Will Creek 5350 SE drive Magnepan 1.6QR?

My dealer has the Bryston b-60/Maggie combo...used it would be in your price range...and very good bass response from the Bryston...

Point of order. You get bass response from the speaker drivers, not the amplifier. What you want from an amp is power sufficient for the drivers, but not such much to risk damage, and the minimal distortion. If it is low enough, like say ATI <0.005% over a 5hz-50khz frequency range, and the lower frequencies got onto the source material, then its up to your speakers to reach down that far and accuratly resond.

Do you know the degree of distortion of the amp? Is it <0.1% over a 5hz-50khz frequency range. There are amps with way less (ATI for instance is <0.005%), but anything more and I think you are pretty much out of the 'hi-fi' catagory.

What do you mean by 'good'?

Can't have too much power for the Maggies. Infact, I really don't think you can ever have too much power. Maybe too much zeal with your volume control. Prudence with the volume knob= healthy speakers.

If you put more power into the speaker than they are made to stand damage will result. That is why the mfgr gives minimum power requirement, and Maximum to protect them.

I am curious why Magnapan so sidesteps the power issue unlike any other mfgr. Even if there is no concensus among the users how much power they 'like' for them to 'sound' a certain way. Perplexing though that notion is.

It is rational to provide a little more power than the minimum requirement for a sense of ease at higher playback levels, which is subtle. Any other 'sound' issue, other than the degree of distoriton inherent in the amp, is mysterious to me.

But then audiophilia is not without its sorcerers with aversion to any kind of science even in this electronic playback media. (he says 'in jest', warren :-)