atmasphere: Thanks for the encouragement. 3 days and still silent. Yes I am still contemplating an upgrade. Before putting the HCA on the market, though, I think I will have it recapped, as a visual inspection shows signs of a need.Maggies are tricky with tubes. IMO one of the better amps you can run on them are Pass Labs. But we have a number of customers running Maggies (we're in their back yard after all so we have the same dealer in town). Its easy to hear what tubes bring to the table on Maggies but you have to be careful about the power issue. 1.7s aren't crazy in that regard though.
I presume, given your screen name, you will reccomend an Atmasphere amp 😎
Power Amp advice
I am looking for advice on a power amp to drive my Magnepan 1.7i's. My source is my Cambridge Network player which I use to stream Tidal. My preamp is Tube unit: Transcend 6SN7 Line Stage by Aric Audio. My current amp is a Parasound HCA2200. The Parasound has lately developed an annoying hum. I was thinking of getting it repaired, but thought that now might be a good time to upgrade that 30 year old piece.
I was looking for advice on a good match for the preamp/speaker combination. My budget is around $2,000. I don't mind buying used. I was thinking to go with tubes, but I fear that any tube amp with enough oomph to properly drive those Maggies would be well outside of my budget.
Discussions here are always thoughtful, so I am looking forward to what you folks have to share.
Thanks,
Mark
I was looking for advice on a good match for the preamp/speaker combination. My budget is around $2,000. I don't mind buying used. I was thinking to go with tubes, but I fear that any tube amp with enough oomph to properly drive those Maggies would be well outside of my budget.
Discussions here are always thoughtful, so I am looking forward to what you folks have to share.
Thanks,
Mark