Disclaimer: I have an Innersound ESL-300 for sale on this site.
It drove my 3.6's amazingly well and sounded excellent to boot. |
The Wyred 4 Sound class D work well and you can find some used in your price range. My Channel Island D-200 monoblocks also worked well. I have a pair listed on Audiogon if you are interested. |
Odyssey Stratos Monos
Belles 350A Reference
Innersound/Sanders amp |
As crazy as it sounds the new Adcom GFA 555SE ran a pair of 1.7s at my friend's store. He is not an Adcom dealer but for $1299.00 retail new it is a bargian. It does sound much better than the origial 555 and the 555 II. I am not much of an Adcom fan but this new amp now has a much better driver input board, has balanced inputs and has better output devices than the previous Adcom models. It was a shocker how well it worked with the 1.7. It actually had real bass and I like it better than any of the new digital amps. 200Watts per channel and 2.5 db of head room and stable at 1 ohm which means lots of current and the 1.7s like lots of current. |
The old standby for Maggies is a Bryston, the 4b can be had easily in your price range. If you don't like it you can easily sell it for little or no loss. I use Wyred monos for my 1.6s and will not be changing amps any time soon, they have no problem powering my maggies to ear splitting volumes with plenty left in reserves. |
I'm new to buying better audio and I'm restricted by a budget. My purchases have to be well thought out. I was interested to see Bryston has a long warranty. What other amps have these long warranties?
Also I may want upgrade later on and I want what I buy to have a decent resale value. And if I buy used what do I look for from a seller? |
WARRANTYS DO NOT MATTER.Are you going to listen to a warranty? Go with a amp, preamp set up.this will save upgrades later on.Always a good idea to decide on speakers 1st.Odyssey,Threshold,Emotiva Great value in power amps. |
I owned the Maggie 1.6 for a while, and having worked with CIA, Wyred4Sound, Rowland, Peachtree Audio, etc. I would not use any of them as my preferred amplification for that speaker. I believe the high end of the 1.7 has not been reworked, so I would likely seek a stout class A/B design or hybrid like the Moscode 402AU, which I reviewed. High power class D with the Magnepan wore on my ears over time.
In my office I use the Eminent Technology LFT-6, a magnetic planar design, with two HSU STF-1 powered subs. The Peachtree Audio Nova is my amp, but this is a concession to convenience, not what I would use if the speakers were my primary rig. The Nova is commendable, but like other Class D designs I have used does not have the richness of a Class A/AB design which is imo necessary to get Maggies to sound their best.
The Monarchy Audio SM-70 Pro (reviewed; run mono) was outstanding overall with the Eminent Technology LFT-8B; the Monarchy SE-100 MkII may be superb with Magneplanar or E.T. Though it may not power the speaker with unlimited dynamics, it would likely be a more sensuous sound. |
I now see I need a pre-amp and a CD player, i'm guessing my Blueray players don't cut it as a CD player. Also is there a preamp that allows Xm & has input for a ipod dock? |
I had the Innersound ESL with my Maggie 1.6qr's and it was amazing.
I have not seen one for sale here recently though, that was priced what I would say is at Market. |
I would check out the amps made my the Digital Amplifier Company. I heard one of their amps at my friends house, a Cherry Plus, and it was pretty amazing. They've been auctioning off demos here at Audiogon lately. Mine will arrive next Tuesday :-)
I just sold my Cary Slam 100 mono blocks to may the switch to class D. I can't wait. |
save some money and get the Forte Model 3. Great amps--drives my Apogee Divas nicely. there's one on Agon now for $450 |
Audio Connection installed a great real world system with the Magnepans 1.7 last week
NAD 275BEE power amp 1199,
C 165BEE Preamplifier 899
565 CD player USB input 799
all with Nordost Blue heaven whole system sounding wonderful
a quote from what Hi Fi
NAD C165BEE/C275BEE "If sonic muscularity and outright scale are important to you, buy this NAD pairing. We cant think of another amplifier at this price level that delivers so much authority with such ease".
Good luck Johnnyr |
Whether you like the NAD house sound, or NOT, you can't argue with system synergy.......which presumably an all-NAD system should have. |
Okay so far it's between Bryston 4B or a NAD C375BEE. Not really sure to what is the difference between the C375BEE & C275BEE. I have to say I'm leaning toward Bryston, even though it's more expensive. |
Energizer, so you buy your cars without warranties? I guess I don't get it. Having a long warranty seems to be the icing, definitely not the cake but yes the icing.
I can see I have much to learn. |
Do Pass Labs amps work well with Maggies ?
I have a X150.5 and was considering 1.7's |
Rcziech,
The X150.5 would be nice with the Maggies. I've used their 30.5 and now 100.5's on my 3.6's. Your volume level is the key issue but Pass and the Maggies sound great at the lower levels. |
Get a used Mac intrgrated. Great combo with Maggies. H\ |
Of all the amplifiers Listed as of 10-10 above Not one is as good across the board as the Digital amplifier company Cherry for under $2400 it will put to shame many amplifiers including tubes at more than 3x it's price .It does not sound like any digital amplifier you have ever heard and has glowing reviews 400wpc into 8ohms 750- into 4 ohms ! do yourself a favour and do a little research there was a great little review done on the Cherry Jr .the cherrry is even better with a 1500va torroidial transfomer.I know of no one who has one bigger except for D.A.C which is a 1800va ! |
I must say that makes 2 of us this amplifoer is the most quiet that I have have tested I compared my cherry plus to
new forces newest ref and this amplifier is like you are in the studio rich and full of detail, actually i heard information on the cd that I never knew was there recordings that I use for my demos and brought to many stores.This is a small co. as the sad story of audio goes many excellent companys just don't have the moneys to do proper advertising .This is a prime example. But this amplifie is to good to say silent digital amplifier company , take a closer look and you will see I was right. |
But it's so UGLY!! It better sound good. |
+1 for the Odyssey Stratos Mono's. Insane bang for the buck. The Odyssey Candela Preamp mates well with this setup. |
Digital Amplifier Company their amps sound are totally undigital their don;t use ise modules they invented their own like spectron but I feel a little better and a bit of tube warmth No down sides to the go to Stereotimes online magazine the cherry + received 10 most wanted components for 2010, and as far as the face plate they will be offereing 4 different ones .These amps with ease go toe to toe with any big name out there .I have a pass 350
and I am having a hard time coming to terms that in some ways the DAC Cherry + amp is better that is saying a lot ! |
