Cheap receiver that can handle 5 4ohm maggies?

$400 is a tight fit.


If it were me i would be at audiogon.com looking at EVERYTHING.Parasound,Bryston,Classe,Krell,Outlaw,NAD just to see if a

good deal might come up.


10 or so years ago i did a slow 2 channel build.600 on a 140w Carver HR-772 2 channel Receiver......A few months later a pair of Klipsch Chorus II's.

Those speakers have always had good power feeding them.The carver tested out at 163w at 8 and 180w at 4 ohm.


I'm thinking too that it's not like they are trying to drive maggie 3.6's or 20

model speakers.

I would make sure of the return policy of the store i'm dealing with.Test

several Receivers with the MMG's and go that route.

iamnotmad, I'd disregard ABEX's comments. Out of 123 posts, 98% of them have been pushing the XR45.

"I've read people who have the panny...." he says. bahahah


Sorry, ABEX.


As for 4ohm maggies? I really cannot honestly suggest anything cheap, but I might suggest looking into h/k as for the most part, the amp section is bulletproof (to a point).


Also consider the Kenwood 7060 or 7070 (same amp section?). The 7070 is rumored to be the same thing as the 6070 which was tested by S&V magazine at 90 something watts per channel (all driven at the same time). For comparison, the Panny XR45 was tested at something like 40 watts per channel by a different magazine. BUT.... I haven't read anything about the Kenwood being low ohm stable.


Another option is the ARCAM AVR100. A used receiver listed on Audiogon in your pricerange
http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.p...124&class&3&4&

I think I read somewhere that it's 2ohm stable. And from the reviews, this thing is music first, home theater second. Exactly why I didn't buy it.


Good luck!

Quote:
The current 7070 is actually a 7070A, with 20% more output than the 7070, and HDTV compatible component switching to boot. This may be a very good choice to start out with, and its 7.1 preamp outs mean you can add bigger amps later. It's 80hz crossover may be a bit low for the new MMG-W's, but works great with my MMG's (I run them full range with LFE Mix to the sub).


My room is quite large and I never really hooked up the Kenwood amp outputs to the MMGs (I run two Adcom 200w/ch amps driven from the pre outs). I do have the Kenwood's 'B' speaker terms wired to some 4 ohm M&Ks in the bedroom and it does a very respectable job, but I have never really driven them hard.


The Kenwood replaced an older Sony 5.1 receiver (945 I believe, which did not have pre outs). Driving just a single pair of MMGs made the Sony glow almost red (literally HOT to the touch), and sounded very compressed and hard at realistic levels.


In any event, yes, I think the 7070A is worth a look.

CZ Eddy

Hey no problem as I have the Panasonic unit and have a B&K\\Passive setup I also like very much. The reason why I tout the Panny unit are several.


It is low cost

Has enough power for most real world speakers

It's small footprint

It can also be tweeked for better performance.

Last the sound you get from using it in just the stock version is more than acceptable.


I have had several amps in the past and more than likely than not will have more in the future. I also realise there are many other good alternatives out there. But for myself it fits and sounds nice for a sub $1000 unit. People are replaceing systems costing 5-15X what the thing goes for.So it is just not my own experience.


For those wondering about Power,the unit provides 100w for each channel. Most Maggies do not have an Imp. of 4ohms ,but 5ohms as far as I was aware of which make them an unusual resistive load. I loved my Maggies ,but found they were so Finickey for system matching so I searched for an alternative that gives me what the Maggies use to and more. That is not to say I do not like them because I do in a proper room and appropriate setup. Magnepans greatest strength are their transparency which I love. Innersounds are another speaker I'd like to hear.


There are not many people that have negative experiences with the Panasonic unit and I also was skeptical about using it before I bought one. Other people in Audio that are dealers and have exotics I have spoken to are trying them also with the results being positive. Are they better than what the other things they are using ?In alot of cases NO! But the price to performance ratio is quite large.


Are there better setups? For sure there are! But in the sub $1K level there are few I would consider.B&K,Rotel and Sunfire I would consider. I like a few things using my Passive setup more,but the price and tradeoffs are there also.


I have always maintained that it will not be the golden fix for every system or speakers as nothing will be. But as of right now I think it's the best bang for the buck component in audio.Sharp has a new line of 1-bit units coming out that might replace the Panasonic as being the best sub $1K unit,but shall also cost double it's price.


For low cost amps I also like Rotel. I have heard good things about Carver\\Sunfire new offererings also which are said to drive Maggies well. So if I were to say the Panasonic was the last word in use with the Maggies that would be going to far,but it is perhaps the lowest cost solution one could use.


I used a modified B&K when I had my Magnepans and lived happily with that matchup for 5yrs..


I do not tout everything Panasonic BTW. I purchased a Panasonic DVD Changer over the holiday and it soes not perform on Redbook CD's as my 15yr. Old Phillips CDP. I like the convenience of using the Panasonic DVD,but for critical listening I prefer the Phillips.


Maggies love Silver BTW.


Just thinking!

Quote:
You can try it, and it may do okay as long as you keep the volume low, and if you cross over at 80 or 100 Hz. But 80 watts won't do much for the sound during a sudden transient at higher volume calls for a couple hundreds watts and a huge current surge (short term). But first you may want to check with the speaker manufacturer to see what they think about that combo.


Dsmith