Looking back on past posts I have not seen anyone review a SANDERS MAGTECH amp on this forum, so I will be going into a bit of detail about what I went through to get my Magtech connected properly so that I could listen to it without any issues. You wouldn't think that would be a huge problem, but I did have to go through a few hoops in a long day after unboxing. None of what follows should be interpreted as impugning, or disparaging the Magtech amp, or Sanders Sound Systems in any way, nor should it deter you from purchasing any Sanders Sound product if you are so inclined. Frank at Sanders was always responsive to my email inquiries with detailed information and always answered my calls. This is just my personal "blog" if you will about what I had to do to integrate the Magtech into my system. In my world, things are rarely as easy as I think they should be, just ask my wife.
My original setup consisted of a ROTEL RC-1590 PREAMP and a ROTEL RB-1582MKII AMP that was bi-wired to my M-L ESL-X speakers using AUDIOQUEST ROCKET 88 bi-wire cables (1 set of banana plugs at the amp to two sets of banana plugs at the speakers).
I purchased the new Magtech amp just over a month ago, just after Sanders announced their price reduction (WHEW!!). I also, on Frank's recommendation purchased a set of his speaker cables that he makes specifically designed for use with electrostatic speakers (very low inductance, resistance and capacitance). The amp was packaged appropriately for its weight and inside the box I found the amp (black faced version), a printed owner's manual, a very heavy-duty AC power cord and a set of 2 meter speaker cables terminated with banana plugs on both ends.
My hope for this upgrade was to re-purpose my existing ROTEL RB-1582MKII amp to drive the woofers in my M-L ESL-X and, of course the MAGTECH to drive the panels in a bi-amp configuration. The ESL-X owners manual states bi-amping (in a "horizontal" wiring scheme) doesn't necessarily require identical amps so longs as both amps have the same gain. Checking with both amp Mfg's I found that, thru the unbalanced inputs the Rotel has 26.5 dB gain and the Magtech is rated at 26 dB; close enough so I attempted it, connecting both amps to my Rotel RC-1590 preamp's two sets of unbalanced outputs. (A pertinent note here; previously I had only utilized the balanced XLR connections between my preamp and the RB-1582MKII amp. The reason I did not use the balanced connections again for bi-amping is the large difference in gain between the Rotel and the Magtech; the Rotel only has 22dB of gain thru the XLR inputs vs. the Magtech's 32dB).
A couple of issues became apparent after powering up; First there was a loud AC hum in the speakers. Speaking with Frank at Sanders about how to eliminate the hum, he suggested that I try plugging the Magtech into a surge suppressor (NOT my AUDIOQUEST NIAGARA 1200 power condition, due to how extremely powerful the Magtech is). Fortunately I had a Tripp-lite suppressor on hand and while it reduced the hum substantially, it was still audible. Frank then suggested I use a "3-into-2" AC plug adapter on the suppressor plug going into the wall AC. That finally eliminated the hum. Again, I am not judging the Magtech, or trying to infer that there is anything defective about it. Merely reporting that I never had a hum problem before I connected the Magtech, but then again I was not using "unbalanced" RCA connections in my previous configuration.
I could finally start listening to music, but now there was a very weird volume level and tone fluctuation (what I heard is very hard to describe having never experienced it before so this is the best descriptor I can come up with). After much cursing, cable swapping and amp location repositioning (not easy at age 72 with a 56 pound amp and with the amp being installed on the first level inside of a wooden ex-TV stand type cabinet housing multiple components that is closed on three sides, only open at the rear !). I decided to abandon the bi-amp scheme to see if I could just get some cleanly reproduced music from just the Magtech, which in hindsight I should have just done in the first place.
Unfortunately, even with the Rotel amp completed disconnected, the weird fluctuation was still audible. I said a "HAIL MARY" prayer, (I did NOT want to send the Magtech back but I was on my last nerve after spending most of a day with this) and installed my AUDIOQUEST WATER XLR cables (from my pre-Magtech hookup) between the preamp and the Magtech..... FINALLY, SUCCESS ! Just music, no hum, no fluctuations.
Not sure what was happening that the XLR cables cured, except to say there are a LOT of cables behind my cabinet, especially power cables as I also have an SACD player, a Blu-ray player, a universal SACD/Blu-ray/DVD-A player, my DirecTV box, a Wi-Fi router, a wireless headphone and an Audioquest Niagara (with the two ESL-X AC adapters) all housed within the cabinet, as well as the adjacent subwoofer power cable plugged into the AUDIOQUEST. That is a lot of power cables on the floor in the 12" wide space between the wall and the rear of the cabinet, so I am thinking the unbalanced cables were picking up something from that mess of power cables.
Now, for those of you who have invested the time to read this EPIC TOME, you are probably saying JUST GET ON WITH IT AND TELL US HOW IT SOUNDS!!!!.
We listen to the stereo system almost every day, as we use it for TV audio as well as our 'music days" so we are intimately familiar with how the ESL-X sound. The system is about 5 years old, and as both of us are retired, we watch a lot of movies on DVD / Blu-ray and / or DirectTV almost every night.
Initially, I was thrilled. There was detail in abundance, a wider sound stage and expanded space between instruments and voices, especially double tracked vocals. The panels seemed to COME ALIVE vs what I remembered hearing when the Rotel amp was driving them. The frequent distortions I heard before with the Rotel amp on certain notes, especially guitar and female voices, are either gone, or reproduced more cleanly and more true to what they should sound like in real like and no longer make me do a quick "wince" as I did when I heard them previously. Voices and dialogue heard on movies and TV shows have become clearer. Music pours out of the Magtech to the point of having to become more aware of volume settings, especially during crescendos, as the Magtech just does not run out of steam, or bury its head in the sand. Crescendos become CRESCENDOS, by God ! Amazing.
However that is not the end of this tale. Given that Sanders has a 30 day no questions asked return policy, my wife and I had several multiple-hours music listening days and given that we also listen to the system for TV sessions, we rapidly logged over 100 hours on the amp and cables to ensure adequate break-in. As time went on we later both became aware (without saying anything about this to each other at the time) of a lack of bass / mid bass. Prior to the install of the Magtech, I rarely had to cross my subwoofer over above 45 Hz to have a smooth transition between the woofers in the ESL-X's and the sub for satisfying bass / mid-bass. Now to regain the bass I perceived as missing, I had to cross the sub at 80 to 100 Hz on most music and even then, the integration between the ESL-X and the subs, which I really enjoyed and thought of as being almost perfect to my ears was not as seamless or smooth as it was before. My system had LOST ITS BALLS!
To find out what I did, and if I was able to restore the warmth and low-end I loved, please keep your eye on this space, as I will return in a couple of weeks after further listening and evaluation of the mods and changes I made to document what was needed and what the results are.
My original setup consisted of a ROTEL RC-1590 PREAMP and a ROTEL RB-1582MKII AMP that was bi-wired to my M-L ESL-X speakers using AUDIOQUEST ROCKET 88 bi-wire cables (1 set of banana plugs at the amp to two sets of banana plugs at the speakers).
I purchased the new Magtech amp just over a month ago, just after Sanders announced their price reduction (WHEW!!). I also, on Frank's recommendation purchased a set of his speaker cables that he makes specifically designed for use with electrostatic speakers (very low inductance, resistance and capacitance). The amp was packaged appropriately for its weight and inside the box I found the amp (black faced version), a printed owner's manual, a very heavy-duty AC power cord and a set of 2 meter speaker cables terminated with banana plugs on both ends.
My hope for this upgrade was to re-purpose my existing ROTEL RB-1582MKII amp to drive the woofers in my M-L ESL-X and, of course the MAGTECH to drive the panels in a bi-amp configuration. The ESL-X owners manual states bi-amping (in a "horizontal" wiring scheme) doesn't necessarily require identical amps so longs as both amps have the same gain. Checking with both amp Mfg's I found that, thru the unbalanced inputs the Rotel has 26.5 dB gain and the Magtech is rated at 26 dB; close enough so I attempted it, connecting both amps to my Rotel RC-1590 preamp's two sets of unbalanced outputs. (A pertinent note here; previously I had only utilized the balanced XLR connections between my preamp and the RB-1582MKII amp. The reason I did not use the balanced connections again for bi-amping is the large difference in gain between the Rotel and the Magtech; the Rotel only has 22dB of gain thru the XLR inputs vs. the Magtech's 32dB).
A couple of issues became apparent after powering up; First there was a loud AC hum in the speakers. Speaking with Frank at Sanders about how to eliminate the hum, he suggested that I try plugging the Magtech into a surge suppressor (NOT my AUDIOQUEST NIAGARA 1200 power condition, due to how extremely powerful the Magtech is). Fortunately I had a Tripp-lite suppressor on hand and while it reduced the hum substantially, it was still audible. Frank then suggested I use a "3-into-2" AC plug adapter on the suppressor plug going into the wall AC. That finally eliminated the hum. Again, I am not judging the Magtech, or trying to infer that there is anything defective about it. Merely reporting that I never had a hum problem before I connected the Magtech, but then again I was not using "unbalanced" RCA connections in my previous configuration.
I could finally start listening to music, but now there was a very weird volume level and tone fluctuation (what I heard is very hard to describe having never experienced it before so this is the best descriptor I can come up with). After much cursing, cable swapping and amp location repositioning (not easy at age 72 with a 56 pound amp and with the amp being installed on the first level inside of a wooden ex-TV stand type cabinet housing multiple components that is closed on three sides, only open at the rear !). I decided to abandon the bi-amp scheme to see if I could just get some cleanly reproduced music from just the Magtech, which in hindsight I should have just done in the first place.
Unfortunately, even with the Rotel amp completed disconnected, the weird fluctuation was still audible. I said a "HAIL MARY" prayer, (I did NOT want to send the Magtech back but I was on my last nerve after spending most of a day with this) and installed my AUDIOQUEST WATER XLR cables (from my pre-Magtech hookup) between the preamp and the Magtech..... FINALLY, SUCCESS ! Just music, no hum, no fluctuations.
Not sure what was happening that the XLR cables cured, except to say there are a LOT of cables behind my cabinet, especially power cables as I also have an SACD player, a Blu-ray player, a universal SACD/Blu-ray/DVD-A player, my DirecTV box, a Wi-Fi router, a wireless headphone and an Audioquest Niagara (with the two ESL-X AC adapters) all housed within the cabinet, as well as the adjacent subwoofer power cable plugged into the AUDIOQUEST. That is a lot of power cables on the floor in the 12" wide space between the wall and the rear of the cabinet, so I am thinking the unbalanced cables were picking up something from that mess of power cables.
Now, for those of you who have invested the time to read this EPIC TOME, you are probably saying JUST GET ON WITH IT AND TELL US HOW IT SOUNDS!!!!.
We listen to the stereo system almost every day, as we use it for TV audio as well as our 'music days" so we are intimately familiar with how the ESL-X sound. The system is about 5 years old, and as both of us are retired, we watch a lot of movies on DVD / Blu-ray and / or DirectTV almost every night.
Initially, I was thrilled. There was detail in abundance, a wider sound stage and expanded space between instruments and voices, especially double tracked vocals. The panels seemed to COME ALIVE vs what I remembered hearing when the Rotel amp was driving them. The frequent distortions I heard before with the Rotel amp on certain notes, especially guitar and female voices, are either gone, or reproduced more cleanly and more true to what they should sound like in real like and no longer make me do a quick "wince" as I did when I heard them previously. Voices and dialogue heard on movies and TV shows have become clearer. Music pours out of the Magtech to the point of having to become more aware of volume settings, especially during crescendos, as the Magtech just does not run out of steam, or bury its head in the sand. Crescendos become CRESCENDOS, by God ! Amazing.
However that is not the end of this tale. Given that Sanders has a 30 day no questions asked return policy, my wife and I had several multiple-hours music listening days and given that we also listen to the system for TV sessions, we rapidly logged over 100 hours on the amp and cables to ensure adequate break-in. As time went on we later both became aware (without saying anything about this to each other at the time) of a lack of bass / mid bass. Prior to the install of the Magtech, I rarely had to cross my subwoofer over above 45 Hz to have a smooth transition between the woofers in the ESL-X's and the sub for satisfying bass / mid-bass. Now to regain the bass I perceived as missing, I had to cross the sub at 80 to 100 Hz on most music and even then, the integration between the ESL-X and the subs, which I really enjoyed and thought of as being almost perfect to my ears was not as seamless or smooth as it was before. My system had LOST ITS BALLS!
To find out what I did, and if I was able to restore the warmth and low-end I loved, please keep your eye on this space, as I will return in a couple of weeks after further listening and evaluation of the mods and changes I made to document what was needed and what the results are.
