Which Amp for Magnepan MG 3.6/R?

we have found that the autoformers in the mcintosh power amps make a great marriage with maggies. because they are thirsty, the more power the better. i do not have the MG 3.6's yet, but i am driving factory refurbished tympany 1-D's with 2 600 watt mono Mac 2300's. as of yet, nothing else has come close to the perfomance of that configuration.

I would suggest the larger Pass amps, "possibly" the Sunfire Signature ( will GREATLY depend on the solidity and quantity of bass from your source ) and i would keep an eye / ear out for the new Parasound JC-1's that Tim mentioned. My sources tell me that this is going to be a highly sought after amp and is VERY powerful and dynamic at lower impedances. This is exactly what you need to drive Maggies, as anything less will stunt the dynamics and not really allow them to "open up" to their full potential. As such, i would avoid ANY amp that does not work well into a 4 ohm or lower load, regardless of the brand name and reputation. Sean
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I have had my 3.6R for about 5 months now. I was running them with an EAD Powermaster 2000 which on the books stated that it delivered 700 watts/4ohms. Matched with my EAD Signature it was truly a nice set up for both HT and two channel listening. However I ran across a pair fo VTL 225 deluxe mono blocks that I set up along with ARC tube pre outboard DAC etc. The EAD stuff is great and I have praised it on several occasions and still do, but running the 3.6R with 225 watts of pure Class A Triode power is like nothing I have heard before in my room.

I have to agree with most of the solid state recommendations above, but do not lose sight of tubes even in a HT application not that your set up for that. It has been well known that ARC and Magenepan work very well, but if you read the Jan 03 Stereophile Magazine that interviews Jim Winey he touches on how he worked closely with ARC.

If you have the right room the 3.6R can deliver an incredible performance. I just auditioned the Aerial 20T's and yes they were great and man talk about dynamic!, but I still love the sound of the 3.6R's. Matched with a great set of subs like you listed your there.

Good luck.

Becareful about using mac amps with maggies, I have been told from more then a few dealers it is not an ideal matchup. The output devices on the mac amps don't work ideally with the load the maggies put on them, the dealers who told me this sold not only mac and magnepan but a number of other products and they said if you can get amp x(which costs more) they would suggest getting something that was less money(like a bryston). I would be skeptic to try a mac amp regardless of wattage with these particular speakers.

One guy on audioreview.com wrote a review of the Odyssey stratos monos and his speakers were magnepan 3.6Rs. He had four stratos monos on the maggies and said that the sound was totally transparent. I have the stereo stratos and can say that it is very musical and transparent. It seems to have high current capability which the magnepan speakers need.