Which Amp for Magnepan MG 3.6/R?

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 :)

Hi Tok20000!

I did get a chance to hear the GamuT D200. The system consisted of an Elecrtrocompaniet EMC 1 CD player, a Herron VTSP 1A preamp, and the Von Schweikert VR4 Gen III SE loudspeakers with JPS cables and interconnects. The overall sound was excellent, but I felt that the GamuT D200 added what I would describe as a "relentless" quality to the upper midrange, lower treble. The amp was certainly detailed, transparent, and dynamic with an excellent low-end response. The soundstage was wide and deep but not quite as voluminous as some more expensive tubed designs I have heard. There was a lack of harshness, brightness, and grain, but the treble was not quite as airy as a pair of Krell FPB 350 MCs ($17,500), nor did the midrange have the same three-dimensionality and overall atmospheric quality of a VTL MB750 reference ($20,000). But for $5,500, it's a very hot product that will do justice to any system that is tilted more toward the warm side. Perhaps the VR4 Gen III and the D200 are not a good match? As for handling the load presented by the Magnepan 3.6/R, the impendence curve of that loud speaker drops to a low of about 3 ohms, well within the capabilities of the D200.

Best regards,

That is cool Artar1.

Personally, I think those tonality problems would be fixed with a better source and better power cords and maybe even a better preamp. Anyway, it is hard to pin down what device is causing any one problem in a system without knowing a system well and a lot of trial and error component replacing.

I think the GamuT should be able to drive the VR4's without any issue.

Anyway, it is good to hear someone say something about the D-200. Because it is not that well known of an amp here in the US, people really do not realize just how great it sounds. At it's price point it is a good value. Used it is practically a steal.

KF

Hi Tireguy!

You have reached a very expensive crossroads in the design and development of your system. Because you are not using an active preamp, but instead are running the BAT VK500 directly off your Audio Aero Capitole CD player, you will experience high transparency and detail perhaps at the cost of harmonic body and some loss of soundstage width and depth. To preserve your transparency and detail to a large degree while increasing body, texture, and atmosphere, a tube amplifier would be in order. The Wolcot amp would be a good choice, although I have not seen or heard one. It will set you back by a little over nine thousand. The perfect match with your Maggies would be a VTL MB750, which offers 360 watts triode into a 4 ohm load. I have heard this amp with the Magnepan 3.6/R along with a VAC Renaissance preamp ($28,200), and it was an awesome combination, as one would expect. The VTL had been modified at the factory at no additional cost with a premium wire that improved the upper octave air and detail of the unit. Well, at $20,000, it puts this amp out of reach for me, and this monoblock amp is huge! Not only that, it really pumps out a lot of heat; it could easily warm your living room in winter, I kid you not. I made the mistake of putting my head over one of the amps and got a blast of hot air for my ignorance.

Another alternative would be for you to buy a tubed preamp to increase the body and soundstage width and depth of your system. You will notice an increase in texture and atmosphere too at a cost of ultimate detail and transparency, not to mention a slight increase in noise in the form of tube hiss that you will hear on very quiet passages when you sit a little too close to the Maggies.

Another possibility would be to change loudspeakers and/or to buy the Wolcot amp. But keep in mind that the Wolcot amp will cut your available power in half when compared to the BAT VK500.

These are not good alternatives. It's what keeps us changing equipment in a never-ending quest to find the right system.

Best regards,

Artar1- Thanks for the input I think you may be right partially about my complaints being related to the no preamp in my system, I have how ever heard the audio aero run direct in two other systems and they did not have this problem, they were also using tube amps as where I am still using a solid state. I do think a lot of my complaints will be taken care of with the Wolcott's- I think I just made my new years resolution! It is a lot of scratch but I do like these speakers- if I can talk her into doing it I want Jena Labs to make me some custom crossovers using what she knows I can only imagine they would be AMAZING, but for the price I would be better off getting the 20.1's and then when money allows have the crossovers upgraded. Choices choices!, Again thank you for your input ~Tim