Solid state amp recommendations for Maggies?


I am looking for another amp to drive my magnepan LRS, looking for a solid state amp to deliver more detail than my current tube amp, but don't want to give up (much) of the soundstage and depth.

I have a small listening room with a near field set up, so I don't need a ton of power for ear piercing volume. I listen mostly to acoustic rock, acoustic jazz and female vocalists.  I want more the guitar on Keith don't go and hotel canifornia intro from hell freezes over to  to sound... better...

at the risk of sounding stupid, I am driving these $650 speakers with many thousands of dollars of electronics.  The amp is a Primaluna HP (80wpc using 4 EL34s per channel), CJ ET7 preamp, PS Audio Direct stream DAC and a Naim digital source. All with MG audio silver interconnects and speaker wire. Even the interconnects cost more than the LRS.  

I am very happy with my current set up, but would like to grab another amp to a change of pace.

My budget is $5-8K, used or new.  My room is such that mono blocks set up well, but that is not necessary. 

thoughts/recommendations?

 

 

meiatflask

I was searching for 'Sander's and stumbled on this thread.

I own Magnepan 1.7i.  I don't own LRS, and I bet that they can benefit from $$$ upstream, too.

Amps I've used with the 1.7i - Pass Labs Aleph 30s, Crown K2, Integra Research RDA7, EVS 1200 by Ric Schultz, Sanders Magtech.  The Magtech seems to bring out more bass from Magnepans.  Depending on the size of your room, and listening level, you probably will not run into clipping with a Magtech. 

I believe Roger Sanders chose to use less speaker protection circuitry in the Magtech, which helps the sound quality.  It also has a fully regulated power supply, which helps the amp stay cooler than a class A solid state amp.  I found the Sanders sounded better plugged directly into a wall outlet vs. power supply conditioning.  (I own an Equi=Tech balanced power unit.)

Changing loudspeakers can be a big deal.  I upgraded my Maggie 1.7i with Mye stands, Cardas jumpers, and Cardas spade adapters.  Those 'tweaks' were less significant than trying tweeters inside vs. outside, and trying different speaker placement in the room.

I went back and forth reading about crossover mods, and Peter Gunn Magnestand models.  If I could audition 'gunned' Maggies locally, I would have given them a shot.

My opinion: See if you can wring out the best performance of your LRS before you move 'up' the Magnepan line.  A great amp for the LRS will still be a great amp for a different Magnepan model.

 

 

I used the Parasound A23 Halo with my 1.7 maggie’s And was blown away at how much power it it. More than enough power on tap. Bass sounded super clean, tight and controlled. I used an Aretha tube preamp. The newer A2+ has even more power than older one I used.

I used the Parasound A23 Halo with my 1.7 Maggie’s And was blown away at how much power it had. More than enough power on tap. Bass sounded super clean, tight and controlled. I used an Aretha tube preamp. The newer A23+ has even more power than older one I used. (Revised post). Site still has no feature to edit. 

there are many many solid state amps that can deliver strong, ample current into low impedance loads - which is what is needed to drive maggies to appreciable volumes

maggies are also quite revealing so the input signal and power needs to be very pure, or else the maggies (like many very transparent speakers) will play the bad sound for you to hear, not smooth it over

so, the key is to get a powerful well built high current delivery amp (in all likelihood solid state) that sounds super clean super pure - there are still many out there that meet both criteria, but they are fairly expensive