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What amp/amps to drive magnepan 20.1's

Just purchased a six month old set of M20.1's from a dear friend who left oversea's for an open ended work asignment.He had been powering them with a pair of VTL 450 mono's who he had promised to his brother. Question; I have a pair of bryston 7bsst's that i have been hoarding away in anticipation of the comming of my inherritance, and now i feel i can further my debt to income ratio by buying something else.
1.should i buy another pair of brystons and passive biamp ? active biamp with 10b bryston x-over ?
2.Sell the mono's that i have and get some used pass x600's or big mcintosh 1201's ?
3.keep the bryston mono's and put some big tube's on top end with brystons on low freq. with active x-over ?
I have about 8k. until i'm sonic'ly rich but cash poor Please help me before my senses kick in !!!
bluebeehive
rwd
695 posts
 
Has anyone tried the 20.1's with ASL Hurricanes which are rated at 200 wpc all KT 88 tube amps? I am curious??

Rick
zimpwh
8 posts
 
I'm in the process of biamping my MG 20's with 4 VAC 220 Monoblocks and a tubed Marchand XO. I'll let you know how this works out in mid-Jan after my 2nd pair of 220's return from a factory update. Goodluck!
bluebeehive OP
1 posts
 
Zimpwh, That sounds like a great plan, I,m slightly intimidated about active biamping with solid state and tube combos. I hav'nt got the 20.1's up and going yet(20 amp outlets to be installed next week) Will try with the 7bsst's alone first and then decide what route to take. What about SS and tubes in a biamp config., don't hear comments for or against such combo's I would like to try a pair of Wolcott 220 presence mono's on the mid+highs, i might wait and save a few more bucks and buy those and active marchand X-over, I like the auto biasing feature the wolcotts have and sounds like less tinkering for someone new to tubes such as myself. Thanks for responces let's keep the 20.1 success in powering the beasts thread going.
zimpwh
8 posts
 
I've seen a number of threads posted on the MUG forum about biamping with ss/tube combo's, but I am afraid to mismatch the amps. I even sent the second pair of 220's back to VAC to have them matched to the specs of my first pair. Several biampers informed me that the more I used the gain controls on the XO to match the amps, the worst the output...I really don't know how true this is, but I thought it easier and safer to stick with similar amps. What XO do you plan to use and what crossover freqs/slopes?
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