For your reading I would skip company web sites all together and concentrate on The Absolute Sound and Stereophile reviews. There are a couple more... but you need as objective information as possible.
Solid state amp recommendations for Maggies?
I am looking for another amp to drive my magnepan LRS, looking for a solid state amp to deliver more detail than my current tube amp, but don't want to give up (much) of the soundstage and depth.
I have a small listening room with a near field set up, so I don't need a ton of power for ear piercing volume. I listen mostly to acoustic rock, acoustic jazz and female vocalists. I want more the guitar on Keith don't go and hotel canifornia intro from hell freezes over to to sound... better...
at the risk of sounding stupid, I am driving these $650 speakers with many thousands of dollars of electronics. The amp is a Primaluna HP (80wpc using 4 EL34s per channel), CJ ET7 preamp, PS Audio Direct stream DAC and a Naim digital source. All with MG audio silver interconnects and speaker wire. Even the interconnects cost more than the LRS.
I am very happy with my current set up, but would like to grab another amp to a change of pace.
My budget is $5-8K, used or new. My room is such that mono blocks set up well, but that is not necessary.
thoughts/recommendations?
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Man, I miss my Maggies, and after going through many, many amps once I found the Magtech amps from Sanders, there was no going back. Everything that I liked before got bigger, wider, fuller, yet somehow sharper. The last pair I had the Magtech amp on were 20.1's, and it was a stellar match, I would have moved to the mono-block set up if I'd kept those but I don't know how it could have gotten better. That amp replaced Cary 500 MB's, which were a great match, and had replaced the Bryston 14, which I liked as well. You can find the Magtech's used sometimes well under your price point, and a new one from Sanders would still be under your top price. For the LCR, no way you need the mono blocks, in fact, if you find a used Magtech, if you have the room you could move up the Maggie ladder without needing to upgrade the amp. |
@meiatflask - Late to the conversation here but I have owned my LRSs for almost two years now. The first 5 months were in a very small room (10 x 12 minus closets) at my old place. Now in the new house, for about 4 months at a time, the LRSs lived first in a square (I know, very bad!) 15’ x 15’ room but diagonally placed, then in the 15’ x 19’ living room along the short wall, and now in my 12’ x 15’ office room (also diagonally placed). SS gear I have rotated in each of the rooms at both houses: Bryston BP26 pre -> Ampzilla 2000 2nd edition monoblocks (300 wpc - Best at any volume) Bryston BP26 pre -> Forte 1A (sweet sounding class A but only 50 wpc) Hegel H190 - (150 wpc - More than enough power for the small rooms I have). All luckily (to my ears) sounded great. The Forte 1A seemed to run out of steam at higher volumes. But very happy with the other two set up options. The LRS really does need current! Happy Thanksgiving to you and best of luck in your search!
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+1 @boomerbillone . Based on his recommendation I purchased and have been running the Starke Sound amp he mentions, bridged, into my 1.6QR Maggies & Legacy Signature 3s, in parallel (a 2 ohm load) since Feb. More details are posted on another amplifier thread and unnecessary to repeat here, easy enough to find. This amp just sounds so right with everything it plays, I've lost interest in trying other amps anymore. Hoping you find the right amp for you! |
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