Stellar GCD and S300 awaiting Maggie 1.7i

Audio Components
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So I took the leap and went for the Stellar GCD and S300, along with a Dectet.

I’ve been burning them in for the past week. My local dealer encouraged me to bring the GCD/S300 (even though they’re not a PS Audio dealer) in and test them on their demo 1.7i, so I did and everything sounded wonderful.

I expect my Magnepan 1.7i will be in late this week or next week. After a week of near 24/7 burn in, what difference in sound can I expect? Perhaps more pressing is…of course the M700 have over twice the power, but how much better do they sound compared to the S300? They’re the same basic architecture, right?

I’m thinking about adding a Maggie DWM bass panel in the future, depending now how these things work with my room.

Thoughts?

EDIT: OK, the M700s are on their way. :smiley:

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They are not the same basic architecture - though the output stages are both based on ICE modules. The mono block Stellar’s are significantly better sounding than the S300. Both use the Analog Power Cell but each model is specifically hand tuned to work its magic together. If you can take the plunge on the monoblocks.

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I concur with Paul. I upgraded from S300 to M700s last week. There is a significant difference. I can’t pick one area that is better. All are, deeper base, bigger sound stage with far less effort. I have efficient speakers at 91dB although they can get below 4 ohms at some frequencies. I think you would like the M700s for the maggies. I have never owned Magnepans but I believe they like power.

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What would be the easiest way to go about swapping the S300 for the M700s?

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If you work with us directly just a phone call’s all that’s needed. 1-800psaudio

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I ordered them directly from you. I might just give you a call soon.

2 Likes
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Ok, ordered. My wallet hates good equipment.

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If I eventually get the Maggie DWM bass panel, how would you recommend I wire them? I don’t think the amps would like the 2 Ohm load if I wired them in parallel.

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Please do.

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Magnepan recommends wiring the bass panel in parallel if you are using a high current amplifier that doubles its power output at 4 ohms compared to 8 ohms.

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Yeah, I saw that recommendation. My concern is that there would only be a 2 Ohm load on the amp.

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This is not inherently bad or a problem, as long as the amp can deliver the current asked of it to produce the volume you want. Many speakers dip to 2 Ohms and below. The S300 is robust and is a high current amplifier so it is better suited than most.

Perhaps Paul and clan will chime in with a specific recommendation/reaction.

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@Paul any thoughts on this?

Thanks!

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Shouldn’t be a problem. The amp can handle 2Ω loads as long as there’s not a big dip in impedance at some point. The good news is Maggies are pretty smooth on their resistance.