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Magnepan, How Low Can You Go...power-wise

Hi Guys,

I have used a pair of Maggie 1.6s with a little Naim Nait5i (50wpc) and they sounded ok. I hear a lot of people saying you really need 250wpc to make them sing. I have the opportunity to buy a pair of Maggie 3.6s very cheap in another country where I spend some months each year. I was hoping my Simaudio i7 at 150wpc would be enough power for these. Magnepan won't answer this question firmly - what do you think ?
thomastrouble
fruff1976
103 posts
 
In my experience, 300 wpc was enough to play Lawrence Welk at moderate volumes. If you like Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Yes, Hendrix, The Who, Beatles, Nine Inch Nails or pretty much anything else that isn't chamber music, you should probably sell them and find another speaker.
dordevic
11 posts
 
Hi,
I own 1.6s. 150 watts is not even really enough for the 1.6s, let alone 3.6s.

It's not that they won't play or that they'll sound bad, but they won't really fully "blossom."

Maggies love power, and high-quality power. They're not that expensive, but require amplifiers that are powerful and often, expensive.
magfan
1,583 posts
 
I just looked at the stereophile measurement panel of the Simaudio i-7.
It popped the 8 amp rear panel fuse at 320+ watts into 4 ohms.

That should do, no? especially since the OP seemed at least minimally content with his Nait at 50 watts. This is at least 6db increase.

Figure what? about 200 to 250 'real world' watts.
thomastrouble OP
239 posts
 
Thanks Magfan, though I am a little confused with your answer. Are you saying the Sim will give me 200 -250 watts at 4 ohms and that is ok? I think that is the gist of what you mean. The other thing to remember is the Sim will be running 3.6 Maggies as opposed to my 1.6s and I guess they would take more power to drive.
magfan
1,583 posts
 
As near as I can figure, based on your original post of being 'satisfied' with the 50 watts of the Naim, I'd just suspect the 4x to 5x power of the Simaudio should make you more than satisfied. Naim has its own 'trademark' sound and I am not familiar with any signature sound of the Sim, but just comparing watts to watts, the Sim should work?

Do you still have time to take the SimAudio to a Magnepan dealer and give it a run? That'd be what I'd try.
Having even well intentioned people tell you something definitively without having given it a listen is a recipe for disappointment. I don't want you to get down there and say.....'Those dirty rats! If I catch that MagFan guy I'll wring his neck!'

How much juice did the Bel Canto have? If you GOTTA smuggle it in as 'carryon', that'd be the way to go. About as large as a cigar box!

The sensitivities between the 2 panels is pretty comparable, but the 3.6 has a higher capacity.
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