Jeff Rowland 201´s or Ayre V-5 X

Mikemitchell1, if you enjoied the JRDG 302, you should have a listen to the new 312: wonderful to my ears. . . it's my current favorit amp. . . heard it just the other week at RMAF in the Soundings suite.
DBLD, I heard the M201 driving a pair of Maggie 3.6s. . . sounded extremely charming, but with the big Maggies they tended to run out of staem on the more dynamic passages. . . nothing catastrophic, but all of the sudden -- when things got a little excited -- depth of field was lost and things became a little glassy. I doubt the problem would happen driving slightly smaller Maggies like the 1.6s. Optionally, you can try the Rowland 501s. . . same general sound, but with loads more authority and headroom. I heard The M501 driving the demanding Vienna Mahlers squarely and without any looseness in the bass even in the most demanding passages.

This thread is a bit old since I posted. At the time I had Legacy Focus 20/20s which can be pretty demanding on an amp. Guidocorona - I hear what you are saying about the Macs. I did have an MC-352 for a while and it had no problem at all driving the Focus 20/20s. Now I have Legacy Whispers driven by Theta Enterprises and couldn't be happier. These amps got a horrible review in Stereophile, but are just fantastic IMO. The most notable difference is with SACD/DVD-A material. The superiority of these higher resolution discs is much more apparent now that I have the Enterprises.

That's interesting info DBLD. What is the efficiency and impedance curve of the Legacy Whispers? The Enterprises are on my short list of amps to listen to. What is the main criticism from Stereophile? Guido

Guido - I don't know the Whisper impedance curve, but they are rated at 4 ohm nominal and about 95 or 96 dB efficient, I don't remember off the top of my head.

The Stereophile review seemed to start well, but then MF began some deep criticisms mostly in comparison to his tube amps as I remember (but my memory doesn’t always serve me well). I was informed that the amps he had were brand new and unbroken-in, but you never really know. Even my amps sounded sterile and flat when they were new which matched his observations. I left them playing when I went on a trip to get the hours up. Now they are really nice. I wouldn't have believed this burn in thing if I hadn't noticed it myself.

In the end it always seems to be a question of synergy anyway, as much as that complicates matters and frustrates us.

Ayre! The Rowlands are too lifeless, dead and boring sounding (digital and analytical!) . I had the 501 monos, but sold them. Now I have Theta amps.