Fet Valve 550 or 350 owners with Magnepans?

Parnelli777 · « **on:** 26 Nov 2005, 03:42 pm »

Care to share your experience? I have the Magnepan 1.6, and am looking very intently at the 550EXR. Preamplifier is a Wright WLA12A, and currently using it with a Jolida 801 70 watt tube amp.

avahifi · « **Reply #1 on:** 26 Nov 2005, 05:32 pm »

The Fet Valve amplifier is going to do the job very well. And remember, if it does not meet your expectations, there is a 30 day satisfaction guarantee.

Frank Van Alstine

jackman · « **Reply #2 on:** 26 Nov 2005, 06:17 pm »

Although the Fetvalve amps are very good performers, I would not forget about the Omegastar amps. Either way, the 30 day grace period will give you a chance to hear how they sound.

Zheeeem · « **Reply #3 on:** 27 Nov 2005, 01:44 pm »

I have a FET Valve 350 that I have run with MMGs to good effect, using a REL Strata sub. I have also been using an older Mosfet with some tympani 1(U)s (which I am in the laborious process of rebuilding).

My next upgrade will probably be to an Ultra DAC and a pair of 1.6 QRs. I have a small-ish room so the 1.6s are probably as big as I can get.

The VA amps do a very nice job with inefficient speakers like maggies. With the MMGs there is very high emotional content, although they are a bit rough.

avahifi · « **Reply #4 on:** 27 Nov 2005, 04:50 pm »

I suspect the "although they are a bit rough" is not fault of lthe Fet Valve 350 amp. How old is the amplifier you are using?

Frank Van Alstine

Zheeeem · « **Reply #5 on:** 28 Nov 2005, 05:05 pm »

Hi Frank, Jim Willis here.

No. The roughness is not the fault of the 350 which is anything but rough. (I guess it is somewhat less than a year old.) The MMGs I would call "enthusiastic but relatively unrefined". And, as I said, they also have a high emotional content - they are musically convincing and engaging. They just don't resolve detail like, say, the biros. Or even like the tympanis. And they pretty much need a subwoofer to perform. Having said all of this, I will also say that the MMGs are without a doubt the best $550 speaker around.

avahifi · « **Reply #6 on:** 28 Nov 2005, 06:35 pm »

For your info, your Fet Valve 350 EXR amplifier is about a year old. It has the new multi-stage regulated power supply board and the new Exicon output mos-fet upgrades of that vintange.

Since then we have significantly improved the interface between the 12AT7 tube and the small signal mos-fet on the audio card, rebiased the tube and raised its operating voltage for more linear operation, and made an improvement in the way the protect circuit for the mos-fets operates. The combination brings the amplifier up to Ultra 350 status.

The price for the upgrade is $499 plus $35 shipping if you are interested.

Frank Van Alstine

Zheeeem · « **Reply #7 on:** 28 Nov 2005, 08:47 pm »

Uhhh... Thanks Frank. But actually, I think I'll get more bang for the buck in upgrading my gnarly old Omega DAC to Ultra, don'tcha think?

My current setup is Omega DAC --> T-7 --> 350 --> biro L/1 and REL Strata III sub.

My planned upgrade is to Ultra DAC --> T-7 -->350 --> magnepan 1.6 QR and REL Strata III sub.

My upgrade order (and old DAC) will arrive within the next month or so. First I need to finish renovating my Tympani 1(U)s. It turned out to be a real job. After rebuilding all 4 woofer panels it turned out that one of the tweeters had gone bad. So now I'm replacing that. Sigh... But my wife really really wants them as part of her system. I personally would have preferred junking them to spending $500+ and 20 hours rebuilding them. But such is life.

Wally King · « **Reply #8 on:** 29 Nov 2005, 02:31 pm »

I have the 550exr driving Maggie 1.6s. I bought the amp about a year ago and have been very content. Based on what other owners have stated in this and other forums that replacing the stock JJ tubes with expensive NOS tubes doesn't bring significant improvement, I haven't replaced the stock tubes.

I won't get into all the nifty audiophile terms to describe the "sound" of the amp, so I'll simply say that the Maggies sound wonderful, open and, as far as I can determine, completely unconstricted in their presentation. I have not been tempted to add a subwoofer; with the 550, the Maggies' bass is clean, never bloated or fuzzy, and if a recording actually contains well-recorded bass, the speakers will produce it accurately.

Before I purchased the 550, Frank told me the 350 would be plenty to drive the Maggie 1.6s, but I opted for the 550 because, as an American, I know that bigger is always better.

FYI: other equipment includes a modded Jolida 100 CDP and the VTL 2.5 preamp with NOS tubes.

Parnelli777 · « **Reply #9 on:** 30 Nov 2005, 01:47 am »

Thanks all for your input.