Schiit Vidar/Saga vs Outlaw Audio RR2160 for Magnepan .7

Friends,

I'm trying to decide what is the best, and budget option to amplify Magnepan .7's. I know Vidar/Saga and Outlaw Audio receiver are Very different animals offering different services. But I would like to know which is the more powerful amp, and the better choice for amplifying .7's.

Outlaw Audio's specs are:
110 watts per channel, into 8 ohms and 165 watts per channel, into 4 ohms.
Vidar's specs are 100 watts into 8 ohms, and 200 into 4 ohms. (Unfortunately, it seems I can't use two Vidars into Magnepan 7's as two vidars are not rated for 4 ohm speakers.) So I'll be using one Vidar.

Any thoughts??

 

From the Magnepan FAQ:

http://www.magnepan.com/faq

 

In regard to your comment about not being able to run Vidar monoblocks with the .7s:

here is a quote from Jason in the Vidar thread:

I don't own Maggies, but given that the .7s are basically a downsized version of the 1.7s, one Vidar should serve you well. Hell, Steve Guttenberg (who is a Magnepan nut) raved about pairing Ragnarok with his .7s (link here). Steve can be a little hyperbolic sometimes, but given that Vidar has essentially double the power of Ragnarok, it seems that one Vidar would indeed be plenty.

 

@Steve Lefkowicz already mentioned the combo awhile ago:

 

I've been using a Vidar to drive the midrange/tweeter panel on my biamped Tympani IVA's. It's experimental -- I got it to run one of the bass panels, but wanted to see how it sounds on the midrange and tweeter first -- and I can tell you that I've been delighted. As in I can't believe that it sounds so good for 700 bucks.

I normally have a Benchmark AHB2 on the mid tweets, a much more expensive amp. That I've been listening to the Vidar non-stop for the last few days says a lot.

More specifically, the Benchmark is more transparent (than any amp I've ever heard, actually) and the instruments are more solidly placed than the Vidar, although the Vidar has good width and reasonable depth (though the latter is not as mind boggling as it is with the AHB2's). The AHB2 is also free of a very subtle crossover distortion grain that one hears in all except high bias Class AB amps. (Keep in mind that we're talking subtle differences and a much more expensive amp here.)

But the Vidar beats the Benchmark in how it handles transients. Piano attacks are more defined (a weak point for the Benchmark) and in general, the music seems more dynamic and expressive. What's more, the Vidar seems to do a much better job with my e28 DAC, which creates some unpleasant mid and high frequency distortion with the AHB2 (other DAC's I've used don't do this). This was a big surprise. And overall it has a pleasant sound that some have compared to tubes.

In any case, I can recommend the Vidar with Maggies. It's a steal at that price (I've had an Emotiva XPA-2, which was about the same price, on these speakers and the Vidar is a significantly better amp). It's so good that I may be getting some more (there are a lot of panels in these Tympanis!) I've read a review too that said it was a match made in heaven for the 1.7's.

If you listen at reasonable levels, 200 watts should be fine. If you like to listen at really loud ones, well, there's no question that Maggies become more dynamic with a larger amp, but most of the time, I don't think most of us do -- 200 watts will give you about 106 dB at the listening seat, and that's pretty loud.

 

Vidar just makes sense for Maggies, one Vidar can provide tons of current and make those speakers very happy.