What is the minmimum room size for Magnepan?

In my experience as regards the durability question, the models you are asking about, which do not have the true ribbon tweeter, are rather impervious to overload damage. The panels will become distorted-sounding if you push the volume too high (easier on the MMG's), but just back off the power and they will be fine. But as always (and being especially careful on low-efficiency models such as Maggies, where the onset on amp distress can occur at lower volumes), do not let an underpowered amp deliver a clipped signal to the speakers! As for placement, let's just say look at other speakers if you have only a small room (especially for the 1.6's - the MMG's will work better in a smaller room, but as someone who doesn't believe in the concept of "small panels" to begin with, I would look at regular dynamic designs if the room is only big enough for those, because you will be able to do better than MMG's under those circumstances).

I believe most people think the tweeter/midrange panel is at their limit but in fact it is the power amplifier that is running out of power. Clearly this was the case when I had the Innersound amp like I mentioned in the above post. Even with my Plinius SA100 MKIII with about 175 watts of class A power (into 4OHMS) these speakers are not even close to playing as loud as they could go with the Innersound amp.

It is true that speaker placement in the room varies (of course) but, the point I was making if you really want the 1.6's to 'sing' you will want a big room. If they get too close to the back wall they become 'thick' and lose definition in the bass, if they are too close to the side walls they will get a blare in the midrange.

That is my experience and I know I do not have as much experience as some but I am very diligent in my accessments.

What is the minimum power it requires to drive the Maggies with full potential? I was aiming at Bryston B60R. Looks like it won't do the jop. Will the 3B-ST or 4B-ST powerful enough for them?

Thanks a lot you all response.

ake

I do not think my Plinius has enough power with 175 watts into 4 OHMS, I would guess around 400 - 500 watts with a lot of current would max them out.

I know this sounds like a lot but I would like more power with my setup, and the Innersound setup never sounded strained at all with 1000 watts, so somewhere in the middle is my guess.

The Maggie 1.6's require oodles of power to sound right. I used a pair of 1.6's powered by a Spectron Digital One (500 wpc into the 4 ohm load...1 KW total power!) and the speakers never ran out of power or had anemic bass as others have often commented about. This is a speaker where wattage should be the primary consideration when selecting an amp. I also used a tube preamp, which gave the set up a much smoother sound, in my opinion. Happy Tunes!