Help! Forte, Linn, Magnepan. NOT RIGHT?

Well Unsound, you may have the best advice of all, make an offer. Retail was ~$2,700.

I LOVED the Forte 1A (50w/ch stereo) with my Thiel 1.2's and also with a much earlier Vandersteen 2C, but I really think it would run out of gas driving the big maggies. I had compared the 1A to higher powered Counterpoint and B&K M200's, but I loved the magic of the Forte. With the Thiels, though, the Forte could get a little hard and thin when pushed too loud. Sorry, but I think you need more amp than the Forte with those speakers. Unfortunately, I can't recommend a better sounding amp in that price range, certainly not one that will drive the Maggies. Good luck.

At first blush, it sounds like you're dealing with two different issues. The first, the quality of the sound - harsh and fatiguing - sounds like a source issue. Your amps are fairly high-rez so you're likely hearing the character of the CD player pretty clearly. An outboard DAC like a used Theta Pro Prime IIa might make things more listenable. Last time I looked, the Thetas were fairly abundant and going at just over 1/3 of the $1,500 list. But figure on another $100 for a good used digital coax. The other issue, good for jazz but crap for rock is a speaker issue. In general, large cabinet floorstanders excel with dynamics (rock) but can sound unrefined compared to stiff little monitors which image like crazy and are great for acoustic music (jazz and vocals). Maybe it's a myth, but I remember hearing that maggies were ideal for large scale music (classical?). A pal o' mine has been trying to make his sound right for 25 years. Maybe that's half the fun. Hang in there.

My first response would be the Forte equipment. I will just give you a brief history of my trials, maybe that will help you. I will start off back over 10 years ago when I was using a Denon integrated amp (they called it a pre-main amp), this was only about 40 watts. I replaced it with a Heath amp and preamp setup, I gained clarity but lost some punch. The fun didn't seem to be there if I were to play something like rock. I had sold the Denon to friend and we traded for a weekend and the Denon was definately "more fun" but it lacked the clarity of the Heath setup. I started trying different preamps, I tried Adcom, Bryston and ended buying a Forte Model 2 in 4/91 as it was the only one that made enough difference to justify the purchase; but I only gained in clarity. I thought maybe a speaker change would help, I was using Polk RTA12c's, so in 8/91 I bought Mirage M3's, still no punch, but great claity. I then started trying amps, I ended up with a Forte Model 6, again it was clearly better than my Heath so I justified the cost, but still no low end, no fun! As the years went by I made some CD changes but I hated my system, I told my wife I wanted to sell it all and buy a little integrated amp, decent speakers and leave it at that. I had a decent amount of money into my system and I found it embarassing, I had clarity but no life! The saga continues...In 11/94 I bought Linn Keilidh speakers, I think they added a little more low end but the M3's had better clarity, it still didn't make me happy. In 10/96 I bought Linn AV5140 speakers which I liked and still use today, but still wasn't the answer. BTW, as I said earlier, I had been making a number of CD upgrades throughout this process, by 1/96 I was using a Theta Data Basic transport w/Theta Pro Prime II DAC. Before I move to the next section, let me say that I had heard many a nice system at the local highend store through the years. But finally the day came when I heard what I knew I was looking for. My local store started carrying Meridian. In 8/97 I bought a Meridian 557 amp and 502 preamp and from the instant I turned it on I was elated, and have been ever since! My system now has life and punch! Four months later, 12/97, I added the Meridian 508.24 CD player for the whole package. Ok, so it wasn't brief, but it's my story. Even though you have tried other amps, keep looking. As for the Linn dealer in Chicago, I deal with them also, I can't think of their name, it's a strange one. The salesman I had here in Michigan, Chris Berry, moved over the that store. I drove over there last year.

Hi, I have had a pair of T1Ds forever, I have tried everything, biamping etc, I then bought some New York Audio Labs OTL 3 monoblocks, incredible sound in my 14 by 22 room. Beats any ARC stuff by a mile. All the techs say this should be a mismatch because the Maggies are 4 ohm and the amps do not like 4 ohm speakers, but if you get a chance, listen to this combo. If you do not need 110 DB,you will be happy. These amps sell for 1-2 thousand a pair.