Tube-amp for Magnepan?


Hi.I have currently tested Audio Research VT60 with my old Maggies (MG2A),
It seems that the 50w is too weak in power.I experienced a lot of distortion already at "10 oclock"-position on the preamp.(could there be something wrong with the tubes?) At low volumes it sounded fantastic!
The 4ohm connection was a lot worse than 8ohm.The Maggies are 6 ohms...
A friend suggested either a VT100 from AR or maybye Mcintosh 275.The latter is more in my budget..I currenty run a Papworth MIA200 ,200W solid state-quite good but a bit boring.I really want to test out tubes!Have anyone any recomandations?
efuglset
I used my Tad 1000 monos (sadly no longer available) on "Gunned" 1.6's and SMGA's and the results were outstanding, even John, aka Peter Gunn oddly enough thought the bass from the Tad's sounded better than his Pass 250 The 1000's are rated at 100 wpc but have excellent dynamic range and wouldn't hesitate using them with maggies
I also run Manley mono 250s with my 20.1s. Using SED Winged C EL34s, Marconi-Osram A2900s and RCA black longplate 12BH7s. Don't have any trouble with bass extension and with my tube preamp have been able to dial in a just-the-other-side-of-neutral warm sound....the way I like it.
I lived with a pair of highly modified MG IIIA's for many years, and tried many different amps with them, both ss and tubed. I always returned to tubes, and settled on Manley 200's, which I use to this day (with different speakers). For me, the issue was always one of excessive leanness with ss amps. Only tubes would make the speakers sound dimensional enough, and with enough fullness to sound realistic. But when they did, they sounded glorious. The other issue was that ss amps, regardless of pedigree, made worse the Maggie's main flaw (for me). That is, the obvious discontinuity between the ribbon tweeter, and the planar midrange. With ss, the ribbon's superior speed and resolution was laid bare, and became an annoyance. With tubes, there was much better integration of the two different frequency ranges. I always preferred the handling of dynamics with tubes.

MG II's don't have a ribbon tweeter, so continuity between tweeter and mid will be, in theory, better. A good modern ss amp might give you a needed sense of clarity in the very top end, but I doubt that you will be able to get the kind of dimensionality that a good tube amp will. My Manley's put out 100 watts in triode, and it was pleny of power. Good luck.
No disrespect to the thread......but glad to hear from satisfied Manley amp owners. I bought the Manley's in 05 and talked to Paul Fargo who heads up their tech support. What sold me was that he stated these amps were "voiced" for the Maggies. At this point in our conversation he did not know I owned a pair of the 3.6's.
I have recently bi-amped my 20.1 with a VTL ST-150 (75 w in triode mode) on top and 120w/ch Bel Canto on the bottom through a Bryston 10B crosover. I'm upgrading from 600w/ch solid state.
The enjoyment increase resulting from this change is astounding.