[avahifi]

So I had a very interesting visit yesterday.

A potential client drove all the way here from Milwaukee with his Maggie .7 speakers in his car.

So we hooked them up in my system using a SET 400 power amp, Fet Valve CFR preamp, and DAC MK 5.

We started the system playing and his jaw dropped and then he started laughing.  He had never heard them sound that good before, and he had tried several other "high end" amps at home and had rejected all of them.

Actually this was the best I had heard Maggies sound too, they were convincingly realistic with a huge image extending way outside the speakers and to the rear, bigger than my listening room.  The setup handled everything from hard rock to classical string quartet easily with excellent transparency, bass, and string sound and with no strain at all.

Needless to say the client ordered a SET 400 immediately and headed for home a happy camper.  I suggested that he try the Norsky Nook for a meal on the way hone in Osseo, WI and I got a follow up email from him saying he was happy about that too.

You really need a new SET 400 to get the best of your Maggies, or a pair of the SET 600 mono amps for the big models.

Frank

[I.Greyhound Fan]

Frank, that just confirms what I have been saying.  Maggies need power and current to sound their best.  Your gear has always paired extremely well with Magnepans and the SET amps are perfect  for them as is your Tube preamp and DAC.

Larry

[AvsFan]

So I had a very interesting visit yesterday.

A potential client drove all the way here from Milwaukee with his Maggie .7 speakers in his car.

So we hooked them up in my system using a SET 400 power amp, Fet Valve CFR preamp, and DAC MK 5.

We started the system playing and his jaw dropped and then he started laughing.  He had never heard them sound that good before, and he had tried several other "high end" amps at home and had rejected all of them.

Actually this was the best I had heard Maggies sound too, they were convincingly realistic with a huge image extending way outside the speakers and to the rear, bigger than my listening room.  The setup handled everything from hard rock to classical string quartet easily with excellent transparency, bass, and string sound and with no strain at all.

Needless to say the client ordered a SET 400 immediately and headed for home a happy camper.  I suggested that he try the Norsky Nook for a meal on the way hone in Osseo, WI and I got a follow up email from him saying he was happy about that too.

You really need a new SET 400 to get the best of your Maggies, or a pair of the SET 600 mono amps for the big models.

Frank

I'm sold and have been sold for awhile now on the SET 400 for my Maggie LRS's. I am done playing around with under powered watts and current. The SET 400 will be powering my Maggie's in the future. All the amps I have used to date sounded like they were straining to power the Maggie's and in turn, the sound was less than spectacular. I keep telling others, stop trying to think lower powered amps will do it. They might be okay at lower volume levels and with easy, non demanding music but if you REALLY want to hear the true potential of what Maggie's offer, don't skimp on the amp, get a beefy no nonsense amp and call it a day. I have been a great guinea pig to people telling me, oh, 120 watts should be just fine and work and so on. Nope, not at all.

SET 400 is the ONLY way I am going. I don't even have my Maggie's hooked up right now because I'm not wasting my time with them until I get proper amplification.

Thanks Frank for posting this. Now the only other question I have, is how much better are the .7's compared to the LRS's? I have a year to decide.