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Hi All!

  I am new to Audiogone and have enjoyed reading some of the various posts. I hesitate to call myself an audiofile as I do not believe I have the dicerning ears required nor do I have room in my finances to indulge in the purchase of high-end audio gear. I have managed to piece together a system that to me sounds great. I have provided a list below of my gear. My interest in audio began back in 1970 when I was a teenager. I had some relatives who owned some nice stereo systems (not nessessarily "high-end").
In 1972 when I began my career, the first thing I purchased with my earnings was a consumer grade audio system. As life went on and I found myself with a family of my own to support, I lived with that system for almost three decades. In the late 90's a friend of mine, who also was an audio buff and more knowledgable than I, rekindled my interest in audio. This friend advised me in the purchase of the gear I now own. I know my gear is probably "vintage" at this point but hey...still sounds great to my ears! I have learned a few things while reading posts on AG and I have a question. Has streaming digital audio attained a level of quality to make it high end worthy? If so, where can I learn more about it? I have other questions for another time. For now, I am happy to be in your company.


Magnapan 3.5R planer speakers
Velodine 15" Sub Woofer
Hafler 9505 stereo power amp
Audio Research SP11 preamp
Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player 2CH
Thorens TD145 MKII turntable
Ortofon cartridge pickup
Nakamichi RX-505 Cassette tape deck




hifi4all
Hi, Nice collection of gear, welcome to the club! :-)  Magnepans are kinda tough to drive, does the Hafler amp get hot? 

Matt M
MattMiller,

The Hafler amp seems to handle the load quite well. It gets quite warm but I wouldn't say hot. I have a second Hafler 9505 currently not in use. I am considering adding it into the system, strapping both amps mono, one for left channel one for right. Good idea or not? What do you think? I invite all responses.

As I understand it, "strapping" often increases the lowest number of ohms that an amp is comfortable driving.  I.e. a stereo amp drives 2 ohms, but a bridged version only does 4 and up.

If your speakers are biwireable, why not try driving treble and bass with two amps operating in stereo?

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I’m using a 9505(modded), to run my woofers. Stock, they put out 375 WPC, into a 4 Ohm load. Page 2 of the manual states they don’t recommend trying to run less than an 8 Ohm load, when bridged. http://www.hafler.com/pdf/archive/MAN0587D_9303_9505_man.pdf Look at page 8, of the following, with regards to biamping your 3.5s. That would be the ticket, given you’ve two 9505s. Finding the XO-1 crossover, might be an issue, unless Magnepan still offers them. Page 10 tells you how to bi-wire(much easier/not as beneficial). http://www.integracoustics.com/MUG/MUG/pix/mg3.5_manual.pdf It seems some have had difficulties, with the 3.5 and XO-1: https://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/vt.mpl?f=mug&m=179681
Another option, if you want to actively bi-amp. I used(and modded) one for over two decades, without a problem and with great results. They can be hard to find though. Regnar(some of the original Dahlquist personnel) still does updates to them: http://www.allegrosound.com/Dahlquist_DQ-LP1_AllegroSound.html and http://www.regnar.com/dahlquist-dq-lp1-parts---upgrades.html
TIDAL music streaming, the highest quality option ($20/month) is EXCELLENT !!  I don't have an MQA decoding capability, but even without it the "HI-FI Master" sound is superb... and I've been going to my cd collection a lot less since getting Tidal.
Yes, I agree with Bi Amping those Haflers with the Maggies NOT (mono) bridging them. A Much better option is to get rid of the Hafler amps (to harsh och!) and invest in a quality two channel amp to drive the speakers. I'm sure people here could suggest some amps that would work well. 


Matt M
@waterzlife Apparently TIDAL may be under water. Hopefully more than Sprint will bail them out.