Hello,
I have had similar experiences with fuses blown with 3.5's. With an ARC VT130 amp, 110wpc, this amp clipped just as the volume started to get very loud but it was a very soft clipping and I think because of this, the fuses failed only a couple times. With ARC Classic 150's (150w monos), these amps have a protection circuit to shutdown the amp when it clips, so this happened frequently rather than blowing fuses. Then I tried a Counterpoint NPS400 (400w into 4 ohms) and only a couple times did tweeter fuses ever blow; this amp was a great match for the Maggies, not just musically, but also in power delivery. And currently I use Wolcott Presence amps (275w monos) which are an outstanding match but when the volume gets loud, mid and tweeter fuses fail. The Wolcotts have a great midrange presense and bloom on vocals and for loud passages, they can run out of steam and clip, not as soft as the ARC VT130. I can only imagine how incredible a pair of Wolcotts with double the power would be!
As for low power amps, I tried a 40wpc stereo tube amp and in no time, the fuses were failing because the amps were clipping. There is just no way 40w is going to work with the Maggie 3.x speakers. I am sure biamping these speakers would reduce the power demands here significantly.
John
I have had similar experiences with fuses blown with 3.5's. With an ARC VT130 amp, 110wpc, this amp clipped just as the volume started to get very loud but it was a very soft clipping and I think because of this, the fuses failed only a couple times. With ARC Classic 150's (150w monos), these amps have a protection circuit to shutdown the amp when it clips, so this happened frequently rather than blowing fuses. Then I tried a Counterpoint NPS400 (400w into 4 ohms) and only a couple times did tweeter fuses ever blow; this amp was a great match for the Maggies, not just musically, but also in power delivery. And currently I use Wolcott Presence amps (275w monos) which are an outstanding match but when the volume gets loud, mid and tweeter fuses fail. The Wolcotts have a great midrange presense and bloom on vocals and for loud passages, they can run out of steam and clip, not as soft as the ARC VT130. I can only imagine how incredible a pair of Wolcotts with double the power would be!
As for low power amps, I tried a 40wpc stereo tube amp and in no time, the fuses were failing because the amps were clipping. There is just no way 40w is going to work with the Maggie 3.x speakers. I am sure biamping these speakers would reduce the power demands here significantly.
John