[Northman]

I welcome any thoughts. I'm currently using a Bryston amp and I know they make a good pairing. I understand that the general recommendation is a high current ss amp: Bryston, Pass, Magtech, Hegel, etc. And I also am considering what may be ideal: a tube preamp with a powerful ss amp.

But I'm curious if anyone has tried the VT80SE (or VT80 with KT150s) and Maggies. Interestingly, ARC voiced the VT80 with the 20.7s, among a few high-end speakers.

Thank you.

[jjss49]

depending on room and listening volume, it should be a lovely match

i know arc and magnepan have a long illustrious history, but i personally believe strong pure sounding solid state amps are the better answer for maggies - pass, hegel, classe, upper musical fidelity, better krell, coda and so on

[Northman]

Thanks. I get it. Part of it is that I want to play with tubes! (And I can't afford the big tube amps.)

BTW, I may recognize your name from another board--I always appreciate your comments!

[SteveFord]

Like he said, how big is the room and  how loud are you planning on listening?
I'm using a similar powered VTL amp with LRS speakers in a small bedroom, that's plenty of power for that application.

[Northman]

Thanks. The room is 13' x 18', though the effect is that of a garret, with the upper half of each side wall (the long walls) pitched with the roof. To my surprise, the Maggies sound great in there.

As for "how loud," I'm not sure. My questionable decibel meter (an iPhone app) claims that I tend to peak around 81db, though I'm not sure that's accurate. Most of the time, I would say that I keep it at moderate levels. Sometimes, though, I want the funk, gotta have that funk. Suffice it to say, though, that I'm not throwing parties. I do have a subwoofer that adds to the effect, though I think I may get rid of it. The bass from these speakers is strong.

I appreciate your thoughts!

[SteveFord]

Okay, sounds like my upstairs system.
You might run out of steam unless your listening is nearfield.
Keep the sub, maybe keep the Bryston for when you want to crank it up?

FWIW, I'm using VTL MB250s with the 1.7s.
There's quite a few of these older ones for sale on USAudio Mart at the moment, the price tags aren't unreasonable.
The downside is heat, weight, running costs and factory "support".
Upside is power and addictive sound quality.

[Northman]

Thank you, Steve. I appreciate your thoughts. Your room is almost exactly what my room looks like, though I think yours might be wider. I'm interested to see you running the Maggies with tubes ... and I smiled at "support"! Again, thank you--very helpful.

[jjss49]

it may be an obvious point, but another option to get some tube magic in the chain is use a tubed dac, tubed phono stage, or a tube preamp to drive a solid state power amp

this is often viewed as a good idea for two reasons

1) maggies, drawing a lot of current to sound good, will tax tube power amps and arguably burn through the output tubes faster than normal.... tube amps typically like higher impedance speaker loads specifically because the current demands of those speakers are much more modest, as tube amps are fundamentally more comfortable being voltage amps, versus being big current delivery amps

2) playing with and rolling small signal tubes is much more fun and practical (from a tube availability and variety stand-point) than having this kind of fun with power tubes... furthermore and specifically, modern day arc tube amps specify the power tube in a quite restricted manner... can't do much rolling - the strong kt120 or 150 is needed to allow the amp to run to design spec...

all this said, the audio journey is just that, a journey ... and sometimes a certain itch must be scratched... so have fun!

[Northman]

Thank you JJSS49. I've been trying to think through this moment, as I upend my system to have some fun. I haven't used tubes in almost forty years and I've been interested in a return tour. I had been thinking that the VT-80 would be a good amp to try because of the auto-biasing and ease of tube swapping. (Although I know you're right that most people use the kt120 or kt150s, I think there are a couple others that would work.) And it's a way for me to try ARC without breaking the bank. Also, it's a very pretty machine.

And I've certainly thought about a tube pre-amp, and have researched lots of options (Quicksilver, Cary, PL, ARC, Atma-sphere, etc). The main reason that I've held off on that is that my current amp is the weak link in my system and the preamp is in good shape. To put that differently, I don't think I'll start by swapping out the preamp.

But I hadn't considered what you write about the demand that Maggies place on tubes. You make excellent points. And ... as much as I'm taken with the the VT-80, I certainly know that most people recommend a high powered amp with Maggies. I get stuck there, though, by the weight of the big boys (Pass, Parasound, etc) and I don't have to say that there's ferocious debate about Class D amps.

In any case, thank you!

[I.Greyhound Fan]

I would certainly consider a tube preamp and a SS amp pairing.   I have the 1.6's and run a Pass X250 amp along with an 8 tube BAT VK-51se preamp and love the pairing. As has been suggested, you could add a tube DAC and phono preamp to get more tube sound.

You could also consider a hybrid SS/tube or Class-D/tube amp.  There are several out there.  The  PS Audio M1200 mono blocks use a tube input stage into Class-D.  A friend of mine has a pair and loves them.  PS Audio has a good return policy and a trade in policy.  Vincent Audio also makes a tube/SS hybrid.

Rogue Audio also makes some high power tube and hybrid amps that are worth a look.

[Chops]

I got my 1.7i's about a week before I sold my Schiit Freya+ preamp (with multiple matched NOS tubes), and with the Emotiva XPA-2 Gen 2 I use, it was a very good combo. Though I have to say, a week later when I got my Quad Artera Pre, this little gem of a preamp sounds cleaner, fuller and more refined than the Freya+. It sounds more like a tube preamp that the Freya+ did!

Just a side note, I am not using the "Tilt" Control. a.k.a. - tone controls.