I stopped home for lunch and my "new to me" Rogue M120's had arrive. I unpacked them, quickly hooked them up to the Maggies, set them to ultra-linear and fired them up. I first tried LP because my Sutherland puts out more volts than my DAC. Going to a passive pre I wasn't sure if I would have enough gain to drive the Maggies with the M120's. Well, my concerns were quickly put to rest, as I had plenty of gain and headroom. Dire Straits, "On Every Street" sounded great but I'll save that for later. Next was my DAC going to my passive pre. Would 2.5 volts be enough to enable the amps to drive the Maggies? Well, the answer on a quick listen was.....for some CD's it was just enough and for others it more than enough. Further listening will tell me more but my guess it will depend largely on the mastering of the CD. Some will be more compressed and seem louder, while others, will be less compressed and may just barely have enough for "home alone, kick out the jams" levels. I do like my music loud at times. I was generally able to get mid 90's to 104 db peaks, depending on the source and which is plenty loud. Coupled with my subs the volume was satisfying and I may not need to get a line level pre-amp and be able to skate with my passive.
Now for my initial listening impressions. I had been running the Maggies with Classe' amps since 1997 or so and IMO, the are great amps and do a fantastic job. Going this route was a risk but a risk I was willing to take. Hey, this hobby is about fun and it was damn time that I moved beyond my comfort zone. What I wanted was a more enveloping sound. Something that really grabbed my soul when playing tunes. It had to be more organic. Meaning, sound more "real". Flesh out the real body of the instruments and have truth to timbre. All this with out giving up the ability to handle the Maggies without falling apart when pushed. Well, my initial impression are that this pairing might meet that bill. I'm not fully committed to that being realized here until further listening but at this time, under a brief listening session, things seem to be moving in that direction and are promising.
We'll see, or hear, how things pan out over the next few days and I'll report back.