What does more power do for Magnepans?

I've been playing around with different amps for the last eight years on my Maggie 1.6's. Reluctantly, I've moved into the more power camp during that period.

I started with Classe CA150 power amp (300wpc into 4 ohms). I was happy for a long time. Then I was modding an old Dynaco Stereo 70 that I had built new in high school (using the Welborne/Alan Kimmel driver stage). On a lark, I tried it on the Maggies, and I was BLOWN AWAY by how much better they sounded with this little 25wpc amp.

I couldn't believe how much more "real" vocalists sounded, in particular. And chamber music was to die for. I sold my Classe in a heartbeat. But then I discovered that all my listening was gravitating to small-scale stuff, because that's what my system did best. And I LIKE symphonies... but not with the Dynaco. So I have some sympathy for Mrtennis' position.

I added a subwoofer, and inserted a high-pass filter, so the poor little Dynaco wouldn't have to do any bass below 80Hz. That was a Great sound, and even OK on larger scale music.

But I wanted more... (don't we all?)

I decided to mod my crossovers, and added Mye stands, both of which were huge improvements. Then I decided to try bi-amping, with one tube amp on the bass panels (60wpc) and the Dynaco on the treble panels. This was also really nice, and kept me for a couple of years.

Then I had a power surge (lightning strike) and toasted both amps. While I was getting them fixed, I put in an Innersound ESL amp, which delivers 600wpc into 4 ohms. NOW WE'RE TALKING when it comes to large-scale music. Symphonies were back, and in high rotation for months. Love that detail and resolution, no lack of foundation. I didn't bother with the subwoofer.

Now I'm back to bi-amping, but with the Innersound on the bass panels and a modded Citation II on the treble/mid panels. I'm really happy with this combination, both finesse and power. I don't need a subwoofer, and I've got excellent integration across the frequency spectrum for all the kinds of music I listen to.

This is not a discussion of tubes vs. solid state, but I do think you should try more power (of high quality) and see what you think. I love what the Maggie bass panels do with lots of power. I love what the treble/mids do with high-quality "first 2 watts" This is a combo that works for me. YMMV.

HTH!

Jim S wrote:
I made the change to a vertical biamp yesterday. It made a tremendous difference in presentation. Don’t know what to make of it yet.

--
Your results mirror mine. Vertical bi-amping rules! Or at least it's really different, and maybe better... Jury is still out.

I've been playing around with vertical bi-amping my Maggie 1.6's for the last month as well. Previously, I was horizontally bi-amping with an Innersound ESL-II at 600wpc into 4 ohms powering the bass panels and a McShane-modded 70wpc HK Citation II on the treble panels. I had carefully level-adjusted the two amps, using a RTA analyzer with a calibrated microphone, using a sweep generator to make sure the sound output was even across the frequency spectrum in my listening room, measured from my listening chair.

Even though I use an electronic crossover, I was concerned that I might be hearing phase anomalies with the mix of the two different amps. So I built a new modded Citation to match the first one. These tube amps have HUGE power transformers that will pass a clean 70kHz signal, very high quality! They seem to have enough power to do a credible job with the Maggies, especially since the amp outputs are connected directly to the drivers, with no inductors or capacitors in the signal path to soak up power.

Of course, 70 watts on each bass panel driver isn't all that compelling with Maggies, so I've also recently inserted a high-pass filter on the bass amps to cut off frequencies below 80Hz, which are handled by a pair of subwoofers. The amps seem to be quite happy with this load.

Gains: much more coherent image, but a somewhat thinner sound overall. Acoustic recordings and female vocalists are clearly more accurately reproduced. Piano is especially much more realistic.

Losses: I miss the iron grip that the Innersound had on the bass panels. I never used to feel the need for a subwoofer, but now it's mandatory, and the bass overall is a bit wooly, especially things like timpani.

Overall, I think vertical bi-amping with matched stereo amps has real potential with these speakers. However, if you want to do it with tubes, you face certain compromises in terms of full dynamics, or you need to spend megabucks for high-output tube amps. It seems silly to spend huge amounts for VTL-750's or whatever, but I think the resulting sound would be worth it! I haven't yet found a sand amp I like nearly as well on the mid/highs, but that certainly is next on my list to explore.

I'd be interested to hear your impressions after extended listening with your setup.