No Bi-Amp but tubes for Maggies -- can it be done?

Not a cheap option but the Atma-sphere MA 1 Mk II.2 works well with the Maggies and to my ears it is one the great amps period. It won't give you the bass slam of a BIG SS amp but you do get amazing transparency. I have not heard the Wolcotts but the MA 1 walks away from the VTL, Mac, Cary & ARC amps. The MA 1 is a bit of a room heater but it does not need spendy matched sets of output tubes. I would, however, do some tube rolling with the 6SN7s. It is also very reliable. The Atma-sphere amps do not have typical tube amp colorations so if you are looking for euphonic rather than transparent they may not be the right choice.

I think(have never tried them myself on maggies) the atma-sphere's would sound great, the only problem I have is that they are OTL's. Which means nothing is between your output tubes and your speaker, and in the maggies case may be dangerous if you did any work to them(i.e. if the fuses aren't in place, I wouldn't even think of trying an otl). Don't get me wrong I love otl amps, and ribbon tweeters are relatively cheap for magnepans, but your much more likely to have problems with this set up and it would get tiresome quickly- IMO. But if you have fuses there is much less at risk and I am sure the sound is first rate.

I HAVE tried the MA 1 Mk II.2 on Maggies and there are zero problems. True the Magneplanars do not present an ideal load for an OTL but there is not a hint of instability. The Atma-sphere is NOT a ribbon tweeter eater.

Greenman- Your missing what I said, the magnepan uses a ribbon tweeter- I sure hope your amp doesn't have a tweeter in it! I was merely pointing out that you are more likely to have a tube failure effect a ribbon(on the speaker) with an OTL then with any other type of amp. Some will never have a problem with output tubes but with a power hungry speaker the tubes are working over time. The load isn't a big deal its a stable 4 ohm load, but the maggies are still an 85dB with TONS of driver area that needs gobs of power(both watts and current) to make it happen. And as I said if you have not modified your speakers then this is not an issue but then again your not even hearing 30% of what your speakers are capable of with out modification. Does that clear up your confusion?

Tireguy, no confusion on my part. You're talking theory and I'm talking practice with unmodified Maggies. Try not to be so patronizing, especially when you lack first hand experience. I don't need a lecture on either Maggies or OTLs. I'm actually a fairly bright guy with 30 years of high audio experience.