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Maggies with Tubes?

Hey Guys,
For the last few years I have been enjoying a pair of 1975 KHorns as my main speakers but just sold them a couple of days ago.
Still have a pair of 1979 Cornwalls that I am currently driving with a Audio Space Galaxy 300 (300B in push pull, 21 wpc).
I stopped into a local shop and listened to a pair of 1.7s driven by a, I think Mac 252... and they sounded fantastic!

If I was to add a pair of 1.6s or even better a pair of 1.7s, would my Galaxy be able to drive the Maggies?

Keep in mind, I would not be expecting the output that I am use to with either of my Klipsch speakers, but I am hopeful that the Galaxy could drive both the Corns and Maggies.

Or, should I be looking at another amp (perhaps a KT88) that would be better suited to drive either of the 2 speaker systems?

Thanks in advance.
hpower
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,235 posts
 
Hpower,
If the Audio Space 300 has a well built and stiff power supply along with premium transformers your chance for sucess with these speakers are pretty good. As others have stated above, those factors matter greatly, and mean much more than just relying on the watts power rating alone.
hifihvn
943 posts
 
Has anyone here actually drove a pair with a high quality 20-25 watt tube amp and was happy? The OP probably would like to know.
hpower OP
21 posts
 
Hey Guys,

Thanks for all the great responses so far, I am starting to learn a little about these flat speakers.

Just to clarify, my Galaxy 300 has 4: 300Bs, 2 per channel operating in PP vs. SET.
I agree, the best way to know for sure is to try said speaker, with said amp... but looking a little more into my situation it looks like it would be stretch for the 21 wpc to the 1.6 or 1.7 justice.
Hence, I decided to list my Galaxy 300 and hopefully I do not take too much of a beating on it as it is only a little over 3 months old.

On any of my Klipsch speakers, I have not been overly happy with any SS amp that I have tried. It sounds like "most" Maggie owners would recommend a higher powered SS, maybe I would be asking too much to find 1 amp that can satisfy the traits of these 2 completely different speaker systems?

Mind you, that difference is what has attracted me to the idea of having the 2 diverse flavors to be able to sample.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,615 posts
 
We have several customers that use our M-60s on Maggies, 1.6s and 1.7s.

Since the M-60 is a small OTL, it does not handle 4 ohms well so they use a set of ZEROs and seem quite happy with the results (about 80 watts with this setup). Other than the impedance, the speaker is easy to drive, that is to say it has a moderate efficiency and almost no phase angle at all.

Traditionally in this neck of the woods, Maggies and tubes have been used together quite often- Audio Research is on the other side of town so the two have been used together for decades.
manoterror
216 posts
 
You could always try a Grant Fidelity Tube Buffer to add some tube warmth to your ss amps. I use one and I love the combination. I also use class D with tube preamp and it sounds lovely. Inexpensive way to see how they sound. :-)

Mot
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