Building an all analog system around Magnepan .7 for 4K and under


Dear Friends, 
My wife and I are professional musicians, and we are saving up for a system to listen to mainly classical and jazz on vinyl. I'm a jazz drummer, and she is a classical double bassist. The more realistic our system is to our real instruments, the happier we are. We will be using this in a medium/smallish 12' x 11' room. 

We will not need a dac, just speakers, amp, turntable. We prefer an integrated amp with a phono preamp, to keep the set up simple as possible but we can consider buying an external phono preamp,

I've read recommendations for for Rogue Sphinx and Pioneer Plx-1000 to go with this system, but I was wondering if there are any other suggestions for our needs. We are also open to set ups that we can build on in the future, Like buying a Nad C 375 BEE and bridging it with a C 275BEE couple of years down the road, or buying a subwoofer later. 

Thanks again for your input, 
Emre

128x128emremusic
I own .7's and have experience with the amps mentioned. The NAD was "dark" sounding to me and honestly, I hated the NAD look. The Rogue was better and had a nice phono section as well. I stepped up to a Wyred4Sound SSi 500 and that was it. The jaggies love their juice and this amp opened them up better than the other 2 choices. I added a modest phono pre-amp and am quite please. I also added a sub and soon a second sub though i doubt your room will allow that. I second some of the comments above, these speakers need their room to breathe or you will not realize all of their potential. 
It sounds like you have not yet bought speakers....
Magneplanar may still have their loaner (return) program going for the 1.7i speakers.  A classical musician and jazz drummer combo sounds like you must live in a fairly large city, so your Maggie dealer should set this up for you.  Dunno if they do it for 0.7's, but there is no such program for the 3.7's (I wanted to try those to replace my 1.5QRs).

BTW, a larger physical speaker does not mean the speaker is also larger in an acoustical sense.  I called Magneplanar and Mr. Maggie (Wendell) told me the 3.7i speakers were acoustically smaller than the 1.7i.  You should call them up and talk to Wendell about exactly which speaker would be best.

Maggies are perfect for your source material.  They want you to use the DWMs and not dynamic subs (many do this, but they are difficult to integrate with panels).  The DWMs can be made to look like coffee tables but need ot be at the same distance from your ear as the other panels.

I see this thread going into room treatments... so you may as well post a photo of your room in the section for that...
We've owned the .7's for more than a year and a half powered by Rogue Cronus Magnum (100 wpc) and also using a powered sub (sealed SVS SB1600), a modest pro-ject 1xpression turntable and pro-ject phono stage in a similar sized room and feel like whole exceeds the sum of the parts.  Have also had them hooked up to my vintage SS receivers (a G-8000 and KR-9050).  I prefer the tube sound personally with the vinyl though the SS sounds "tighter". Not sure the extra watts of the old receivers adds much in our smaller room but that's personal preference too. 

The mags do sound better with some room to breath but their light and slide easily so we pull them out when we're listening and push them back to the wall when we're not so they're out of the way and don't get trampled by the dogs or the kids. 
I have Maggie 1.7s. I went from a Rogue Cronus Magnum to a Rogue Pharaoh. As good as the Magnum is, the Pharaoh was far & away better. Then I went from the Pharaoh to a Prima Luna Dialouge Premium. Once again, the Prima Luna was a significant improvement across everything. I have a Nad 375bee coming to drive my home theater speakers (in the same room) and serve as a back up to drive the 1.7s. I will let you know the synergy. Note: I also use a sub in the system. I was using a Rel t7 sub, but it fried a diode. While it's down & I get around to ordering parts, I put in a PSB subwoofer. I'll be honest. I like the PSB much better... just sounds better. Go figure.