magnepan mmgs-buy zero autoformers or stands 1st?

12-18-06: Eldartford

Tvad...The manual for MG1.6 does talk about break in. What is says is that the LF extension will gradually increase until it meets spec.

That's good info.

I've read the MMG manual twice now, and I've not seen any mention of break-in. It's odd that they wouldn't be consistent in their manuals. Same driver design, correct?

Going back to autotransformers...presumably you would use them to make the 4 ohm MMG look like an 8 ohm load. If you had a solid state amplifier this would reduce the power delivery of the amp. (Macintosh used autotransformers the other way around in their ss amps so as to make 8 ohm loads look like 4). However, since you have a tube amp the output transformer already has a 4 ohm winding. Its 8 ohm output is just more windings in the transformer. If you used an autotransformer it would simply amount to replacing these windings with ones in an external device.

The most sensible application of these autotransformers would be as part of a crossover network so as to use less costly values of inductors and capacitors when the drivers are 4 ohms.

thanks eldar. actually the mmg's are sounding better every day, just the way they are, using 4 ohm taps. bass is getting better and tightening up. plenty of clean, undistorted volume, actually more volume than i need. anyway, i think this amp is perfectly fine with the mmgs. and so long as i like it that's all that matters. it's a good amp, probably better than most people in this thread realize. too bad they can't hear it.....

and i always have my db99's to listen to-not too shabby

EL34 is a great midrange tube... but it's sloppy in the bass. They are useful in guitar amps, and when you're high-passing your speakers with a sub beneath.