Which Amp for Magnepan MG 3.6/R?

At this price level, your list should also include Parasound new Halo JC-1 mono amps. $6K/pair.

After many trials, I now use Audio Research VT-150 monos(predecessor to the Reference amps) with the 3.6's in a 15'x 26' room and they drive them extremely well with all the "tube magic" I could hope for. The VT150's have tube regulation and a massive power supply capacitor storage, with each mono amp having more energy storage than a stereo VT200. ARC claims that the design of these amps provides a perceived power much greater than its rating and allows large musical transients to be realized with difficult speaker loads. If interested, check out R. Harley's review in the August 1994 Stereophile. Also, there are several factory upgrades and tube choices I could discuss with you if you are interested, just email me. Regards, Dave.

we have found that the autoformers in the mcintosh power amps make a great marriage with maggies. because they are thirsty, the more power the better. i do not have the MG 3.6's yet, but i am driving factory refurbished tympany 1-D's with 2 600 watt mono Mac 2300's. as of yet, nothing else has come close to the perfomance of that configuration.

I would suggest the larger Pass amps, "possibly" the Sunfire Signature ( will GREATLY depend on the solidity and quantity of bass from your source ) and i would keep an eye / ear out for the new Parasound JC-1's that Tim mentioned. My sources tell me that this is going to be a highly sought after amp and is VERY powerful and dynamic at lower impedances. This is exactly what you need to drive Maggies, as anything less will stunt the dynamics and not really allow them to "open up" to their full potential. As such, i would avoid ANY amp that does not work well into a 4 ohm or lower load, regardless of the brand name and reputation. Sean
>

I have had my 3.6R for about 5 months now. I was running them with an EAD Powermaster 2000 which on the books stated that it delivered 700 watts/4ohms. Matched with my EAD Signature it was truly a nice set up for both HT and two channel listening. However I ran across a pair fo VTL 225 deluxe mono blocks that I set up along with ARC tube pre outboard DAC etc. The EAD stuff is great and I have praised it on several occasions and still do, but running the 3.6R with 225 watts of pure Class A Triode power is like nothing I have heard before in my room.

I have to agree with most of the solid state recommendations above, but do not lose sight of tubes even in a HT application not that your set up for that. It has been well known that ARC and Magenepan work very well, but if you read the Jan 03 Stereophile Magazine that interviews Jim Winey he touches on how he worked closely with ARC.

If you have the right room the 3.6R can deliver an incredible performance. I just auditioned the Aerial 20T's and yes they were great and man talk about dynamic!, but I still love the sound of the 3.6R's. Matched with a great set of subs like you listed your there.

Good luck.