Magnum Dynalab 308 drive Magnepan 1.7 or 3.6?

Ctunney,
If your amp is 80 watts@8ohms and 160 watts@4 ohms, that is a good indication of a powerful and well designed amplifier since it doubles its power as the resistance is halved. I think 160 watts will drive the 1.7s but, on this forum, it seems the majority believe the more power the better with maggies. I took the advice and drive an older pair of 2.7s with probably an excess of power-400 watts@4ohms. Another important amp feature is how low of an impedance it can handle since most magnepans do dip below 4 ohms at some frequencies. The above is basically a summary of what I learned by reading the forums here on Agon. If you'd like to read them for yourself do a forum search: "amp for maggies" or "magnepan 1.7". Lots of good info. Good luck and enjoy!

Generally Maggies are an easy load. Moderate phase angles and no huge dips.
see link to measurements.

http://www.stereophile.com/content/magnepan-magneplanar-mg36r-loudspeaker-measurements

Now, the real questions to me are 1. how loud do you play your system?
2. how large a space? 3 Do you have the space to devote to panels? You will need a minimum of 3 feet behind the speaker to the 'front' wall.
Also, do you have a sub? If yes, will you run the panels full-range or allow the sub to handle below crossover?

Great. Thanks for the replies so far--makes me feel confident that my amp will drive the 1.7s. (I read so much on here about how much the maggies require, and I am new to this, so just don't know...)

Magfan--1. I usually play at moderate volumes and a littler louder, too. 2. My space is large. It is a living room/dining room combination space that is 15x40. Having a minimum of 3 feet behind the speaker might be tough the way our room is set up. And no I don't have a sub--wasn't thinking of getting one. Just now, anyway...

I have also heard that you can sometimes get away with turning the maggies sideways, which would work better with our furniture...

The Maggies do need space behind the to work properly. I have tried everything from 2 to 5 feet from the back wall. I have settled on 4 feet.

One very cool but not anticipated benefit of the 1.7s is that I am listening much more at lower levels due to the 1.7s incredible detail. This keeps my amp in Class A mode (under 10 watts). This also provides more opportunities to listen without disturbing the family.

My 1.7s get VERY loud with my BADA 190 watt amp.

Another couple considerations for Ctunney::
Except for the 20.1 which is push / pull, Maggies are not the same front and back.
I personally prefer 'backwards' and listen to the pole piece side NOT the mylar side. Magnepan made the switch some years ago, probably because people liked the hotter (IMO) presentation. My 1.6s came with a resistor to lower the HF level, if I preferred.
Also, you can place them tweeters 'in' or 'out'.
So, If you get panels, you'll have some experimentation to do.
I'm not a fan of the sideways setup. Others apparently are. My speakers are about 65" apart, inside edge to inside edge and are toed in about 11 degrees.
Once I did the detail setup, I measured so I could put them back exactly.

Try to make compromises so you CAN get at least 3' behind the speaker. This is one of the things that everyone agrees on. Toe in is the other. NEVER straight to a wall.

Ctunney,

I own a pair of 1.7's and drive them with a Krell 300s at 300 wpc into 4 ohms.

The Krell was a remarkable improvement over my old Mac MA6300 at 160 wpc into 4 ohms.

To my ear, the upgrade resulted in more dynamics and more detail.

Just as an FYI, the Magnum Dynalab integrateds and receivers were built and/or designed by Simaudio. MD did the tuner section, but not sure about who did what else.

Not sure if yours is a rebadged Simaudio integrated or not, nor which Sim it would be if it was.

I say all this because if you can determine what the comparable Simaudio integrated is, you may get a lot more people who have experience with the pairing.

I drive MG 1.7s with a Musical Concepts modded Hafler DH-200 in a room thats about 25x 24... 100 watts per channel into 8 ohms. About the only thing that taxes that amount of power so far is the Telarc SACD of the 1812 overture with cannons.

Thanks for everyone's responses. I have spent a lot (probably too much) time on Audiogon in the last month reading forums and searching for equipment. I ordered the 1.7s 3 weeks ago from my local dealer. My guess is that I will have to wait another month or so to receive them.

And... I bought a Bryston 4B-ST and a TAD 150 Preamp, both used through Agon. From what I read, it sounds like the Bryston should be a safe bet with the Maggies. And I bought the TAD 150 because I wanted to try a tube pre that had a remote and didn't cost more than $1000 (which wasn't that easy for me to find, incidentally). I am planning on selling my Magnum Dynalab soon.

I can't wait to get the 1.7s. Thanks for the advice on placement, Magfan. I wouldn't have guessed to try them "backwards". And I will definitely pull them out as far as they need to go. After putting all the time and money I have into this, I don't want to compromise on the placement even a hair...

Ctunney,

You made excellent choices in acquiring the TAD 150 preamp and the Bryston 4BST amp. The tubed 150 should add a touch of warmth and bloom to the ss Bryston's powerful and detailed presentation. It's also a very good impednce match since the TAD's output impedance is 600 ohms and the Bryston's input impedance is 60k ohms.
The new (to you)amp has plenty of power (400 watts@4 ohms) to drive your future Maggie 1.7 spkrs. Do you know the Bryston carries a 20 year transferrable warranty? Make sure you get all relevant info from the seller and contact Bryson to transfer it to your name.
And by buying your preamp and amp used, they should both be broken in already. But remember the 1.7s will require a break in period of several hundred hours before they sound their best, they may sound a little bright initially, but should sound better and better as they break in.
Well, I think I'm starting to sound like a dealer or spokesman (I'm neither, I swear)so I'll end here by just saying again what a great job you've done on putting your new system together. It all looks very well put together, well matched and synergistic on paper but please post again, after you've set everything up and listened to and ejoyed it for awhile, and give us your thoughts. Have fun.

Thank you, Noble. I must say that it is taking FOREVER to get the 1.7s. Just got word that I will get them on the 17th. This will be a total of 10 weeks (!) from when I purchased them. Will update after some break in. But for all you prospective Magnepan buyers out there, be prepared to wait! And wait! And WAIT! Magnepan told me that they are currently quoting 6 weeks for the 1.7s, but this was not my experience...

mine took 90 days last year. Once you get them, take some warhorse pieces like "night on bald mountain" or like that uses full orchestra loudly,set on repeat, turn amp to preferred volume, exit the room, and come back in 10 hours... they are basically stiff when new and need to flex to gain full transparency. 10 hrs won't be enough for full break in but it should allow you not to fret at the first serious listen. Takes about 100 hours to reach full potential and sounds a bit edgy in the highs during initial break in... this goes away unless the edge is really there from the equipment/cables feeding.

Ctunney, I'm extremely satisfied running my MD 308 with a pair of B&W 803. The MD308 is an Amp for life I tell you.
What other components are connected to this amp?

I'm also achieving superb results when biamping.

Regards
hyattalla@gmail.com