Budget AV Receiver with Magnepan

I didn't say "no signs of distress." A reviewer did. And Magnepan chose to display that quote prominently on their website. Because they know that asking someone to drive $949 worth of speakers with $9,000 worth of amplification is insane.

And as for your "Honda vs. Porsche" analogy...you've got it backwards. The particular Maggies he's buying are Hondas, not Porsches.

Iplaynaked - don't worry, I understand everything you're saying. I'm not an experienced audiophile, and I like wine that some would say is not very good. I even drink Budweiser every once in a while :) I think you're maybe making some very broad statements though - the Rotel 1065 is a receiver yes... but I tend to think it's a wee bit more on the side of a pre-pro/amp combo than a mass market machine with big watt numbers to 'look' impressive. A compromise? Sure, but isn't everything? You could argue that a 'cheap' B&K Rotel pre-pro/amp combo is 'inadequate'. That's where the slippery slope starts, and I'm trying to avoid it as much as possible. On my budget, I'm willing to accept compromise. Home theater in a box? C'mon now. I tend to think of the Rotel as a BMW 328i. Not as fast as a Porsche, but a great all-rounder and plent fast enough for me! I am an avid Porsche/BMW fanatic and participate in local track events, karting, have done spec miata events, etc. If you put 112 octane in a car that's not designed for it, it will do no good at all. The baby maggies are bass limited so without a doubt they are easier to drive than the big sisters - so they take 93 AKI instead of 87, but the Rotel is no lo-test unit in my book. How's that for analogy?

Anyway your input is definitely appreciated - and at this point is all academic as I plan to play with the receiver for a while by itself before thinking about upgrading.

Cheers,

Brad

Yeah, it's really just choices. I'm just killing time like the rest here, inputting for conversation sake. However, the points are worth considering - if not now, down the line, after you've added an amp, and tallied the total.
As for the $9000 amplification remark from Ekobesky, I wasn't suggesting anywhere near $9k. For $300, you can find a Rotel, Parasound, or Adcom 5 channel amp on the net, now and then, that will smoke a $2500 receivers amplification, for all practical purposes. YOU BET!! I encourage anyone to try using their receiver's "pre-outs" with an outboard amp sometime to compare!
And, as for the "reviewer making the statements about the adequacy of the receiver to simply drive the maggies. Well I think it would be rather irresponsible of him to say otherwise! First, receivers drive (no pun) the market when it comes to AV equipment sales! So, I think it was wise to say, "yes, a receiver can drive these speakers, sure."
However, magazine reviewers are motivated by many factors. I NEVER EVER lean on what a reviewer says as "Gods spoken truth", however. There are simply too many agenda's for magazines to shine good light on products, or to make statements that skew opinions in one direction or another, for many reasons - and one of these is money!
There have been dozens of audio/video products alone over the years, that have gotten "Class A" or "State of the art" ratings from magazines that they really didn't deserve, in my experienced opinion - only to see the same products slip down the rating scale later on, as they were going out of productions. Infact, I can think of several large scale company products right now, that always have 3, 4, even 5 or more pages of advertising in the "rags", that ALWAYS get ratings that put their products at the top of the ratings classes! You do the math. And we're most always talking about mid-fi products here - where all the money is, basically.
So, just because some magazine says "it's the best there is...go down and buy it today!", doesn't mean squat to an experienced audio guy like myself. We know how to make good soun - and that doesn't mean going down to the local AV store, and buying that top rated receiver, speakers and sub, hooking it all up, and expecting audiophile nirvana, that will blow your friends minds! - doesn't work that way folks. Sorry

Ive owned all the cost no object stuff, and for future readers, magnepan mmg, mmgw,mmgc's, will all easily run off a 100+ watt receiver easily. I tried my MMg's on a Onkyo nr906 reciver, and it played the mmg's at loud levels. Just as loud as my Bryston 9bsst did.

You could even drive the Magnepan 1.6 with this receiver, as this receiver lets you bi amp (using extra rear channels) in a 4 or 6 ohm load, and giving you over 160 watts to the tweeters, and 160 watts to the bass panels. This is plenty!!

Most of these new receivers are able to bridge channels, or bi amp. The days of NEEDING huge seperate amps are almost over. Power has been increasing every year in these receivers.

I haven't had them for a month yet, but my HT system of 2 pairs of MMgw and the MMGC driven by a Ymamha RV659 reciever is showing no signs of strain.I use a Paradigm sub of no special merit.

I used to own the EAD powermaster 500,perhaps I should have kept it from what I have read here.

Well I can always go that route and use the Yammie as the pre/pro.