[2bigears]

   hello again guys..... Well finding an integrated turns out harder than expected to get power/quality.  So that leads to the next logical solution,,2 pieces instead of 1....with a budget of 3 or 4 grand used,,,what 2 pieces have the synergy to walk hand in hand with the Maggies.. ?? A bigger power amp as headroom is sweet,, with a tube pre seems they way most people recommend .....   Thanks   Pat 

[Ron D]

As I am a big supporter of Bryston amps (which are well known to have some synergy with Maggies) I would offer that you could find a pair of older 7B-ST amps out there which would need, IMHO, a tube preamp to sweeten things up a bit. These amps could be found less than $3K and would mate nicely with an older ARC tube preamp which should come in around your top end of $4K. I've owned the ST, SST and SST2 versions and personally feel the older "ST" amps need something warmer ahead of them in the chain, again IMHO.

If Bryston is an option there are people out there who use a 4B to power these speakers and while you could possibly get one of the newer SST versions (probably not the SST2 cheap enough to allow you to acquire a decent preamp) if your desired listening levels don't require the "grunt" the 7Bs would give you that might get you an even better preamp.

I know of a dealer @ Canuck audiomart who has 4 X 7B-ST amps for sale but has not listed a price. Have dealt with him extensively and found him to be very fair. Might be worth a call to see what he wants for a pair of them...

Lots of good choices in terms of preamp/amp combos out there and no doubt you will get quite a few valued opinions here.

Good luck in your search.

[medium jim]

Pat:

The buzz right now is for Class D, such as Emotiva and a few others.  Nice in the bass with some grain in the highs.

If used, as Ron said, Bryston, I would add Parasound to the mix.  Rotel is another amp that is well built. 

I prefer tube preamps, but have no advice other than Bottlehead Foreplay III's, but they only have 3 sets of inputs and no TT stage. 
Jim

[mca]

http://www.arteformaaudio.com.tw/products.html

[geowak]

I can only go with what I have HEARD by my ears myself. The Parasound A21 and P3. Also the Musical Fidelity M6500i and your choice preamp.

I had liked the Maggies, but really cannot afford to buy the expensive amp/pre (ie McIntosh) to make them sound fine. This also sounded very fine with 1.7's

So the term "budget" did not seem to go hand in hand with the 1.7's or 3.7's

[2bigears]

   It seems Class D is come of age..Everybody was afraid of them a while back..I will look into them as they are so small,use low power and run cool.....All big advantages..New is expensive though..  Good Lord,, i can't have my cake and eat it too...Ha

[steve k]

I don't mean to dump a long thread on you, but that's where this one started. In the systems I've heard with maggies and Class D amps, tube preamps seem to work the best magic. I never liked the Class D sound until I heard these amps in my system. Coming from an all tube system, I was impressed with how quiet Class D amps are compared to tube amps. YMMV

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=76400.0

[2bigears]

   So with these Class D's,,and using CI Audio amps as an example,how low can you go on power wpc to save money.  100,200,or the big big guy..... way past budget here as preamp now needed....

[steve k]

You can get a Class D Audio SDS 258 kit which will run about 400 wpc/4 ohms for $370 if you want to put it in a case yourself. I'm using one of these on my bass panels. Or you can buy an SDS 440C in a case for $665 which runs 440 wpc/4 ohms. Plenty left for a nice tube pre.

http://classdaudio.com/index.php/

[Emil]

Hmmmm. How would I spend other people's money?

with your budget, I would go with a McCormack 250 thats on Audiogon for $2500 and the dehavilland Ultraverve right here on ACs trading post for $1799.
With a bit of negotiating, I bet you can get the combo for 4k


my two cents FWIW

Oh, if you want to go digital, there's the Cherry Jr from The Digital Amp Company right here on AC for 2.5k and a home trial.

[medium jim]

The Bottlehead Foreplay III is a Tube Line Stage Pre that and the basic kit is under $500.00, or add $350.00 for the upgrade kit to go with it:

http://www.bottlehead.com/store.php?crn=220&rn=430&action=show_detail

If you need a companion TT Pre:

http://www.bottlehead.com/store.php?crn=225

I really like my Foreplay as it is simple, dead quiet, and doesn't get in the way of the music and gives it the tube sweetness.

Here's a link to their Home Page:

http://www.bottlehead.com/store.php

And to one with some already made for sale:

http://www.bottlehead.com/loosep/docsstash/docsstash.html


Jim

[jk@home]

  So with these Class D's,,and using CI Audio amps as an example,how low can you go on power wpc to save money.  100,200,or the big big guy..... way past budget here as preamp now needed....

Have you looked at the Wyred4Sound stuff yet?

Here's one review of the smaller integrated amp with Maggie speakers, but they have a larger one rated at 1,140 watts @ 4ohms:

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue48/wyred.htm

Channel Island is good stuff too, own one of his DACs and passive preamps.

[66mgb]

Here is a first rate Integrated on Audiogon

http://app.audiogon.com/listings/pass-labs-int-150-mint

Russ