Magnepans

I have owned the Magnepan 1.7's for five years now.  Decided to upgrade my Cambridge integrated (which did not sound bad at all driving the 1.7s).  On paper I thought the VanAlistine fet valve 600 would be superb with its combination of a tubed input and tons of power (probably put out 500wpc into 4 ohms).  I listened for several weeks and the magic never happened.  All that power and I just wasn't taken--not even one  "wow".
This was a secondary system for me and I was ready to sell the maggies and simplify with a nice sacd/integrated and perhaps a pair of vsa vr-22's.
When the marantz gear came (8004 series) I hooked it up to the 1.7's and right out of the box I smiled.  Amazing.  An integrated rated at 70wpc creating all that beautiful music--so smooth and detailed and dimensional and dare I say even punch.  So the 1.7's  were staying.  I returned the 8004 series (at no loss) to my dealer and upgraded the Marantz Reference 15s2 series and never looked back.  This integrated is rated at meager 140 wpc into 4 ohms.  I listen to music at relatively loud/realistic volumes and have NEVER felt shorted.  (But you ought to see the power supply in the amp).  I can honestly say that while it's fun to look, I do not see myself ever moving on to "better" or more powerful electronics. (ok, maybe the marantz 11s3 series)  Hope these thoughts are useful.

stewart0722,

     Thanks for your clarification.  I agree with everything you stated in your last post, especially that flea watt tube amps should be avoided.  But I don't think you or I consider the VAC Avatar to be a flea watt amp at 60 watts and with a solid power supply. 

     natureboy,

     I think members could better assist you if you declared a budget for your potential new amplification purchase..  As you know, there are a wide range of amp options for driving Magnepans.  

    Through stewart's personal experience, he can attest that either the Bryston 28s or 7s will likely drive  your 2.5 speakers very well since they work so well on his 3.7s.  I have no reason to doubt that either amp would be a good choice for the 2.5s.

     Through my own and several other posters' personal experiences on this thread, we can attest that high powered class D amps (Wyred, Bel Canto and D-Sonic) will also likely drive your speakers well  since they drive our Magnepans so well.  I tend to think all these amps (including both Brystons) will drive the 2.5s well and that you will need to decide between them based on personal auditions and your budget.  

     What you don't know at this point, however, is how well your current VAC Avatar integrated will drive your Magnepan 2.5s.   I think the best approach would be to thoroughly test out your VAC on the 2.5s prior to considering any changes.  When I state 'thoroughly test out' I mean not only that it sounds good to you but also that it drives them effortlessly at your normal listening levels and that there is sufficient detail, 3-D sound staging and headroom in your opinion.  

     If you're not totally satisfied with the VAC's performance, then at least you have some very good suggestions for possible alternatives.

Tim

       

In the context of driving 91db efficient speakers, 60w is just fine, in the context of magnepans, whatever their efficiency, it is flea watt in my opinion in an average sized room....

To clarify, I mention my luck with amps in terms of brands only.....I would never recommend this op should buy a pair of 28bsst2s to drive 2.5s, or even 7s for that matter........it would be ludicrous to spend a lot of money on amps to drive 2.5s, when he could take a fraction of those dollars and upgrade to 3.7s or 1.7i etc etc.  No matter what amps he puts on these they will sound veiled as all maggies were in that era, all the way up to 3.6s......if he stays with 2.5s check the used ads and buy the best class d amp you can find......if it's integrated, all the better!  see what specials underwood hifi has going, he had some emerald physics amps not too long ago that looked really good for the money......

Just looked and my last sale email from underwood hifi showed he had emerald physics 100.2 amp for either 599ea @ 100w pc, or two for 999, for 250w in mono, 

That's about 70 percent off or so and they're new......Walter @ Underwood is a great guy......

stewart0722,

     The Magnepan 2.5R are 84db (the 3.7 are 86db and the 2.7 are 87db)..  I would consider all of these as inefficient speakers but not sufficiently so to rule out the use of the 60 watt Vac Avatar as long as the room isn't too large and the volume ismoderate. The speaker's 4 ohm impedance may be a bigger issue, however, the VAC does have 4 ohm  speaker taps.  I don't think we know enough about natureboy's room, budget or listening habits to rule out the use of his VAC.

    I think your suggestion of the Emerald Physics 100.2, (currently on sale for $599) may be a good match for the 2.5s.  I own a 100.2SE(150 watts/ch @ 4 ohms)  and use it in bridged mode(450 watts@ 4 ohms) for my CC3 center channel.  When I first received it I tried it out in stereo mode on my 2.7s (just out of curiosity) and it drove them very well; very good bass,  very dynamic,dead quiet and finely detailed  with a very sweet and smooth mid-range and treble.  It uses an analog power supply(not a switch mode power supply) and the amp is stable down to 2 ohms.  Of the 3 brands of class D amps I own, I think the Emerald Physics has the most tube-like mid-range and treble while still possessing the typical class D excellent bass response. 

    While I think this amp in stereo would perform very well driving Natureboy's 2.5s with its 100 watts/ch, I think buying 2 and bridging both to mono for 250 watts/ch is likely to give natureboy the best performance from his 2.5s, well worth the added expense.  


Tim