Which Amp for Magnepan MG 3.6/R?

Altar1,

People are dumping SA250mk4 amps because Plinius is in the process of upgrading their entire amp line. They started with the SA102, and the SA250 will be replaced I am sure as well. Plinius amps are great for driving Maggies. Maggies need and crave power. Plinius amps deliver it.

I think the GamuT D-200 is sonically superior to every one of your amps on your short list. I am selling mine to pay off some impending bills. However, I will replace it with a new D-200 in the future (watch for my review).

This being said about the GamuT D-200, I would NOT recommend buying a D-200 to drive Maggie 3.6's until you hear the results for yourself. The D-200 is a powerful amp; however, it really is not designed for speaker that are very difficult to drive. The 3.6's are on the very edge of what I would drive a D-200 with. HOWEVER, the GamuT might drive the Maggies very well... I would love to hear it tried. Why would I not try to drive the Maggies with the powerful D-200? The D-200 is designed to see a load less than 1.5 ohms as a short, and the circuit protection kicks in and the amp shuts down.

I know Maggie 3.6's dip pretty low in ohms in the bass (I think around 1.5 if I remember), so the D-200 would not be my first amp of choice when laying out a system on paper (without trying it first).

NOW if you have an active crossover from your subs to your Maggies (the subs getting everything below maybe 40hz), I would absolutely reccommend the GamuT D-200. The D-200 is amazingly detailed and transparent with neutrality that few solid state amps achieve (especially in the $8k and under price range).

KF

I looked up the impedance curve on the 3.6 and it appears in the link below from a Stereophile review. From this data the lowest Z dip is on the high side of 3 ohms just above 10Khz. It looks to be a relatively benign 4 ohm speaker and not too difficult of a load other than needing plenty of power to overcome its lower sensitivity.

From this I would say the Gamut should drive it well. However, this is only my speculation. As Tok2000 stated, one should try it first.

Hi Tireguy!

How do you like the BAT VK500? Have you heard the VK6200? How would you compare the two amps?

The reviews on the VK500 have been very good on Audioreview.com and in the audio press.

From what I have read, the VK500 has a full-bodied, smooth sound reminiscent of tubed equipment while possessing considerable detail, transparency, clarity, dynamics, and bass control. Some, however, consider to be dark sounding, whatever that means. These attributes should work well with my system. If I had chosen a preamp with a big, bold, and vivid sound, like a VAC preamp or maybe even a Conrad Johnson, I would be more inclined to choose either the Pass X250 or the CAM 350, both of which have a faster, somewhat cooler, and learner presentation.

My current amp, the Proceed AMP 5, has a full-bodied, dynamic, sweet, somewhat dark, and slightly rich sound. I am looking for an amp that has these qualities but with more detail, air, and transparency. Perhaps the VK500 will fit this description well.

Best regards,

Hi Lance328!

I am not familiar with the Innersound amp. Do you like it? Didn't TAS do an article on it?

Artar1- I do enjoy the VK-500 an aweful lot, how ever I found myself wanting more body in my vocal's and a slightly wider sound stage. Don't get me wrong with this amp I have gotten closer then ever before to audio nirvana in my system, just after several months of listening I have found some room for improvement. As far as the 6200 goes compared to the 500 I don't think the 6200 would hack it with only 2 amp 'cards' so you would need 4 amp 'cards' and biamp the maggies which I am told is the way to go(but with the speaker cables I am using it doesn't make much sense seeing as then cost nearly what the speakers do) but a 6200 with 4 amp 'cards' puts you in a higher price range then I wanted to spend on an amp at the time. I have heard great things about the innersound ESL amp, Roger Sanders is a pleasure to deal with as well- he offers you an in home 30 day trial so you have NOTHING to loose give it a shot, many love his amps. For the price VK-500's are going for I don't think you can go wrong, to my ears the 3.6 is slightly forward sounding so a dark/warm sounding amp helps even things out. I am itchy to try the Boulder 1060, Wolcott presence 220 and the new Tenor solid state amp- I would enjoy the later of the group but at 28k retail I would need to get at least 20.1's not to feel like a fool! I see Wolcott's in my system with in the year :)