Hi Aroc:
In addition to the low sensitivity of the Magnepans, they also present an almost purely resistive load as opposed to reactive, which means that the driving amp must be able to supply lots of current. This is really not the forte of tube amps - even of the higher powered ones - unless you were to go with something BIG like the MB-750 or better yet the MB-1250.
You would probably be able to get away with using the amps you mentioned if your listening is mostly done at low volume levels, but there the Maggies are not performing at their best. These speakers need to be turned up a bit for them to start showing off their stuff. The 3.6R's are of a single ended driver design (they are driven by a set of magnets on one side of the element) with a relatively "heavy" membrane of a large surface area who 's either pushed or pulled. This makes it tougher on the amplifier to control the speaker and I am not talking about only the lower frequencies. This is what gives maggies' their less than stellar reputation on dynamics, (I repeat: lack of bynamics through-out the frequency range not just the bass) as stated above by Tireguy as well as attested to by many a Maggie lover.
Fortunately this is the one characteristic that can go from the minus column over to the positive in a decisive manner with the use of a very high powered SS amp. Some months ago there was a review I think in Ultra Audio (web based e-zine, you can do a search)on a high powered Innersound amp which the reviewer was impressed with when pairing it with the 3.6R's. I think he was more impressed with the Maggies rather than the amps in that particular pairing, which I think confirms that these speakers do really require huge amounts of power to truly shine. This was also my experience to some extent with the 1.6QR's when I fed them with more powerful amps; more liveliness, transparency, control (never tried them with 800W per side though - wish I could).
In addition to the low sensitivity of the Magnepans, they also present an almost purely resistive load as opposed to reactive, which means that the driving amp must be able to supply lots of current. This is really not the forte of tube amps - even of the higher powered ones - unless you were to go with something BIG like the MB-750 or better yet the MB-1250.
You would probably be able to get away with using the amps you mentioned if your listening is mostly done at low volume levels, but there the Maggies are not performing at their best. These speakers need to be turned up a bit for them to start showing off their stuff. The 3.6R's are of a single ended driver design (they are driven by a set of magnets on one side of the element) with a relatively "heavy" membrane of a large surface area who 's either pushed or pulled. This makes it tougher on the amplifier to control the speaker and I am not talking about only the lower frequencies. This is what gives maggies' their less than stellar reputation on dynamics, (I repeat: lack of bynamics through-out the frequency range not just the bass) as stated above by Tireguy as well as attested to by many a Maggie lover.
Fortunately this is the one characteristic that can go from the minus column over to the positive in a decisive manner with the use of a very high powered SS amp. Some months ago there was a review I think in Ultra Audio (web based e-zine, you can do a search)on a high powered Innersound amp which the reviewer was impressed with when pairing it with the 3.6R's. I think he was more impressed with the Maggies rather than the amps in that particular pairing, which I think confirms that these speakers do really require huge amounts of power to truly shine. This was also my experience to some extent with the 1.6QR's when I fed them with more powerful amps; more liveliness, transparency, control (never tried them with 800W per side though - wish I could).