Atma-Sphere MA 1's Amps and Magnepan 1.7's

Thanks Audiokinesis and Ghs. My Canary CA-160's sounded very nice on the Mags.

I posted yesterday about my Merlins, I have Magnapans also and I have used them with my Ma'1 and with my
Bedini 200. The Ma'1 I use with the Speltz transformers, with the MA'1 I think it depends on the music and the level at which you listen to. My Mag's sound good with both amps but to get the most from your Mag's a solid state amp will outperform in the long run. The Merlins need a tube amp to sound there best, the Mag's don't. After weeks of listening I think you will find that a good SS amp will give you the snap and sparkle that the Ma's don't.Remember that the Ma'1 likes to look into a high impedance load 16 ohms my Bedini puts out 400 watts into 4 ohms. Again it depends on what you listen to and how loud.

I drove a pair of 3.6's with early-generation MA-2s for a while, and they sounded magnificent. I have it on good authority that the MA-1 likewise sounds wonderful on the 3.6.

I don't think you'll need the Speltz autoformers. The MA-1s will almost certainly sound magnificent on your 1.7s... the only possible issue would be if their impedance curve is for some reason really nasty. That would be unexpected; despite their low impedance, modern Maggies generally have well-behaved impedance curves, and work much better with Atma-Sphere amps than most people would suspect based on their nominal 4 ohm impedance and modest efficiency.

You might want to check with Magnepan about the impedance curve just to be safe, then I think you're looking at a superb system there.

Duke
Maggiefan/Atmadealer