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Integrated amp recommendation for Maggie .7's

As the title states I'm looking for an amp recommendation for my Magnepan .7's.

I'm currently using a Belles Aria Signature pre with a pair of Signature monos.

@jjss49 recently described the Belles sound thusly:

"i have owned the belles aria (twice), along with numerous hegels, ayres, some upper older musical fidelities

david belles’ aria is a nice integrated, powerful, very stoutly built, nice phono stage in it too (the remote control is downright cheap though)

sonically, i found the belles to have a little more of a brash personality - more treble energy, some sizzle, a little grain, compared to the more refined hegel and ayre sound... so it depends if you want that or your speakers benefit from a little more sizzle up top...

the ayre, hegel and top flight retro musical fidelity amps (a308, muvista etc) provide a degree of treble sophistication of even higher tier solid state amplification (ample detail and soundstaging free of attendant electronic harshness)"

This seems to jive with my own feelings as well. I've owned probably a dozen different pairs of speakers and the Belles gear has always been the common denominator. 

I'd love to keep my budget to $5k new or used. I don't think I can get an Ayre that will mate well with the Maggies at my budget. It's possible that I can get an Aesthetix Mimas used around the $5k mark. 

Hegel is a brand I have absolutely no experience with. 

Much appreciated!

128x128audionoobie
jafant's avatar
jafant
19,602 posts
 

audionoobie

 

Excellent suggestions as above. If considering solid-state, Anthem or AYRE.

If considering Tubes, Aesthetix or B.A.T.

 

Happy Listening!

helomech
1,673 posts
 

Why an integrated? As a fellow .7 owner, I can assure you that a pre-owned Parasound A21 and a decent SS preamp will perform better than any <$5K integrated. I used a Topping A90D with the A21 and it was far better than Hegel. 

jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,612 posts
 

i for one am a big fan of hegel - as amps for maggies they are superb for delivering the current and damping factor to get the best out of the speakers -- further, the hegels fully support the magnepan sonic ethos by not editorializing on the absolutely pristine, refined, tonally accurate sound the speakers can produce, which is beyond 90+% of the dynamic speakers out there - as such, the hegels are very close to straight wire with gain (and power), do not add sizzle, bloat or grain, and do not diminish the already limited bass output of the planars

often new owners of maggies use hegels and feel ’something is missing’ -- that something, in my opinion, is classic dynamic speaker distortion the user has gotten used to hearing...

if you want extra ’sauce’ delivered into the sound, do it at the source stage - one can credibly assert that that is not the power amp’s function

gls12350
1 posts
 

Rogue Audio amps marry well with Magnepan. I have been using the Sphinx with my .7s and am very satisfied.

niskymichael
31 posts
 

I agree with those who have found that Rogue amps have a nice synergy with Maggies. I’d recommend either the Sphinx or Cronus Magnum. I’m currently running a Kinki Studio EX-M1 integrated with my 1.7i Maggies. An excellent pairing. Plenty of power and dynamics, and quite clean and neutral. Good luck!

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