ConradJohnson: Tubes or S/State for Maggies.

I will be the contrarion here. I use a premier 11a to power Martin Logan ReQuests. I have it out of my system as a KT90 gave up the ghost and I am waiting on a replacement set of tubes for it. In the interim I have a beloved old Hafler 500 powering my ReQuests. For my money I would pick tubes everytime and go with ideally the 12's if you have the cash but I personally would buy a premier 11a or a solid state CJ. I think tubes make a definite improvement over sound quality with the exception of dynamics. I can't wait to get the 11a retubed & back in the system and it does a fine job for 85% of my music listening. It just can't cook the Who or Led Zeppelin on the rare occassions I want to relive my youth.

I would recommend you definitely try both tubes and solid state amps if you have the chance before you make the plunge. For what is worth I have never heard solid state CJ gear but I adore their tube gear so temper my comments with this confession.

Have Fun.

Steelhead,
I have an 11A and wasn't aware you could use KT90's in it. How would the sound be different from Svetlana 6550's and would any modification be needed?

I used a cj MF2300 MOSFET amp on my Maggie 3.5r's for seven years before switching late last year to a pair cj premier 12's. I agree with Steelhead above - tubes are where it's at. You may suffer somewhat in dynamics, but, for my money too, the tube sound mates well with the maggies. As a matter of fact, long ago I used the original cj MV75 tube amp on a pair of Maggie IIIA's with great results. Go for the tube amp - you won't regret it!

Well, there you have it. CJ is a real option. However, we are split between tubes and ss...the same old story. Nothing wrong with that. It comes down to your inner self this time. The consensus is that you cannot go wrong with a CJ amp and your speakers.

For what's it worth, the one thing that I noticed about the MF 2250A vs. MV 60 was the noise level. The 2250A is dead quite, more so than the MV 60. If you can get this with the Premiers, then you will have a difficut choice. The MF is simply silent and pure.

I love this forum.... 3 votes for solid state, 3 votes for tubes! Nothing is straightforward in this hobby, that's for sure. I think I am going to get a 2250 or 2500 and see how it sounds, and do a comparison with a pair of Quad II forty monos driving the maggies; (I use these in my main set up driving Quad 988's). That should give me an idea how the tubes compare to the s/state and take it from there.
Thanks for all the opinions; I have a clearer idea of what I want to do as a result of your input.
Cheers,
Peter