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Why do Maggies need a lot of power?

It has been genearally accepted that Maggies (i.e. 1.6s) needs a lot of power. Why?

Mathematically, any 86dB speaker should need only 64W of power to reach optimum listening level (104 dB). Why it's not the case for Maggies? One may say that b/c it has only 4 ohm, but there are tons of low sensibility 4 ohm speakers in the market and they do not seem to have any problems like Maggies. Again, one may say that they need current. I think most of the amp is cappable of 20 Amp and wonder if that 's still not enough? If so how much current are we talking about?

I have seen a few recommendation and review of low power amp to drive maggies (i.e. Cary Rocket amp (40W), or Bel 1001 (50W) and a few more class A amp with range around 50W) sucessfully.

For the one who recommend the high power amp (>200W), how lound do you listen to them? I can't imagine myself sitting next to the speakers that have 200W of power fed into them. It muust be awfully loud to me. On the other hand are we talking about reserve power (head room) that Maggie may need at a cirtain time, not the entire period?

Has anyone really been happy with the low power amp with Maggies, either SS or Tube?

Thanks a lot for the thoughts,

Ake
ake

Showing 1 response by hififile

hififile
236 posts
 
Dear Ake,
here is an assessment from my practical and first hand experiences.

I bought the Audio refinement Complete (50 watts into 8) for my Maggie 1.6's. Good clear sound, but full orchestral works at moderate levels were lacking, and low organ notes definitely pooped out.

I sold that, bought the McIntosh MA-6450 integrated amp (100 watts into 4 ohms). Better sound, better bass.

I sold that & upgraded to the new McIntosh MA-6500, (200 watts into 4). The speakers immediately opened up. Much better bass, great sound on full orchestral works, but most of all superior resolution on low to mid level small acoustical and percussion works.

Quality being the same, Bigger Power Supplies, and more output, seems to be in favor of better sound, especially on Magnepans.
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