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What to drive new Magnepan 3.7i's

Curious what @MarmotDavid got for his system. Hasn't posted much since thread was fresh and been quiet for a couple months. Maybe he'll drop in and let us know.
 
jazzmans said:
I am currently driving my 3.7i with a carver tfm-42 and the maggies eat up every bit of power the carver can output.

eventually I'll try the fosi V3 monoblocks, and if that doesn't do it, I'll put back in both of my Carver PM 350s in bridge mode to drive them. in bridged mode it outputs 900 wpc into 8 ohms, so that oughta do er.
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figured update is due since this thread got bumped.
Well, I tried a PM 1.5, it sounded fine until I overheated the amp, (had too much cloth obstructing the air input) so pulled it, and tried paired bridged pm 350s and the fan noise was simply unbearable, as well as they just didn't sound that good, so all that got pulled back out and my other 'other' PM 1200, the one that served as a house amp in one of the casinos for decades, if the paint on the housing is anything to go by, went in instead. It sounds sublime, although when i'm really rockin' or watching a real whiz-bang movie, I can see the top leds before the clipping leds light up pretty regular.

the odd thing is, the pm 350s have the exact same fans the pm 1.5 and 1200 does, but they must run by default at a much higher fan speed as they're very audible at low volumes.
while I had my bryston pre in for a go-over, I bought and used a topping balanced preamp, but as soon as the bryston came back with a clean bill of health, she went back in the main system.

Anyway. I'm happy, and have 0 plans to change anything anytime soon.

love love LOVE my maggies.
 
MarmotDavid said:
I've got a new pair of Magnepan 3.7i's. Currently I'm using my older, unrestored Counterpoint SA-1000 tube/hybrid preamp and and old solid-state Conrad Johnson Sonograph SA-250 power amp. The setup sounds pretty good but I'm sure it could be improved with some newer preamp and power amp, so I'm looking to upgrade these aging electronics. I don't feel I'm getting the best out of these great speakers with this level of preamp and power amp

I'm willing to spend up to about $6000 on a new combination of a preamp and power amp. I have a medium sized listening room and I generally don't listen at really loud levels, so I'm not interested in really beastlike power amps or mono blocks. I like a detailed, warmer sound with good soundstage and very present vocals at moderate levels, if that helps. I need a MM phono stage, Maybe some combination of tube and solid state? I might even consider a big integrated if I knew it worked well with the Maggies. Also, I would definitely buy used if necessary but would probably avoid anything unrestored if it is over, say, 15 years old.

Please let me know all your ideas and comments. All will be appreciated. Thank you.
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I waited until I could afford a McIntosh MC 452 which pushes 450 watts per channel into either 4ohm or 8ohm. If you can find one the unit is virtually indestructible.You will not find a better integrated amp to drive those Maggies. I own the Magneplanar 3.7's andI love them. You need a decent sub as well. Thy are not so good at predicting the low end.
 
Average listeners listen with levels approaching 85 db A weighted slow response on their sound level meters. That can easily be 100 db, flat response with peaks less than 50 milliseconds which is sound level meters response time in the peaks reading mode. So to go from 83 db to 100 db is 50 watts per channel at one meter. Now line arrays only loose 3 or 4 db every time you double the distance. Not 6 db like most horn loaded and point source speakers. So if you sit at 4 meters you have lost 8 db. That means you need about 400 watts a speaker to be safe. Sounds like a MC 452 or 462 is the perfect choice. After all they put out close to 550 watts per channel before the speaker protecting Power Guard Kicks In. You may want a nice pair of JL or Mcintosh sub woofers, too. If you need to save a buck look for a MC 352 or a MC 402. Another choice would be the much older MC 2600. Or for a more modern unit a MC 602.
 
My 1.7i worked great with my McIntosh MA8950. Am sure the 3.7i would, as well. Used market should have for your budget. Has a great phono stage,
 
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