Am I underpowering my Magnepan 3.6's?


My maggie 3.6's are being driven with a Levinson 334 amp (125 watts into 8 ohms - 250 into 4 ohms). While listening to the maggies at levels somewhere around 90db - 95db, I have noticed what I think is more than a dynamic compression. It's almost as if the amp is clipping or the speaker is distorting on dynamic peaks.
As an example, while listening to big band, when a trumpet section reaches 'forte' levels, the stage becomes shallow, the air is gone and the toanlity of the horns becomes scratchy, perhaps even a bit distorted.
Anyone got any thoughts? Could the maggies need more power, or do you think I'm just driving them beyond the listening level that the 3.6's are capable of?
In advance, thanks for you time and any input you have.
louisl

Showing 1 response by tok20000

Wharrenh is right. Maggies LOVE power. When I had the 3.6's, my best setup had them being driven by 2 Plinius SA100 mk3 amps in MONO (665 wpc into the Maggies). The Maggies LOVED it.

If you can afford the upgrade in power, I wholeheartedly suggest it.

Let us know the rest of your system, and I can makes some suggestions.

KF