I know one of Ralph's customers, probably the one he mentioned and the M60's sound great with the Maggies. The sound is as close to reality as I have heard anywhere. |
I think the most important thing is the size of the room,and volume. I have had 1.6s with Audio Innovations 5000 tube amp with 25 watts of class A power in a smaller dedicated room with great results. I have also had a Cary SLI 30 with similar results....so i say..go with tubes |
Thanks for the update. Far too often these threads have no conclusion. |
Just an update to were I am now...
I did take the plunge for the 1.7s and have been blown away by the sound, so much so that I ended up selling my remaining Klipsch speakers off, along with the Galaxy 300.
A buddy lent me a MC162 (160 wpc into 4) and although it sounded nice, it was grossly under powered.
Then I happened across a Sanders Sound Magtech... yes, that's the ticket, no shortage of power now!
I am now in the search for a preamplifier, and think that I will get my tube fix via the pre.
I think I will start a new thread looking for some direction pertaining to what I have come up with as my short list of candidates. |
I use a Fisher 500c all tube reciever with my Magneplanar 1.6 in my bedroom system and as long as I dont push it to consert levels it is a very fine sounding combination.I use the 8 ohm taps on the Fisher 500c as I have found it to sound much better with the Maggies.I do have all those Telefunken 12AX7s in my reciever and original Westinghouse 7591As in the 500c. Maybe thats why it sounds so wonderfull and heavenly. So maybe it is not about the watts after all but the 'DRIVE' factor of an amp that lights up the Maggies. |
Someone was driving the 1.6 pair with a Manley Stingray and he seemed pretty happy.
Rob |
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 |
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. |
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. |
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,
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. |
Hpower, I think it would be best to take your amp to the dealer and try it. If they're not familiar with tubes, they'd probably want to hear one themselves. Make sure they have the speakers hooked up first also, since they may not know tubes, or tube amps. I don't think it will quite have enough power myself, but that would be easier than taking the speakers home IMO. I never owned that amp myself, but I'm familiar with a lot of tubes/tube amps, and Magneplaner speakers. A 300b puts out about 8 watts, driven comfortably . Higher outputs shorten tube life. With this amp putting out 21 watts from a pair, I think it will be overworking trying to drive this type of speaker, with a pair of 300b tubes, per channel. |
I am currently driving my 1.6qr's with ASL Hurricanes. 100 watts in triode. I have also used a VTL ST-80 with 40 watts triode. Both sound outstanding with plenty of power. Those who say you can't drive Maggies with tubes simply do not know what they are talking about |
Sebrof, good call.
It's no wonder that a "thread starter" can start out a little confused and end up a lot confused. "Absolutely can!! "Absolutely can't!!" Thing is, both can be right depending on the type of music and loudness they like to listen at.
We all get to have an opinion, that's why it's called a discussion forum. Quoting the OP: "I would not be expecting the output that I am use to with either of my Klipsch speakers," I'll add to my previous opinion/post that, besides low level listening, if his particular amp has a strong power supply and great transformers he should be happy. |
Years ago I drove a pair of 1.6s with a Music Reference RM9 to good effect. Maybe not ideal, but it worked well enough.
Shakey |
You need to consider how loud you will play your music and the size of the room. I have used Maggies for years and experimented with all types of amps. My feeling is you will get sound, but will be generally underpowered to get the most out of such a fine speaker.
I used a McIntosh MC275 on both 1.6's and 3.6's. The sound was good, however the bass performance was lacking. I put a MC402 on the Maggies and the system was excellent for all music needs.
My vote is a bigger more powerful amplifier. Consider 100 watts and good current delivery as a good place to start. |
Doak, that makes sense about the Rogue M120 because I also used a Manley Stingray with the 1.6 and it had a vibrant sound, more alive than the Rogue. |
"I had Rogue M120s (120 tube watts) with my 1.6's and it had beautiful tone but sounded dull and lifeless."
I had exactly the same experience when trying these amps on a pair of ML CLS-1. They don't do low impedance well. A pair of Quicksilver Silver 90's did the job as did the Music Reference RM-9. |
I usually ignore those with cut and dry no nonsense answers that apply to everyone and every situation. |
ELECTRICALLY, having moderate phase angles and a flat impedance, there is NO reason maggies and tubes can't play together. |
The honest no nonsense answer is absolutely no way and running two pairs in parallel is impossible off that amp. I am a tube guy but honestly you need power with lots of current. A high current SS amp would do the trick I would avoid dissapointment and ignore those who think tubes are right for Maggies. The best amps out there for this application are the Sanders amps, the Wyred4Sound, the Spectrons, and H20 amps IMHO. Others with juice will cut it but those seem to garner the most praise. |
I'm in the group that say you need about 50 watts to get them to play at a moderate/comfortable (depends on person) listening level. With 21 watts, I don't think I'd use anything less than a 90 db at 8 ohms efficiency speaker, to get a moderate listening level. Link to Magnepan.[http://www.magnepan.com/model_MG_16] |
IMO, 21 watts is no way near enough. It will make sound, maybe even nice sound. You will not know what they capable of though. |
If you don't play your music too loud, I think you will be lovin life. |
I had Rogue M120s (120 tube watts) with my 1.6's and it had beautiful tone but sounded dull and lifeless. |
thanks Hifihvn-
I checked before I posted and they worked....not sure what happened. |
Riley links.
[http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1263989618]
[http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1260162760] |
(Broken Links Removed at request of user)
From this info, you should have a good idea if 21 wpc is enough. |
