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Amplification Recommendations For Magnepan .7

I am new at this and I am hoping I can get some good advice.  I listened to the Magnepan and fell in love with them.  I've been gearing up to buy them over the last three weeks.  I started reading about them online and I'm seeing that good, powerful amplification is very important to get them to really perform.  At the stereo store I know they were powered by a top flight amp.  So now I have to get an amp/preamp and DAC, integrated amp with DAC or with a separate DAC. I listen to Tidal a good deal.  

The problem is that my budget is limited to around $1200 so I don't know if that can make the cut to get something that can do the speakers justice.  I'm open to buying used.  I would be grateful for any recommendations.  

amritash
mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
5,134 posts
 
I was a Magnepan dealer for many years and have personally owned almost every model they've made.  I have also tried many, many amps with them.

For your budget, (used) I would recommend:

Odyssey Stratos Plus or Extreme.  You might be able to find a pair of the monos for maybe a little more.

Belles 150A Reference

Emotiva XPA-2 or if you can find a pair, the Emotiva XPA-1L (Class A) mono amps are incredible.

There are a lot of others too.  I'm sure you will get many recommendations.
maplegrovemusic's avatar
maplegrovemusic
1,113 posts
 
Bryston 4bst will be in that range . Tried and true synergy with Maggies . Bryston is the ying and maggies the yang . Effortless , Black backround , great decay of notes . Put on short list for sure .
skoczylas's avatar
skoczylas
241 posts
 
You may consider hegel amps with or without the dac. The h160 would do the job while the 200, 300 or 360 would do it with some more power. lots of great options out there. Keep us posted. 
amritash OP
26 posts
 
This is so awesome.  Thanks guys.

I would need a preamp as well and squeeze it into my budget.  You are giving me possibilities.  Can you sneeze that into the recommendations? Thanks again
maplegrovemusic's avatar
maplegrovemusic
1,113 posts
 
To get you started listening to music try to incorporate a SM Nano patch passive volume controller $60 new $40 used . I am listening to one right now with Magnepan 1.6 qr , Bryston 14bsst2 . Just did a comparison with a Bryston bp26 and to my ears it sounds better . Assuming you have a digital front end . If not i have no recommendations 
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