Maggie 1.6's and Power. How much is enough?

Your power will be slightly lacking for demanding HT and music listening. tireguy is correct about the center channel. you'll need to do a fair amount of channel level setting to get an acceptable blend up front. There are Maggie centers but the are fairly large and quite power hungry too. I you do decide to upgrade to another power amp, for minimal cash, try to find an Acurus 200X3 for the front. That amp (as well as other Acurus amps) can handle difficult speakers like the Maggies very well. For the money, they CANNOT be beat. And there resale is excellent if you don't like their sound. good luck!!!!:)

Try a McCormack DNA-1 or 2. I agree with the above poster that mentioned Marsh or BAT. You need a musical amp with great current drive. I never heard the Krells with the maggies but would imagine it would have glorious sound as well. Ditch the Marantz idea.

In a small room you will probably have enough power for most of the time. I think the bigger problem is the smaller room. These speakers sound their best when you get at least 10 feet away, 12-15 feet is better, and they like to be far away from the walls as well. My room is 13 x 20 and just big enough for me.
They are excellent speakers and will sound better and better as you improve your system.

All of the is true.Mine are run on an Adcom 200wpc in a 13x19' room w/ 2 open doorways.With the preamp at the 25% level it sounds great-all over the house ! You will need
the Maggie center speaker which is 35" wide. It fits on my
Sony 36BR but the Maggies have to be over 18" away from it.
Major space problems but definitly worth the it for the
sound. MMG's work well for rear spkrs.You'll find out soon
if you need more amp power and seating concerns- sweet spot
etc.Once spoiled, its hard to go back to box speakers.

Hi RSA,
I owned a pair of Maggie IIIa's for years with a BK 202ST, with similar or somewhat higher power rating as your Marantz. I was never that happy with the set up thought the amps could drive the speakers to very loud levels. At some point I borrowed an Adcom 5802 high current jobber (years ago, so I may have the model wrong), and was amazed at the improvement in dynamics and detail...at the levels I listened, I think I was missing 10-20 percent of the music with the lower powered amp. I am not recommending Adcom since I have never owned any of their gear, but am definetly recommending auditioning different amps with the Maggies or at the very least auditioning the speakers with your Marantz before purchase if you are tied to that amp. The MGIIIa's were much better than I thought when paired with a complementary amp.

C.