Amplifiers for 3.7i, what's your suggestion?
- Thread starter arteck
- Start date
Luxman 990
Mola mola
AR 250
Berning ZOTL
AYON Crossfire
Constellation Centaur
Constellation Mono blocks
Rowland digital mono blocks
Devialet Premier
BAT integrated hybrid
Mola mola
AR 250
Berning ZOTL
AYON Crossfire
Constellation Centaur
Constellation Mono blocks
Rowland digital mono blocks
Devialet Premier
BAT integrated hybrid
Just to be clear, I am in no way dissing tube amps with Maggie's. On the contrary one of the best I have heard was with Warren Gehl's modified Maggie's being powered by AR 250's and the REF6 preamp. That does not change my positive opinion of the Devialet with Maggie's. Especially considering the total price for amp, pre and DAC.
Just to clarify, by Berning zotl are you referring to their 30w or the 200w monos
Thanks, according to this, the 1.6, 12 or 2.7 modded should sound better than the 20 series?
Thought I'd drop in a few cents worth...
Heard these wonderful ribbons with the Magtec amp from Roger Sanders, very impressive. The current owner (well known in the land of Aus) previously had Quads driven with the ARC Ref75. Got rid of the Quads... due to obvious reasons, and acquired a pair of 3.7i's. Partnered it first with the Ref75 couldn't quite "grip" them too well as the term stated by bonzo. The bass was muffled and certain other freqs seemed somewhat rolled off. Previous owner actually preferred the Quads!
After a bit of hussle and tussle with a few well known power amps, seemed to have settled with the Magtec, and this one certainly delivers the true potential of these new 3.7i's, very good balanced overall sound. The Magtec is also quite affordable compared to other lofty contenders and another amp worth mentioning driving maggies to their full potential was the Plinius- another marvelous amplifier and superbly built in New Zealand! Go the ALL Blacks!
There is another amplifier worth mentioning, since I have had a direct comparison with it driving the MG20.7- the wonderful Mac MC452- powerful and dynamic with all the virtues of pure musicality, very similar to the CJ Premier 350 (a huge beast) that is no longer in production. The only thing is, the preamps used were either the CJ GAT or the ET5, hence I cannot tell for sure which one was offering the "best performance" but I got the idea of awesome tube pre finesse with SS oomph! And on ribbons this is exceptional.
Cheers, RJ
Heard these wonderful ribbons with the Magtec amp from Roger Sanders, very impressive. The current owner (well known in the land of Aus) previously had Quads driven with the ARC Ref75. Got rid of the Quads... due to obvious reasons, and acquired a pair of 3.7i's. Partnered it first with the Ref75 couldn't quite "grip" them too well as the term stated by bonzo. The bass was muffled and certain other freqs seemed somewhat rolled off. Previous owner actually preferred the Quads!
After a bit of hussle and tussle with a few well known power amps, seemed to have settled with the Magtec, and this one certainly delivers the true potential of these new 3.7i's, very good balanced overall sound. The Magtec is also quite affordable compared to other lofty contenders and another amp worth mentioning driving maggies to their full potential was the Plinius- another marvelous amplifier and superbly built in New Zealand! Go the ALL Blacks!
There is another amplifier worth mentioning, since I have had a direct comparison with it driving the MG20.7- the wonderful Mac MC452- powerful and dynamic with all the virtues of pure musicality, very similar to the CJ Premier 350 (a huge beast) that is no longer in production. The only thing is, the preamps used were either the CJ GAT or the ET5, hence I cannot tell for sure which one was offering the "best performance" but I got the idea of awesome tube pre finesse with SS oomph! And on ribbons this is exceptional.
Cheers, RJ
RJ,
The Magtech is a great pairing with ribbons, mate it with a good tube pre and it's really in its element, it's inky black and deep, honest and effortless... would be great to hear it with a GAT. Also as much as I like it I'm not surprised the ref 75 wasn't enough watts for 3.7s, even the ref 150 can run out of steam with the larger Maggies if feeding them something big and dynamic like full scale orchestral in a decent sized room.
I've paired the Magtech with Harbeth as well and it's definitely not just an amp good for Maggies... it's a great match with Harbys too. Hope you are well and enjoying the tunes down south.
The Magtech is a great pairing with ribbons, mate it with a good tube pre and it's really in its element, it's inky black and deep, honest and effortless... would be great to hear it with a GAT. Also as much as I like it I'm not surprised the ref 75 wasn't enough watts for 3.7s, even the ref 150 can run out of steam with the larger Maggies if feeding them something big and dynamic like full scale orchestral in a decent sized room.
I've paired the Magtech with Harbeth as well and it's definitely not just an amp good for Maggies... it's a great match with Harbys too. Hope you are well and enjoying the tunes down south.
RJ
I am in agreement with you. I have heard the Magtech on Magnepan and they're fantastic. What I have been harping on and dreaming about is : When will we just take a component on its merits only and not on price or repute. The Magtech is simply a formidable amplifier. One of the best I have heard. Its virtues are very much on display on anything I have heard it paired with: Magnepan, Revel and Vandersteen. We would say very different sounding speakers , yet .. the sense of control , ease and fidelity was there at all times.
Caesar
I am not sure about that. They will sound different but that lack of dynamics or inner detail is not something I would associate with those amps. New amps sound different.. and may be preferred by some .. Not " better " IMO. The High End community has been going sideways when it comes to amps (and preamps, perhaps) these past few years. Yes, they sound different but better? Allow me to disagree.
Tao, see my introduction in this post. I agree with you. A great amp at a more than palatable price. It deserves more recognition. In a perverse way its not-lofty price tends to remove it from consideration when discussing about the best amplifiers out there.
I had a pair of 3.7i's with Mye Stands set up for a couple of years and for the under $10K price range I loved the Carver Black Beauty 300w KT120's. This is a terrific combination and the amps have plenty of power and current to easily drive the Maggies. Then for some excellent Class D SS I have a pair of Nuprime Ref20's (also under $10K) that put out about 400w into 4 ohms and worked great. Slightly better bass than the Carvers with really nice tonality. I also tried a pair of CJ Premier 8's that had been upgraded to nearly Art status, also with KT120's. These monsters put out about 300w as well, and drove the Maggies with a tight grip and slightly better bass than the Carvers. But overall I prefer the Carvers than the big CJ's. Last, were my CAT JL7's that cost 4 times the price of the Carvers or Nuprimes with 200w KT150's. This is a fantastic combination if you want tubes and are willing to spend the money, but the $30K price range opens up a whole lot of other excellent possibilities. If I had to pick one amp to live with for the 3.7i's it would be the Carvers. This combination just makes beautiful music and very easy to listen to for hours on end.
Having owned the VTL MB-750 for a long time I can assure Caesar is spot on - micro-dynamics and inner detail are the weak points of those amplifiers compared to modern designs. I replaced it with an Audio Research REF 150 and was astonished with the detail I could perceive in the low bass - where the 750 was just a single coup, the ARC could show the different gradations of the bass developing. IMHO technically the weak point of the VTL was mainly the input stage - an old vintage design, improperly modified to accept balanced signals adding the negative phase of the signal to the loop feedback, as well as the coupling capacitors.
I still own have several great vintage tube designs - waiting for a new home
-. Sometimes I connect them, but once you got used to the modern tube designs you immediately feel what we are missing. Modern ones are clearly better - they have more information and sound more like real music.Interesting comment from JV's review of the Carvers from 2012; "In addition to the complement of tubes, a volume-control pot (haven’t seen one of these on a power amp in a while) and a toggle switch with the words “Classic” and “Contemporary” are mounted on the top of the chassis. This switch changes the amount of negative feedback from 20dB (a value used by “vintage amplifier designers”) to 11dB (a value representative of many “modern-day” amps). In the excellent user manual, Carver says he prefers the 20dB “Classic” setting, which is one of several hints he drops about the sound of his new amp."
I kept my Carvers in the Classic mode all the time and found the contemporary setting a little cold and hard. Here's a link to the review. Note that JV used several pairs of Maggies with the Carvers. http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/carver-black-beauty-305-power-amplifier/ Also, I believe the price has come down to under $10K on the newer model.
I kept my Carvers in the Classic mode all the time and found the contemporary setting a little cold and hard. Here's a link to the review. Note that JV used several pairs of Maggies with the Carvers. http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/carver-black-beauty-305-power-amplifier/ Also, I believe the price has come down to under $10K on the newer model.
Frantz, the value ratio with the Maggies and the Magtech are equivalently high and I'm with you, no need to spend more than it takes to be transported to the music.
A mate of mine calls Maggies the scalpel and they really let you hear the amp you pair them with.
If I could though I'd also have a pair of Cat jl7s as well like Tedtag, or even big CJ arts so I'm not completely adverse to some exceptional spending, thankfully some well placed relative poverty keeps me in check. But the Magtech on the Maggies does actually keep me happy long term as do the Harbeths so I also won't let the lesser spend keep me from a good time.
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