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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.


timothywright
timothywright OP
55 posts
 

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.


gte357s
281 posts
 
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
timothywright OP
55 posts
 
He does not mention Sanders Magtech, but had I watched this before I purchased my Magtech I would have considered Parasound more than I did.

Thank you.
timothywright OP
55 posts
 
I wanted to share an update. I did purchase a Sanders Magtech. 900 wpc will solve a lot of problems but not all. I seldom take my preamp above 70%.

 

I had an issue with speaker placement. I have my speakers on the long wall about 4’ from the back wall. I sit about 9’ from the speakers and the speakers were 14’ apart. When I moved the speakers much closer together, 9’ apart the imaging clicked together.

 I am still interested in a different preamp to replace my Rotel, I am not sure which one.


secretguy
1,596 posts
 
Yes...14 ft seems like way too far apart.
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