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In Reply to: RE: Time To Simplify posted by russ69 on December 26, 2016 at 19:34:18
I was thinking of a pair of Maggie 3.7i, a midrange Musical Fidelity and my Elite Blu-ray player. It's hard to get simpler than that.
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Throw in a Chromecast Audio or Raspberry Pi with Spotify playback for non critical listening. The Chromecast jobber is smaller than the size of a hockey puck, and doesn't sound bad, even using the analog outputs.
You're right, that is simple, but just to toss another option into the mix, here's my suggestion...
If you're downsizing for operational simplicity's sake the best way to go might be Sanders. The Sanders Preamplifier and Magtech amp can be left on all the time without posing a massive power drain. The Magtech amp also produces the kind of wattage that Maggie's love.
The 3.7i Maggies should be as harmonious in a small to medium sized listening as their beefier breathern in a larger one. Dependent upon your musical tastes you may find integrating one or two well designed subwoofers might make downsizing more palatable, purist opinions to the contrary notwithstanding. Your Elite Blu-Ray player should work well and now warm-up is required.
I'm not sure that the Musical Fidelity integrated option will provide enough wattage to make those mid-sized Maggie's sing, but that's purely conjecture on my part. That said, if simplifying is being contemplated for budgetary reasons, the more minimalist Musical Fidelity configuration might prove the better option.
I fully understand about the switch flipping warm-up conundrum. I currently flip five switches, four directly involving tube electronics (two with my Audible Illusions preamp & two due to the modification of my ModWright OPPO player) and then typically wait 30 minutes before serious listening to give the tubes time to fully warm-up. Design-wise, there isn't much warm-up needed with the ModWright, but the Audible Illusions preamp seems to require a little more patience.
Cheers,
AuPh
"If you're downsizing for operational simplicity's sake the best way to go might be Sanders. The Sanders Preamplifier and Magtech amp can be left on all the time without posing a massive power drain."
I've got a ton of big amps and tube amps AND good pre-amps, that is what I'm trying to get rid of. Minimalist, not the minimal number of separates and servers. I don't know if that will be a successful move but if it takes a half hour to turn my system on, it will stay off most of the time. I want a simple system that I can run all the time without powering up the local substation first.
Sanders gear is solid state and designed to be left on all the time. There's very little power drain unless a signal is running through it (my Magtech amp is on all the time).
I wasn't recommending any tube gear as that's what you're trying to get away from. An integrated amp may be tougher to match with Maggies (they're thirsty critters), but maybe there are some good ones out there.
Cheers and best New Year's wishes,
AuPh
I just leave the low power non mechanical SS on all the time, the tube stuff requires just 2 switches, and the bass amp. Not much.in that. XO DAC TT and PC stay on, if I know that I will play the CD the next day then it stays on as well..
Having an integrated with onboard digital and a single amped speaker is a good simplification, just that the 3.7i's are a bit more difficult to match to an integrated.
That would be a high end Musical Fidelity like the KW or nuvista 800 integrated. The others don't have the current capability at 4 ohms - and the 3.7 drops below 4 ohms and down to even below 3 over rather wide swaths of the freq range.
I was thinking about the M6si, 220 watts into 8ohms. I have used the smaller one on the 1.6s and Martin Logan requests and they did just fine. Really robust little dudes and can handle low impedance loads. I even tried to shut down my buddies A3 (I think it was)and 1.6s playing ELP "tank" at full song and it breezed right through it. I'm willing to learn but I thought it might work? I have a little Creek Evo2 (75 watt) for testing and if it doesn't work out, I can put my Parasound A21 on it or my big Mac(400wpc)? Have you ever run a Musical Fidelity with Maggies or just looking at spec sheets?
Edits: 12/28/16
Tried the 3A on the Vandy 2C, they choked on loud passages and was rather hot, did not buy. The Vandy has a dipping impedance too, which the 1.6 does not but 3.7i does - and for a large portion of the freq range. The 3.7 is probably the hardest impedance curve of all maggies yet.
Though they are great sounding, the lighter MF amps are not high current amplifiers. The bigger ones are. Given the M6 is a bigger version then it might be a workable solution if you don't drive it too hard. But I would try first in this case if you insist. As an example of what happens when you run an amp into too low a load I can give the Bryston 4B NRB which ran scary hot driving my 2.75ohm tweeter. Which was electronically crossed over at 5khz. I then put a 1.25 ohm mills resistor and it ran cool. Didn't like the results in sound - thin and bleached.
Thanx Sadie. I listen at lower volumes but I'll check with the Musical Fidelity dealer before I buy. Perhaps if the little Creek integrated doesn't choke, we'll know something about my power requirements after that test. I usually can get away with a solid 60wpc amp. My days of playing loud are long past, I always set my volume at the lowest possible satisfying setting. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with difficult loads but if it gets smoking hot at lower volumes, it's a clue that the amp is not happy.
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