What amp/amps to drive magnepan 20.1's

bluebeehive, you must be feeling real confident which amp to go with. 'tis a personal thing: obviously

Glacieraudio:the same $27k Atma's you are trying to unload tonite on auction,as "worldwide master distributor" ? Shame on you Brian ! Wolcott's sell used for $5k.The 3.5's
are as far from the 20.1's as day from nite.The Brystons
are good but try to home demo some tubes b/4 making a decision.BTW the Atma's will heat your whole house and run your electric bill thru your heated roof.They are nice though @ $27k have a Lot of competition.

Hifiman: you might want to check your facts. I am most certainly not Glacier Audio nor in any way associated with them - nor want to be! I became an Atma-Sphere dealer (I'm in the Chicago area) after Ralph Karsten returned to the helm as guiding force and sole owner of Atma-Sphere. In case you haven't noticed, Glacier Audio is no longer distributor of Atma-Sphere, and in fact is no longer a dealer for them! Your prices are wrong: the MA-2s are $33K and have been for a while. But the comparison involved MA-1s, which I stated in my post. And there were three other people besides myself present here: the customer, his friend, and my friend who is a CAT dealer. They spent quite a few hours here listening, so the conclusions weren't hasty.

I should have said I'm an Atma-Sphere dealer, but my earlier post stands. We listened to the amplifiers on both the MG 3.5s and the Sound Lab U-1s, with similar results: no contest!

Brian

Bluebeehive:

I have 20.1's and had the same question about a year ago. I decided to focus on solid-state amps (even though I do like tubes as well).

Over a 3 month period I tried at my place the Ayre V1x, Goldmund 29M, Levinson 336, Pass X350, Threshold S350/e, Parasound JC-1's, Bryston 7B ST, Bryston 14B SST and the GamuT M250 mk3. I also tried the Pass X600's, Boulder 2060 on Maggies (but not my system).

I ended up buying the GamuT M250's. The sound stage is incredible and the sound in general is very natural and realistic. Some of the other amps had more power, but didn't seem as natural or realistic, especially in focus and instrument seperation. Well...the Boulder amp is pretty nice too...but way out of my price range!

Very recently I have become a dealer for GamuT (just my 2 cents, take them for what they are worth) as there was no dealer in my area. Every component I have tried from GamuT has really impressed me, and although not inexpensive their equipment can really keep up with more costly gear.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Mike
(angus0@excite.com)

I have driven my 3.6's with both the Wolcotts (pre-wideband transformer and, with the wide band transformer) as well as an Atmasphere MA-1 (and an MA-2). Had them both at the same time and switched back and forth for several months.

The Wolcotts are dynamic, fast and clean. Sort of remind me a very good solid state amplifier like the Pass units. The Atmasphere, when driven through the auto-transformer, provides a more organic delivery. Which also means more musical. Bass was not as tight and defined but, in about every other category the Atmasphere seemed to just let the music flow on it's natural course. It is a more visceral and immediate sounding amplifier than the Wolcott, which tends to sound ever so slightly constrained - probably in order to provide a very flat and extended response characteristic.

The Wolcotts strike me as an amplifier better suited to certain types of music such as jazz. They are not bad sounding amplifiers by any means, but I certainly prefered the Atmasphere's presentation. If you play at very loud levels then the Wolcott may be better suited for the Maggies.

The auto-transformer makes a big difference on the Atmaspere when driving the Maggies. Using one with the Atmasphere is a mandate.