnepan/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8OXDsbGD8QIVsR-tBh3CagD_EAAYASAAEgIy-vD_BwE

To get below 30hz, you will need to step up to the 20.7 speakers FYI. Look into a musical subwoofer to possibly handle your low frequencies. Wendell can advise as well. 
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