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RE: Looking for a good-value tubed integrated amp

Posted by Sherwood Forest (A) on October 7, 2014 at 10:31:13

In Reply to: Looking for a good-value tubed integrated amp posted by tvr2500m on September 30, 2014 at 15:52:26:

Hello,

Having owned MMGs, SCA-35, Citation V, etc. I can tell you right off the bat that an amp like the SCA-35 is going be wholly unsatisfactory for you. The problem lies with the fact that the Maggies aren't terribly efficient to begin with, and below 100hz, they are even less efficient. Sadly, the SCA-35 is rather puny in the bass to begin with as well, and if you attempt to EQ your way out of that situation, all of the amp's power will be sapped rather quickly.

A Citation V on the other hand has enough spare power to allow you to EQ a little more bass response out of the MMGs, and will sound very good. You won't get very high SPLs, but you will achieve decent listening levels with ample headroom. The CIT V is a good match for the MMGs. The Citation II is an even better match, and can really drive the MMGs well, even with added bass EQ. To my ears, the more correct sounding amps like Citation II & V are an excellent match to the revealing nature of the MMGs.

The MMGs are a pretty challenging load for most amps, but the HKs are a really good starting point.

My favorite 7189 (higher voltage 6BQ5) amp is the Sherwood S-5000. This amp will put out almost 25W RMS. The SCA-35 is barely 17 watts. I find the Sherwood S-5000 to be insufficient to drive the MMGs, so a SCA-35 is just going to be low SPL misery. Even my ST-70 was a bit weak for the MMGs.

You should really be looking at amps 50WPC and up.

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