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RE: Anything other than Bryston for Maggies these days?

Posted by Audiophilander (A) on February 15, 2020 at 12:05:22

In Reply to: RE: Anything other than Bryston for Maggies these days? posted by Joe Backer on February 14, 2020 at 08:39:29:

Buying second hand would probably negate the lifetime warranty, but it's certainly an option for the budget minded.

The warranty may not be a big deal as these are built like a tank and made to last. One personal anecdote about the value of a good warranty though. Please bear with me, this will probably take awhile.

I bought my Magtech over five years ago, before Sanders updated their Motorola supplied thermal tracking transistors due to random failures that allowed the amp to get very warm at idle. Since Sanders amps are designed to run cool drawing very little voltage if left on constantly as recommended, this became an issue of concern.

So, I contacted Roger Sanders. He indicated that thermal transistor failures shouldn't pose an issue performance-wise due to the heat sinking and none of the units he'd sold had failed from it. But, he added, if the excess heat at idle concerned me, ship it back and he'd replace the thermal tracking resistors at no charge with the new Motorola replacements that correct the problem.

Weighing this in a thoughtful manner ...as this was less effort than boxing up a 60 lb. Magtech... I ended up sending my amp back to Sanders Sound for surgery after acquiring replacements. Delaying the return by a week allowed me time to buy a pair of (relatively) inexpensive Class D Wyred4Sound 1000 mono blocks I'd wanted to try out, allowing me to listen to music over my Maggies in the interim. Settling in for a long wait, I'd assumed my Magtech would be in the shop for at least a month. Note: My prior experience included dealing with Art Ferris of Audible Illusions fame, so I'd already built up a veneer of patience around repair work.

To my amazement, no sooner had I gotten the Wyred4Sound units in place than my Magtech was back! Turn around time, ...just one week! That was a shocker, but presented a real dilemma since I immediately wanted to check out Roger's work on my Magtech. Resisting that impulse, I kept the Magtech boxed up for a couple of more months in order to fully test out and appraise the Wyred4Sound monoblocks.

In the end, I concluded the Wyred4Sound amps were entirely different animals from the Magtech. The differences weren't subtle and both manufacturer's amps have attributes.

The W4S monoblocks were open and extended with a somewhat cooler, forward presentation with tight well damped bass. Studio instrument placement and inner detail was quite good, but too analytical ...almost clean-room analytical... and sounded almost artificial, slightly etched in the upper frequencies. While not fatiguing, they weren't as musically involving as the Magtech especially on live recordings. Some things sounded great with the W4S amps, but other familiar music was disappointing.

After months of auditioning and making mental notes I removed & stored the Wyred4Sound monoblock amps ...which weighed about ten lbs. each, and unboxed my hefty now-refurbished Magtech.

After taking an Aleve for back ache, I started listening to the Magtech again and realized just how much I loved this amp's sound. No fatigue (except for my back), neutral to warm with a wide, deep, but not forward presentation. Instruments and inner detail with good placement on the soundstage, extended highs, but not artificially etched, and both studio and live material sounded natural. The Magtech provided a richer albeit more neutral presentation to everything.

To make a long story longer, the Magtech checks all the boxes and has never had another thermal transistor issue to this day. It's left on 24/7/365 and is barely warm to the touch at idle (very little energy consumed) and rarely gets much warmer driving my Maggies at high volume. I feel very comfortable recommending this amplifier to Maggie customers. The stereo Magtech at 900 watts per channel into a 4 Ohm load is just right for the 3.7i system. Is that overkill for smaller Maggies? I have no idea.

Cheers,
AuPh

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