Magnum Dynalab 308 drive Magnepan 1.7 or 3.6?

Ctunney,

I own a pair of 1.7's and drive them with a Krell 300s at 300 wpc into 4 ohms.

The Krell was a remarkable improvement over my old Mac MA6300 at 160 wpc into 4 ohms.

To my ear, the upgrade resulted in more dynamics and more detail.

Just as an FYI, the Magnum Dynalab integrateds and receivers were built and/or designed by Simaudio. MD did the tuner section, but not sure about who did what else.

Not sure if yours is a rebadged Simaudio integrated or not, nor which Sim it would be if it was.

I say all this because if you can determine what the comparable Simaudio integrated is, you may get a lot more people who have experience with the pairing.

I drive MG 1.7s with a Musical Concepts modded Hafler DH-200 in a room thats about 25x 24... 100 watts per channel into 8 ohms. About the only thing that taxes that amount of power so far is the Telarc SACD of the 1812 overture with cannons.

Thanks for everyone's responses. I have spent a lot (probably too much) time on Audiogon in the last month reading forums and searching for equipment. I ordered the 1.7s 3 weeks ago from my local dealer. My guess is that I will have to wait another month or so to receive them.

And... I bought a Bryston 4B-ST and a TAD 150 Preamp, both used through Agon. From what I read, it sounds like the Bryston should be a safe bet with the Maggies. And I bought the TAD 150 because I wanted to try a tube pre that had a remote and didn't cost more than $1000 (which wasn't that easy for me to find, incidentally). I am planning on selling my Magnum Dynalab soon.

I can't wait to get the 1.7s. Thanks for the advice on placement, Magfan. I wouldn't have guessed to try them "backwards". And I will definitely pull them out as far as they need to go. After putting all the time and money I have into this, I don't want to compromise on the placement even a hair...

Ctunney,

You made excellent choices in acquiring the TAD 150 preamp and the Bryston 4BST amp. The tubed 150 should add a touch of warmth and bloom to the ss Bryston's powerful and detailed presentation. It's also a very good impednce match since the TAD's output impedance is 600 ohms and the Bryston's input impedance is 60k ohms.
The new (to you)amp has plenty of power (400 watts@4 ohms) to drive your future Maggie 1.7 spkrs. Do you know the Bryston carries a 20 year transferrable warranty? Make sure you get all relevant info from the seller and contact Bryson to transfer it to your name.
And by buying your preamp and amp used, they should both be broken in already. But remember the 1.7s will require a break in period of several hundred hours before they sound their best, they may sound a little bright initially, but should sound better and better as they break in.
Well, I think I'm starting to sound like a dealer or spokesman (I'm neither, I swear)so I'll end here by just saying again what a great job you've done on putting your new system together. It all looks very well put together, well matched and synergistic on paper but please post again, after you've set everything up and listened to and ejoyed it for awhile, and give us your thoughts. Have fun.