My speakers are set. Magnepan Tympani IVs

@atmasphere, thanks for mentioning the RM-200, it unfortunately is not as well recognized as Roger's other designs, but it is quite a work horse. It is also fully balanced from input to output, the only time Roger made a commercially available balanced amp. The amp has 8, 4, 2, and 1 ohm taps and is the only tube amp I am aware of that puts out more power into lower speaker loads.

@kythyn, there are a few Martin Logan customers we know of that use the RM-200, and I believe @bdp24 owns one, but not sure he has used it with his Maggies. Personally I like the idea of bi-amping.

kythyn OP
Georehii - thanks for all your help. I will know in the next couple days if I can stretch to a pair of the JC1s. Will hey work with my passive preamp or should I start looking for another preamp, and should it be tube or S.S.?

Perfect, as the JC1’s only need 1v in to give their full output of 400w!!!!
Definitely no need for any active preamp with gain, and the input impedance is 100k XLR and 50k SE again perfect for a passive.

And don’t discount the A21 they will also drive the Tympani’s full range, but if you can, get the JC1’s because with those you can up the anti on the Class-A with the bias switch on the back, and they will sing in the mids/highs and give bass like nothing else mentioned here, except for the bigger Gryphon’s but they will cost big time.

Cheers George

@kythyn Well, ARC has so many products out there today and I have been out of the retail audio business for a long time, so it is not easy for me to suggest current products.  If your dealer sells AR, borrow a few and see what you hear.  I would guess that Maggies still respond well to the tight bass they had on the D-76A and D-150, but those amps are way out of production (1970's) and have been replaced with better ones, I would guess.  As for a pre-amp, I like phono sections since I like records, so borrow one with a phono section if they have one and you play records.  ("LS" ARC preamps do NOT have phono sections.)

Failing in that (your dealer does not carry ARC products and no one near you does), I would go after a medium-priced used tube amp with the most power you can afford.  While the IV's are more efficient than earlier models, with Maggies, the more the merrier, especially on those power-hungry low notes in both modern and orchestral recordings.  Match it with a tube ARC pre-amp from the same basic generation as the amp you get and I would guess it would work out fine.  Also, Maggies work well with ARC external crossovers (if you can find one!), so you may eventually bi-amp in the future.

BUT, don't ever keep anything you don't love.  We always asked customers to bring their favorite tunes to the shop to play on the system they were evaluating, but also cautioned them that their ROOM was more important to the sound than the equipment.  Thus, we always let the customer take the stuff home and try it out there.  Of course, we went out to set it up correctly for them, but then they decide what to keep.

Buying used is somewhat treacherous, of course, but a seller who is also a dealer is fairly safe; get it all in writing!  Failing that, there is always this site or evil bay.  They have a pair of 600 monoblocks right now for $8650, which is a steal if they work properly (AND if you have $8650 lying around, of course!).  There is also a 100MK3 for $5900 and so forth.  Your budget is the key, of course, and new is better than used, usually(!), so starting  your journey at your dealer and going out from there would be my best advice for now.  If I still sold all that stuff, I would take care of your requirements; any good dealer will.

Cheers!

Richard

@kythyn Sorry, forgot to suggest you buy electronics that ARC still services.  OR, make sure you have access to a company to service older ARC stuff.  They have been bought out, and only service some of the older stuff due to parts, time, their desire to sell you something new, etc.

MANY good deals on evil bay; hard to tell what will be best, but look at the sellers' ratings before buying, and communicate with the seller many times before buying any electronics, please.  You can get a good deal if you perform due diligence.  I see several out there now I would go after if I were in the market and had the funds!

(Don't buy a C-2 Corvette unless you have tons of extra hobby money lying about!)

Cheers,

Richard