Power Amp advice

Well as long as I had everything disconnected I turned the unit over and tightened all the screws on the bottom. This would include the screws that secure the transistors to the chassis. Some were very tight. All were tighter than finger tight. a couple I could not tighten. I suspect the issue with the ones I couldn’t tighten is that the glue that makes the nuts on the other side ’fixed’ has at some point during the last 25 years or so become ineffective.

Silence again (for now). 15 minutes in and still silent.I will post again if it resumes its wordless song.

I am still interested in what amp people think might be an appropriate upgrade for my Magnepan 1.7i’s and 6SN7 tube pre-amp considering a (roughly) $2,000 budget.

Hi Mark, I have a pair of 1.7i Magneplanar speaker and love them, especially with my new Mye Stands. I started out with a pair of Schiit Vidars running as monoblocks. Those are a good recommendation within your budget. Overall, when I had them, they were fine expect for the time of when one of them went into thermal protection when I was playing Jeff Beck loud. But I think if you watch the volume and they are in a well ventilated area, they should work for you. I have since I graded to a pair of Bryston 4B3 amps run in Bridge Mode as monoblocks. No issues and sound great. You could also likely by one 4B3 and run it in stereo mode. For cost considerations you can see if Bryston has a model that is lower in cost than the 4B3 that you can run in stereo or bridge/ mono mode. The Bryston amps may be out of your price range but they run well and with no issues. If the budget needs to be maintained, look for Schiit Vidars which sometimes you can find on B-Stock. Here or usaudiomart or on eBay for a good bit less than retail. Good luck!

I ran through a number of amps for my 3.6 Maggies and discovered McIntosh MC501 mono blocks.   

You will probably not need that much power, but a smaller McIntosh might fit your needs, even if you have to atretch the budget a bit.

Maggies and Mac are magic to my ears.  Others may differ.

I have had three sets of Maggie's. 2 1.7s and one 1.7i .started with a onkyo 805 reciever which was a high currant amp at 185 w @ 4 ohms. Oh. Than some sales man sold me a McIntosh mc 50 and that was an improvement but still no omg. Thank another salesperson said it will sing with a McIntosh mc 275 tube amp great imaging a smooth sounding but still something missing. Than I bought a parasound A21+. WOW!!! Paired with a Parasound p5 it was off to the races . Only 5 years to get there but worth it.  P.S. I just changed the stock tweeter jumper to a solid copper wire and removed the fuse and inserted a brass tube in place. Nice improvement.  Goodluck 

If you can buy a Pass Labs X250.5 for $2.200 US you better jump on that and run.