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Old 02-23-2021, 05:23 AM
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joel_hifi joel_hifi is offline
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Location: Lake Geneva, Switzerland
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Dan,

I cannot comment about Magnepan with McIntosh tube amps but I can share the following experience.

I have been driving Maggies 1.7i with an integrated PrimaLuna Dialogue Two (KT88s) rated 38 Wpc in UL mode, to good satisfaction/musicality.

My good friend has been driving his pair with an integrated Doge 5 (EL34s) rated 30 Wrms/ch in Class AB mode, also to his liking.

I also found a good match driving them with a Pass Labs XA30.8 rated 30 Wpc in Class A.

But I got the most satisfying result - to my ears - driving the Maggies with a higher powered Class AB stereo amp combined with a tube preamp.
In my case the Goldmund Telos 280 rated 215 Wrms/ch (dynamics, detail) with the Nagra Jazz or Ayon Stealth (midrange, involvement).

I'm assuming the MC1502 rated 150 Wpc should have enough juice for the .7s

Maybe an alternative worth considering, at a substantially lower price point, would be the integrated hybrid MA352 rated 200 Wpc? Maybe a nice way to get the best of both worlds?

Magnepan make very good speakers, there are many ways to enjoy them, have a great journey with yours

All above ratings into 8 ohm.
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