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Originally Posted by mypasswordis /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I found a couple others you mentioned like the HMA 7500/8500 and Sanyo P55. It seems tons of people on AK own the x20 series Yamaha amps as well as the TX-x500 Onkyo amps, but then again, there are tons of people on AK. I was just wondering if you thought any of these (edit: including the MOSFET amps you mentioned) are actually able to drive Maggies well. I'm thinking the scrawny little 30lb 35W/ch CR-620 will gasp and faint as soon as the speaker wires are connected.
Edit: The 35W/ch rating is into 8 ohms so I'm guessing around 50+ for 4 ohms, not that the Maggies actually get that low for most of the frequency range.
A bit more interesting info, as people always seem to mention Maggies needing tons of power.
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Also realize that the Yammie is rated 20-20K, not at a 1K test tone, so it has 35W across the board and it peaks around 60W-65W as observed by me while driving a set of JBL 3-way towers rated 89dB/W at my best bud's house. My CR-620 flat out spanks my '88/'89 era Kenwood 100W/ch receiver and my buddy's two mid-'90's/early'00's 100W/110W Sony receivers. Far more dynamic and enjoyable. What was neat to see is when we had it delivering a constant 7-10W per channel the sound level was loud enough that you had to shout to talk to each other in a larger LR. Then as we increased the bass from "0" to "1", "2", "3", etc. the power draw went up about 10W/ch with each step until it ran out of juice at 55-57W. We lowered the over all volume and we could step the bass up to "4", but that was it. Now, at "3" everything in the house was vibrating on the LR floor and you could feel a nice thump on your chest, but it was too much bass so we dropped it down to "1" and cranked up the volume and just kept feeding it music for about 5 hours before we realized it was 2:30am.
I have Polk S4s which are little 2-way 6-1/2" woofer, 1" silk dome tweeters bookshelf speakers rated at 92dB/W and they pair up with the 620 into sonic bliss. Even with zero EQ, there is far more bass in the room than you think can possibly come from two little speakers. Of course, it took an hour to find that magical placement of the S4s so you will have play with your Maggie's placement and tweak the corner loading to boost the low octave.
That said, I'd still grab the 820 over the Onk, but that's just my personal preference as the 820 will be able to drive any of your orthos and dynamics while the Onk won't. I still intend to design a retro x20 integrated amp based off the Yammie schematics, but the 3020's 170W/ch schematic is quite different than the rest of the family and it uses a separate discrete op-amp to drive the headphones, so it will actually have less power than the lower units resistor networks off the output transistors. I just haven't had the time to get all the schematics printed on 36"x48" sheets so I can note all the differences and decide which way to go, but right now I'm leaning towards a 2020 clone with a separate output to hook up a stand alone 3020-based 170W/ch into 8ohms (200W into 4) power amp for guys who feel they must have mo'powa. Well, really, I plan to buy a used 202 off eBay, then use the tape out to feed the 3020 power amp, but others may not want to spend $350-$400 on a 31 year old receiver...
EDIT: Oooo, what about an Aikido preamp feeding that 170W power amp? Oh yeah!
