770 vs. 7100 for Maggies

I am wondering if 7100 is going to be good enough for Magnepan 1.6 or if I need to buy 770.

Can anyone help?

Don't know for sure, but based on the specs of the Maggie and them being known for being 85-88dB sensitivity, I would go for the 770's if it was me. Every time I have heard Maggies, they have been pushed by 200W/channel or more AMPs, so I think the demo's speak for themselves. The maggies I have heard sounded great.

Without question you want the 770 for Maggies. They are very power hungry speakers. They will work OK with less but if you truly want them to excel feed those babies some power. Some would argue that even 200 wpc is not enough for Magnepan, but I am not one of them.

I concur. With Maggies, you'll want the 770.

Jeff

I found decent amps at the 100-watt level did a fine job on the MMG’s. The MG 12 & 1.6 need amps approaching 200 watts to make them sing. Maggies are easier to match up with SS amps but the right valve amp makes a wonderful combo. The 7100 might be disappointing. If you don’t have the power to get the music off the panels the Maggies can sound, well, boxy, and that’s the last thing you want to do. I’d recommend the 200 mono amps over the 770 if you were going to use Outlaw amps. Other things to consider are what your going to “hang” on to the other 5 channels, the SPL your expecting and very important for Maggies is the room size.

Well, it's not just the wattage but the quality of the wattage: how much it's capable of delivering sustained vs. merely delivering peak. I'd guess that 100 quality watts continuous power to all channels simulaneously should be sufficient. Not all amps are up to that challenge, though.

Jeff