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Tubes for Magnepan’s.

I think next up on my acquisition list is a tube amplifier. I'm not looking for the be all end all, cause I don’t think there is a definitive "Best", so am looking for as good as I can get for $3-4k.


Because tubes drive speakers so much more efficiently than solid state I am only looking for 40-50 watts to drive my modded Maggie’s, 1.7i's. (Or what you have when you add a new crossover and planer tweeters to 1.7i's.) Maybe 2.7x? I haven’t settled on that yet. And I have some Zu Dirty Weekend's upgraded to the max coming in in 2 months to replace my KEF's.

Anyway, I haven’t had a tube device since my Halicrafter short wave radio, and reviews are not the same as advice from people that own something. There is a Rouge Audio dealer in my area, last I looked, (opps, they no longer carry them), so I may have to go to another market to hear something, or get a try before you buy from a manufacturer or dealer.

You folks have taught me a lot, and I think asking users is the right thing to do on this change in direction.

Thanks in advance.
william53b
william53b's avatar
william53b OP
211 posts
 
@russ69

Thank you. I don’t listen to the Maggie’s, 99% of the time, at high volume. And I will also use it to drive the Zu’s on and off.

The instrument and studio supply company Sweetwater has a piece on guitar head amps and how a tube amp of modest wattage will outdrive solid state by a wide margin: Now I can’t find it! Argh! I will look.

Any suggestions on a tube preamp? I like Schiit audio and have considered the Freya, but if I go that route I may want better sound from a pre than what the Freya is reported to provide.

Again, I am lost here.
russ69's avatar
russ69
3,573 posts
 
I've only had a few tube preamps, a Head, a Conrad Johnson PV, a couple of Audio Research, and a Cary SLP-98. I kept the Cary. In the budget preamp segment I would look at the Quicksilver but I have never heard that one myself.  
jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,612 posts
 
tubes and maggies are NOT a great combination

of course you can make it work, but the impedance and efficiency characteristics of the maggies make it hard to most tube amps (save very high powered ones) to do their best

maybe in a smallish room at fairly low volumes with pretty simple music...

ps - tube watts seem more powerful than ss amp watts but that is more due to distortion characteristics of tubes vs ss clipping, and also, widely varying power ratings manufacturers put out there for marketing spec sheets

key point is that well built ss amps can double power output into 4 ohms versus their basic 8 ohm load rating... tube amps cannot do this and can struggle to deliver even the same power in 4 ohms versus 8...

good luck
ozzy62's avatar
ozzy62
3,372 posts
 
About 20 years or so ago I drove Magnepan 1.6s with a 100 watt Music Reference RM9. This was in a 26 x16 room and it drove them to any level I cared to listen at. I know this isn't a match on paper, but it worked splendidly in the real world. Now when I upgraded to 3 series Maggies, the RM9 couldn't hack it.

Oz



william53b's avatar
william53b OP
211 posts
 
@russ69 

Well the used market can come into play, and I may be able to pick up a better quality tube unit that way. And I was thinking more for the tube amp price wise at around $4k. 
The Schiit just came to mind as something to fiddle with, but that is not the max I would be willing to spend to go that route.
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