I have maybe 30,000 CDs that I don’t listen to. It is much easier to pick music off of my home music server using a remote. All that music is now in lossless FLAC format so at my age I don’t have to look for a physical CD and don’t have to refile a CD after using.
Roughly 5 years ago I went shopping for a pair of Magnepan 1.7 speakers. I had the cash in my wallet and intended to come home with a pair. After a 2 hour audition innocently, on a lark, I asked to demo the Magnepan 3.7i speakers and cued up Laura Nyro’s “Met Him on Sunday.” In the first 10 seconds I knew I could never be at peace with the Magnepan 1.7 speakers.
So I told the store owner I’ll be back when I can pay cash for the 3.7i speakers. And I did. I have a Yamaha M2 power amp which needed repairs after driving the Maggies to high levels. Honestly the Maggies sounded much better in the showroom when driven by Classe’ amp and power amps.
I purchased a Sanders Megtech power amp expecting to reveal the magic I heard in the showroom, but honestly - no.
Current system uses a 75” Samsung TV with remote to select music that lives on my home servers. Using the TV’s optical digital out to feed the Rotel RC 1590 pre amp which has the benefit of a remote for volume control. The Rotel feeds the Sanders power amp which powers the Magnepan speakers.
It works, however I have none of transparency, detail, clarity, and soundstage that I am looking for since I first auditioned the maggies.
I have to have some way to select music and control volume without getting out of my recliner and using my walker. I want to get the best out of my maggies. Everything in between the network source and speakers is negotiable.
BTW, my listening space is only 15’ by 23’ and the Classe’ amps made a similar size listening room +95F after 2 hour audition. I can take a little heat until the heat is so excessive I will choose never to use the stereo.
I prefer Jazz, Classical, Blues; almost any quality performance except Rap Music.
I concur, the Rowland 625 or 625S2 power amps are exceptional driving Magnepan 3.7i speakers. Seems like a match made in heaven with great dynamics and soundstaging coupled with an overall effortless and musical presentation.
Well, you don’t mention budget but as an option for you to look at, I’d easily throw in the Anthem STR Power Amp. It’s a hair towards warm from neutral and has 400w of class a/b power per channel which your maggies will love. They pop up used once in a while but I think new they’re still $6500.
Without asking numerous questions, I’d also suggest a better way to stream your music server than using your TV. There’s plenty of options out there which will easily best using your tv to stream your server.
I love Parasound JC1 driving my Magnepan 20.7. The newer JC1+ is getting pricey, but the Parasound A21+ should be almost as good. Or pre-owned JC1 should normally be a good bet and the best value. With air conditioning I run the Parasound at the low bias setting during summertime and have no heat problems.
All these Parasound Halo amps run most of the time in Class A. I don’t think they run as hot as Classe amps, but if you don’t have air conditioning in hot weather you will need a different recommendation. My dealer used a Hegel H400 amp to demo the Maggies. These are class AB amps, and won’t run as hot.
PS Audio Stellar M700 or M1200 are Class D amps which will run cool.
I used the Magtech in summertime to drive Aspen FR20 in my other system, to replace my tube amps. I agree the Magtech is nowhere as buttery as the Parasounds much less my tube amps. Magtech does not do magic, but I wonder if it is sometimes under-rated by people who do not keep it turned on 24/7. The manual says (in bold capital letters) that it is designed to run 24/7 and that it only uses 30 watts in idle. I confirm that it is much more listenable after the first 24 hours.
I have Magnepan1.7i with a pair of Rel T/7i subwoofers and I have a room about the size of yours. I settled on a Pass Labs XA25. Really works well in my room. Some say not enough power which may be true so you may want to look at other Pass models. This is a great sounding amp and many will agree the XA25 works great…
Not owning Maggies I may not be able to offer detailed advice, but I’ve a hunch the Rotel is holding things back significantly. Maybe a PSA Stellar Preamp and a pair of M700/M1200 Class D amps.
There have been good suggestions above. Another possibility would be to find a used Levinson amp, either a 534 or 5302 (or even a new 5302 with their recently-reduced price). And combine it with a used high-quality tube preamp from the likes of VTL, VAC, or Conrad Johnson (not entry-level, but the better gear from those companies).
I have a CJ GAT-S2 preamp and a Levinson 5302 that i use to drive my FR20 loudspeakers, and also from time to time, Magnepan LRS+, and am EXTREMELY happy with this combination.
That was actually intended as part of my question. I like using a TV screen to pick music however there must be a better way to signal path?
I have a high end Oppo disk player with a quality built in DAC, and it has Ethernet. I can HDMI from the Oppo to a pre-amp.
Thank you.
I am still open to more suggestions on what Maggie owners recommend to power their speakers. Every response starts me researching and I am grateful for every response.
I highly recommend you give the PSAudio Stellar M1200 amps a try. I run my Magnepans 1.7i with them and they make them SING. Remember if you buy the M1200’s and dont like them, PSAUDIO will let you return them in 30 days. What better than a home audition!
Sort out your digital front end first. You might be pleasantly surprised by the Magtech amp. I’ve heard that amp driving electrostatic speakers and it’s very revealing, it will highlight any problems upstream of it quite ruthlessly.
You have fantastic speakers and a fantastic amp, sort out a good digital system and I bet you will be happy. A good streamer/dac/preamp can be had in a single unit without breaking the bank. Check out the excellent HiFi Rose 150. It has a large and clear display and sounds great.
Looking at the picture of your system I now agree with @sunshdw that your streaming setup needs improvement before you consider another power amp. In particular you have to get the TV a good distance behind the Maggies. Right now they are blocking the tweeters.
My Maggie system uses Audirvana on a Mac mini, and I actually do sometimes use my tv screen to select my music from Audirvana, but my screen is a good six feet or more behind the speakers. Also the TV set is not part of the audio chain. The Mac mini runs HDMI to the TV used as a computer monitor. The Mac mini runs the audio through a USB to a DAC. You could plug the USB into your OPPO and use its volume control or you could plug the USB into your Rotel preamp, depending on your sound preference or other connectivity requirements.
You might well find moving the TV screen puts it too far away to use as a monitor. You could replace the Mac mini with a laptop at your listening position and run a longer USB. Or you could control Audirvana with an iPad, using its screen. Or, if you are uncomfortable with these computer options, you can get a stand-alone streamer. As @sunshdw stated there are too many questions that need to be asked to figure it out in this forum.
If your powering Maggies I 2nd the Coda 8. Get your source figured out and go from there. Lots of used stuff at TMR. Pass is a great option as well. Cant go wrong with either
I’ve received lots of quality advice, thank you one and all.
My plan so far …
My first priority is a Roon Server which will read my FLAC files on my Synology servers. Cost $500 direct from Roon. I have Ethernet hardwired all over my home.
NOTE: music collection is roughly 55,000 songs from 4,200 CDs on 1.1Tb of disk space. I don’t anticipate the need to stream.
Roon does not support android and/or Samsung pads/tablets. Damn; I’ve avoided Apple all my life. I will need some iPad to view and select music. The least expensive iPad Air costs roughly $400 so for less than $1,000 total I could have a much better digital feed. An Apple iPad Pro 13 could cost $1,300, is much quicker and has a wonderful 13” display however is not necessary for the Roon to function. Feedback? Suggestions? Any Roon users?
This combo will be my first upgrade. I can afford $900 and maybe more for a nice Apple iPad. It may be more of a risk to waste $400 on a old small iPad than spend $1,300 on something nice?
Several folks have highly recommended PS Audio as working with Magnepan speakers in wonderful ways. I believe them. I’ll trust them. A new pair of BHK Mono 300 Power Amps cost $17,000. However there is a pair I can pick up used for $7,000. I am told resale value on PS Audio is not great so I should shop around. I’d only buy the amp if the Roon does not help dramatically improve sound quality.
Alleluia my 130# Black Lab just had cancer surgery and that was my Christmas gift to myself this year. I should recover financially soon and maybe in January purchase the Roon and an iPad.
Does the Roon serve as a preamp or am I missing a pre-amp? A PS Audio BHK Signature Preamplifer new costs $3,500 on sale and when in stock.
