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Amps for Maggies

M

murphydog

Canine member
I’ve just picked up a pair of these: MG12s I’ve hastily hooked them up and found the sound somewhat disappointing. However my Croft amps
might well be underpowered for these beasts and the other option is a Superuniti.
What sort of kit should I be looking at to hear them at their best?
 
It’s a very long time ago.........but I remember these panels started to get alive with either a Naim 42/110 or a Bryston 2B. Everything less powerful than that was lifeless.
 
Solid State with loads of power. I've read a review saying that the Vincent 331 is a perfect match.
 
Dozey said:
Maggie's are often demonstrated with a Bryston 4B or pair of 7Bs
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Makes perfect sense to me and really believe it’s a good match (although I am not a huge fan of Bryston).........
I would love to hear them driven by a large Musical Fidelity or Exposure monster amp.........
 
I've used a Quad 606 with IIIas, more than enough power but not quite a match made in heaven. They seemed to lack a bit of sparkle.
 
Whenever I’ve heard them it has usually been with Krell, Conrad Johnson, Levison etc. Basically you need a lot of current into low impedances and this kind of US statement amp tends to have the muscle plus the soundstaging ability these speakers thrive on. I’d likely be looking fairly closely at vintage Conrad Johnson solid state myself as it tends to be beautifully made (film caps everywhere aside from the PSU) so very easy to refurbish.
 
A pair of Schiit Audio Vidars in bridging mode are said to work very well. Or wait for the release of their Tyr amps.

Andrew
 
My brother in laws “baby” Maggies, SMGa’s if I remember correctly sounded great with his Counterpoint SA-12, 100-watt tube/solid state hybrid power amp.
 
Fergus said:
My brother in laws “baby” Maggies, SMGa’s if I remember correctly sounded great with his Counterpoint SA-12, 100-watt tube/solid state hybrid power amp.
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I remember now I also heard these panels with some powerful Audio Research hybrid amps and it was flabbergasting. Nevertheless, almost everything sounds amazing with such an amplifier kit.
 
Currently using a Hegel P20/H20 pre/power with Magnepan LRS (The current baby Maggies), loads of power, and can drive the panels with no issues. I suspect some of the Hegel integrated amps would match well, H190, H390 etc. I would try for a home demo if possible.
regards

Gordon.
 
Larger Maggies are 4 Ohm loads, smaller ones much closer to 3 Ohm.

As is always the case, so much depends on how loudly you listen and what size of room you want to fill. If you want to get Maggies fairly loud most good solid state amps capable of at least 100w into 4 Ohms will drive Maggies but the real issue is thermal capacity.
Many so called high current amplifiers get by with quite modest heat sinks, so yes you can push them hard to meet spec and perform in the lab for several minutes but temperatures will rise quickly when you drive them fairly hard for longer.

So the ideal amp is quite tricky to find because you needs volts, amps and thermal capacity.
You don't need crazy high wattage capability in most cases but you do need plenty of metal and mass, or I guess fan cooling.
 
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