How Great is the Sanders Magtech?

[User211]

The EATs are sonically outstanding. I couldn't find anything that got close when I used my Air Tight ATM2. 2nd best were NOS Tung Sol 6550s but really they fell quite a bit behind.

Trouble is the filaments used to die quickly. I had them before EAT charged £600 odd a quad - god knows what they cost now - in the form of Tesla Vrsovice KT88s. Tis the same tube. I hope they have sorted the filament issue out without destroying the SQ. Make sure you get a warranty on them. If they're still the same tube and the Carver circuit likes them you are in for a real treat.

 

[Brad225]

Ouch, currently $1,400 USD for a quad of EAT KT88s. But if they're that good, might be worth it. After all you can't stop the quest at this point.

Once I get my listening room finished I may have to try the Magtechs with my CLSs. All of the talk about how good they are has me curious.

 

[BobF]

The Magtech is at Necro-pops right now, when I got home last night the amp was gone! Hey pops, remember where you got it hehehe.

I remember where I got it I will play around with it some more this week and see how it goes.
Right now I don't think the LSA will be going anywhere but we will see.

 

[User211]

Ouch, currently $1,400 USD for a quad of EAT KT88s. But if they're that good, might be worth it. After all you can't stop the quest at this point.

When I was buying them, they were the equivalent of $500 a quad - £80 each. I thought that was expensive! And relatively, for new tubes, it definately was. JJs were £25 each, Sovteks around £12.

All I can say was they were the best KT88s I found by a margin. Then I discovered 211 amps I have now and the KT88 based Air Tight just couldn't compete.

I've been a bit impressed with the 211s I have. Even Rowland 301s and some other notably good amps don't do as well - in my system at least. Unfortunately, the amps I have are no longer made. Next competitor will be a Parasound A21 which has been driving some MBL 116Fs - and it does a good job with those, considering the cost.

 

[tsv_1]

Good thing tubes generate magic to help offset -> cost, burn-center visits, microphonics, aging, heat, biasing, rolling, droppage, breakage, and all-around vacuum-angst

BTW, I just bought a solid state pre-amp (W4S STP-SE... can't get enough of that hellish exterior design that W4S subjects the world to... good thing performance/value is excellent). Ironically, during the search, one of my selection criteria was "tube-like midrange".

 

[tsv_1]

I remember where I got it I will play around with it some more this week and see how it goes.
Right now I don't think the LSA will be going anywhere but we will see.

We wait with baited breath Bob! (though my breath almost always smells like bait... whaddyagonna do )

 

[tsv_1]

Hey Todd, Just got back from a nice 8 day cruise on the Oasis. Man that boat is hands down amazing. Dwarfs the other cruise boats. Anyway, I agree with necro-pops on the Sanders having more speed and space and more drive for sure but I am really liking the Carvers ability to produce very natural mid range organics, I mean these do a very awesome job of that which is what I like most in most music. I just tube rolled this morning, removing the 12AT and 12AX stock chinese tubes and put in some NOS Amperex and Siemens which already have made a very nice improvement. Its gonna be a tough call. The carver allow me to enjoy more heavy music by not being tinny (mosy heavy music is recorded that way) and I listen to allot of heavy music. So its going to be a toss up for sure, much more playing to do. I heard that getting EAT KT88 tubes can make these faster we shall see. The Magtech is at Necro-pops right now, when I got home last night the amp was gone! Hey pops, remember where you got it hehehe.

Necro-Ampman !

Hope you had a great time out at sea and leveraged your activities where many laws no longer apply

This is truly fascinating IMO to watch your comparative analysis (and Bob's as well) between the Magtechs and the Carvers. I've been down the electron-valve path before and, for me, the associated activities (rolling, aging, headroom, impedance issues, always wondering if it's dialed in optimally) have been enough to push me back to well designed SS. Obviously many thousands of enthusiasts love them tubes and that's awesome. I may well go out and get a tube integrated at some point for one of my other systems... but fore the main show, I feel pretty comfortable with the Magtechs... but that's just me.

Keep those post tidbits coming!

 

[BobF]

We wait with baited breath Bob! (though my breath almost always smells like bait... whaddyagonna do )

Hi Todd,
That was funny

My audio buddy was over Saturday and he has been in the business a long time and he as I thought the only place the Magtech was probably better was in the low end in base ( not by much) but other than that the LSA was better in the mid's and upper end and cleaner with more open with extension.

I think some people don't know that the LSA puts out 800 watts at 2 ohms.

I will play this week and report back.

Best as always

Bob

 

[tsv_1]

Hi Bob... perhaps the LSA is a bit more burned in than the fresh-techs? It would be interesting to revisit the comparison after a few hundred hours.

 

[Necrosuit]

Yea the Magtech only has about 100 hours on it. Def needs more burn in time. Perhaps Ill have to grab another set of amps for good measure :'....... I did try the Carver in Non classic mode last night which yielded a faster amp and a very quiet noise floor but lacked a bit in depth compared to Classic mode. I actually enjoy the tube rolling and the real tube rolling but the cost of replacing the KT88 is staggering when looking at higher end tubes. Also on the carver you only have to Bias each amp with one screw on the back which biases all the tubes at the same time and has a built in Meter so you dont need a meter, extremely easy and holds its value, Unlike the Ayon Triton I had, each tube had to be Biased and never held its setting. I think getting the LSA back here again which is a hybrid could be a very interesting mix, go from Carver to LSA to Magtech 3 totally different designs, now that sounds like fun dont you think pops?

 

[BobF]

Yea the Magtech only has about 100 hours on it. Def needs more burn in time. Perhaps Ill have to grab another set of amps for good measure :'....... I did try the Carver in Non classic mode last night which yielded a faster amp and a very quiet noise floor but lacked a bit in depth compared to Classic mode. I actually enjoy the tube rolling and the real tube rolling but the cost of replacing the KT88 is staggering when looking at higher end tubes. Also on the carver you only have to Bias each amp with one screw on the back which biases all the tubes at the same time and has a built in Meter so you dont need a meter, extremely easy and holds its value, Unlike the Ayon Triton I had, each tube had to be Biased and never held its setting. I think getting the LSA back here again which is a hybrid could be a very interesting mix, go from Carver to LSA to Magtech 3 totally different designs, now that sounds like fun dont you think pops?

Didn't know thats all the hours on the M-tech. Will plug in again when i get home today from work and let her run.
Will check more towards end of week.

 

[tsv_1]

the real tube rolling

Don't we all?

 

[BobF]

Hi Bob... perhaps the LSA is a bit more burned in than the fresh-techs? It would be interesting to revisit the comparison after a few hundred hours.

Hi Todd,
What exactly is the opinion on the break in for the M-tech?

I can't seem to find anything but from talking to Pete from what he has heard it is not that long?

Maybe M-tech owners can chime in or Roger or his very nice wife are following this thread.

I have had it in the system for the last 3 hours and it is much better than the Innersound I tried years back but still would like more info.

Best,
Bob

 

[Necrosuit]

Just read the manual and it doesnt say anything about break in time.

 

[robertawillisjr]

From reading the few reviews, break in time is somewhere around 100-200 hours. One writer said that Roger felt that little or no break in time was required.

 

[tsv_1]

From reading the few reviews, break in time is somewhere around 100-200 hours. One writer said that Roger felt that little or no break in time was required.

Correct, Roger himself seems to put little credence in the concept of break-in. That said, and IMO, break-in has at least as much to do with the listener's psychological adjustment as it does with equipment "settling".

 

[FoxMulder]

I really, truly believe my Sanders ESL amplifier was still breaking in, around the 300-400 hour mark. After that, it just continues to sound GREAT.

 

[JonFo]

Man, all this talk about the Sanders has me drooling over getting some for my rig in the future.

Every time I hear them at a show, or at someones house, I get serious lust. as they say, power corrupts

 

[Necrosuit]

I truly believe that everything with caps or tubes needs some sort of break in time, maybe 1 hour or 400 hours, but something!

 

[Necrosuit]

Also just ordered some new Genelex KT88 and 12AX tubes to mess around with. Yo, Necro-pops, hows the mag sounding?