I have Maggie 1.7i's. They sound superb driven by my Gryphon Diablo 120 and by my Bryston 4B3 using my dac's volume control. Bryston amps have always been considered to be a great match with Maggies. I currently have my Bryston for sale, but I could live with either amp with my Maggies. I am also using a pair of REL subs with the 1.7's.
Amp Section for New Pair of Magenpan 3.7i
Not long ago I purchased a new pair of Magenpan 3.7i
speakers after listening to them driven by Classe preamp and amp. My uncomfortable truth is the Magenpan speakers
never sounded half as good at home as they did at the dealer which I attribute
to my aged but working 40 year old Yamaha M-2 power amp.
My only source of music is a (lossless files) USB hard drive by way of my Oppo 105D optical drive. I foresee no more tuners, tape drive or vinyl in my future and after my experience with RTA and equalizers I would say I am a straight wire with gain type of person. With my bad knees at least a minimal remote control for off/on & volume control is essential. Stereo music is the critical priority so 5 channel and 7 channel home theater amps are not something I would be interested in. The total budget is less than $10,000. Given the dealers willingness to make deals on demos that would mean perhaps under $15,000 retail price.
One huge reservation I have is that in my experience the Classe amps do double duty as very effective space heaters which is not desired in my modest 15’ by 24’ listening room.
The same dealer also sells AR and PrimaLuna. I assume PrimaLuna is not the same quality as AR and Classe?
Right now using the Oppo 105d I select music from my USB hard drive that I can view on my TV. Is there a more elegant solution I should consider?
Thank you in advance.
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- 16 posts total
Timothy - I would recommend Sanders Magtech, especially given your comment about power/heat. I have Magnepans, and have used them with several different amps. I think you may find high current amps really help your speakers sound their best. I have an Oppo 205 > preamp > Magtech > Magnepan 1.7i setup. I previously used Pass Labs Aleph, and Mivera class-D amps with those Maggies. |
One can argue that women's breasts are non-essential for human reproduction when the bottle option is available; or that the T-Rex's vestigial arms served no use. In the same way modern power amps need no meters or LEDs on the front. But I have spend some memorable hours of my life relating to both woman's breasts and the light displays on power amps. I've no intimate stories to tell about T-Rex's arms but two out of three ain't bad. I own both Blue Man CD's and DVDs. How important are the visuals, the need to watch the show? In my heart I wish my Magtech a little more goin' on in the front. Otherwise I like it so far. |
I watch a YouTube blogger who Is a long time Maggie fan. He speaks highly for the Hegel as a good match for Maggie’s. in another video, he highly suggest Hegel h190 thinking it is the sweet spot considering the price to value ratio. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw_WSyI1LDI&feature=share |
- 16 posts total