2. amps-preamps
  3. 149186-5938

My speakers are set. Magnepan Tympani IVs

A year ago I acquired a pair of restored Tympani IVs (not IVa). I have been driving them with an Adcom  GFA - 555 that I have had for decades.  The matching pre-amp died and has been replaced with a Schiit SYS Passive pre.

The primary source was CD but has transitioned to a Bluesound Node 2 running TIDAL. I will be playing the MQAs whenever possible. My musical tastes are eclectic, with a pronounced preference for female vocalists, piano and acoustic guitar. Genres include rock of the 60s, jazz, folk, world, Celtic and classical.

The Tympanis do not suffer from the lower register issues to the same degree as some of the other Magnepans, but are still prone to occasionally overwhelming highs.  New components should tend towards the warm to mitigate this issue.

It is time to upgrade the amp.  The consensus judgement of people whom I respect and whom own these speakers are that they should be bi-amped.  Options include separate amps for highs and lows and an electronic crossover (Horizontal ?) or monoblocks (Vertical ?)   

I am only into the Tympanis for $1000, but have budgeted $2000 for amplification. One thing I have come to learn is that the traditional percentages of investment don’t always apply when Magnepans are involved as they offer such a high sound quality/cost ratio.

Cables and room treatments are on the to-do list. As always, I am here to draw upon the experience of the Audiogon community.  Please share your thoughts.  If you see something for sale here, please call it out as I am having trouble sorting through the plethora of options.
kythyn
kythyn OP
57 posts
 
mijostyn, if you look at my virtual system you can see my current setup and positioning.  I’d appreciate your feedback on what you see.

jssutter, I understand the hesitance about the Crowns. What other options, biamped or not would you suggest?

roberjerman, I take it that you agree with bdp24’s position that power is the primary requirement for the base panels. What would you recommend for the tweeter / midrange amplification?
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
kythyn

The Tympani IV are a great speaker, a while back a cusomer had a pair with CD and my passive pre.
He wanted a balls to the wall amp for them, so he trial’d Allan Wright’s (RIP) massive monoblock tube amps, and they sounded great, then the next day for an A/B I bought around my own built (2 man lift) water-cooled pure Class-A amp. Class-A up to 150w @ 8ohms then 200w to A/B, stable down to 1ohm with massive current 36 x BJT output solid state, he bought it on the spot after hearing it.
So I would suggest a pair of used Parasound Halo JC1’s on the high bias Class-A setting, or for more $$$ one of the Gryphon amps which are also able to have high Class-A settings.

Cheers George
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,543 posts
 
Good luck finding a pair of JC1's or a Gryphon for $2,000! What CAN be done at that price is a cheap high-powered amp on the bass panels, and a better amp on the m/t (that Maggie ribbon tweeter reveals any grain or hardness in an amp). Bi-amping removes the power requirements of the bass panels, making the use of a (relatively) lower-powered (say, a hundred watts into 4 ohms), sweeter-sounding amp on the m/t panel. The high-pass filtering can be done cheaply by installing an r/c network (just a single cap and resistor) on the input jacks of the m/t amp, only an active 3rd-order filter then required for the bass amp. As I said above, the Dahlquist DQ-LP1 is perfect for the job.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
What CAN be done at that price is a cheap high-powered amp on the bass panels
Yeah a class-D they’re good for that.

and a better amp on the m/t (that Maggie ribbon tweeter reveals any grain or hardness in an amp).

And high biased Class-A a/b amp maybe a used Parasound Halo A21 or 23
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9e24e-parasound-halo-a21-solid-state

This was Absolute Sounds take on the John Curl designed Halo A21

Its treble wasn’t rolledoff, airless, bloomless, or dead, nor was its upper midrange notably bright and aggressive or caramel-colored.



Cheers George

tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,869 posts
 
The A-21 is quite good even with revealing Carbon tweeter in the Vandersteen s
the RM-200 also
might I also suggest calling Roger at MR, he has some old stock Beveridge active filters, they are not going to be $400 but they will be lifetime keepers

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