Best Cheap Amps for Magneplanar Speakers

I have a set of 1.7s and drive them with a Carver AVR100 in a 20x25 room. I bought it new back in 1989 and recently pulled it out of storage (forgot I had it). Although it certainly isn’t a fully functional receiver by today’s standards, it does have a great amp, at 225x2 at 4 ohms. I think it’s a total myth that Magnepans "need" tons of power to sound good. I’ve never had more than 225w to them and only had 150w before I brought out the Carver. It’s far more important to have clean, constant power than to have tons of it.

Cheap amp and Magnepans shouldn't even be in the same sentence unless you listen at low volumes!  What volume do you listen at?  If you listen above 75db, I highly suggest a very powerful amp.

I used Ghent Audio mono amps with 3.6r and they worked wonderfully...@$1300/pr.

Nobody has mentioned Hafler?  Really?  The question is "cheap amps", right?  The Hafler DH500 is a good sounding, beefy amp and not all that hard to find.   As I write this, there's one on EBay right now, in a "Buy-it-now" for $395.  The description talks about an upgraded power supply, which certainly doesn't hurt.

On the low end, NADs are a good match, and I'll also second the Quicksilvers.

If you go tubes, the Zero Impedance autoformers might prove useful.