[Tuberoller]

In all the years I have been involved in audio,I have never actually had a chance to audition a set of Magnepans or any Magneplanar loudspeaker in my systems.I have owned a few Electrostats and Horns,ribbons and many,many cone driven speakers.I decided I needed to try a set of "Maggies" so I took Magnepan up on the MMG offer.They are selling this model direct for a limited time for $550.00 plus shipping.I just got them Tuesday and have been breaking them in over the last few days.I just took a good listen tonight.The MMG is hailed by Magenpan as the lowest cost Planar-Magnetic/Ribbon speaker in the world.This speaker has a efficiency rating of 86db,but has a widely varying impedance curve ranging from 1.8ohm to 7ohms which makes a powerful and dynamic amp a real neccessity.It measures 48inches tall,14.5 inches wide and only 1.25 inches thick.I had always assumed Planar speakers difficult to postion correctly,making the assumption that they are similar in nature to Electrostats.I was suprised to find the maggies to have a nice,wide "sweetspot" and can be very easy to placed in a position that allows proper soundstaging.Consider that my room is large(22x28 ft) and has acoustic treatments.I planned to power them with the Rogue MB120 tube Monobloc amps,but they were sold earlier this week.I used a set of Hafler DH-500 amps that I assembled back when I was a kid and still own.They have been upgraded with a Van Alstine Omega III power supply and boards.I used a Van Alstine Pas 3i tube preamp.The only digital souces I have been using recently are a Sony DVP-NS500V and a Musical Fidelity A324 DAC.I used a VPI Extended Aries table with a Grado Reference Cartridge and Grado PH-1 phono amp on Todd Green's(Headroom's Sales Manager) recommendation.His ear is indeed Golden.

I felt the need to post my impressions here because I am so stinkin' impressed.I have been missing out.My dad has been trying to get me on the Maggie bandwagon for years but I wasn't having it.He has always loved Quad Electrostats and I have always hated them.My foolish association between the Quads and Magnepans and lack of understanding of Planar technology has cost me.

The first big suprise I had was how much bass these things are capable of.This is not logical to a guy like me.Where is the bass driver?I equate no woofer with no bass.Not the case here.There is good bass and plenty of it.It is not the deepest bass I have heard,but it is cavernous and rich and in all the places it belongs.It is the kind of bass that makes you attempt to locate the subwoofer in the room.Don't mistake this for the boomy slop that some inexpensive bookshelf speakers pass off as bass.this is real bass.My wife thinks the bass is just OK.She thinks I am in a state of shock that the Maggies actually have any bass at all.Of course,she is comparing these to my usual PSB speakers which have house-shaking bass.I will have a second(third?) opinion on this tomorrow when some audio buddies drop by for football games.

The strength of any Planar speaker has always been in the midrange,or so I have always assumed.I assumed correct.The midrange on these speakers is among the sweetest I have heard.It is not too laid back and not at all too forward.There is no "hump" or over-emphasis that causes an imbalance in the overall sound.Voices are true and sound perfectly pitched.The Treble seems a little relaxed but there is no real loss of detail.This may be a product of the amps.After the Van Alstine upgrades they have taken on a completly new character.They are much smoother and have much better soundstage projection.With that in mind I am still amazed at the width and depth of the soundstage from the Maggies.Instrument placement and stereo imaging is precise and natural sounding.I have to say that these speakers do Piano Jazz better than anything I have ever heard.In my opinion a Piano is the single most difficult instrument to reproduce accurately.The MMG do it the best.If there is any fault with the Maggies,it lies in an overall tonal balance that errs on the side of politeness.What I mean is, these speakers,even when played loud,just don't do certain kinds of music.If you are a Metal fan these ain't your speakers.They are also every bit as difficult to drive as the specs suggest.The Haflers are capable of delivering 500W a channel and 1200W peak.They were burning hot after my 3 hour listening session.They never clipped or distorted,but the heat indicates they were working hard.I have used these a long time on a lot of speakers and they have never run that hot.

My wife wants to try the Maggies with one of the Fisher recievers we have(she's in the room hooking it up now).I don't know how that will work out but I'll keep you posted.If you have the opportunity to audition these, do so.The price along with the 60 day return policy is really nice and if you have a suitable amp I think these will suprise you.

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

Isn't that crazy! A 550 buck pair of speakers that need monsters to drive 'em. Just think Fred, of the all the junky 1500 dollar home theater systems out there compared to the MMGs with power behind them. People just don't know what they are missing. When you trade them in for the bigger boys let us know what you think of those. Glad you like them.

 

[puppyslugg]

Tuberoller,

I've had my Maggie III's for years and you are correct: the midrange is where it excels. Hard to better for vocals. That was the reason why I purchased the Monsoon 1000 for my computer setup for the planar technology. I haven't been disappointed.

$550? It's a steal!

 

[DarkAngel]

My local (rich) Audiophile friend always has either Martin Logan CLS or Apogee speakers in his system (he owns both!) Last trip there he had 6ft tall Martin Logan CLS panels in use with two subwoofers that were used as end tables to couch! He has them bi-amped with two Inner Sound amps.

I have to readjust my perspective when hearing this system because the 3D image is unbelieveably huge, bigger than life. Thats what you get with 6ft panel used as single driver, I can see where people once hearing this cannot return to box speakers, the large panels can have amazing transparency and presence.

 

[mikel51]

I'm running Magnepan 3.3Rs. I ended up being a Maggie person when my audiophile friend picked up some 10.1s for his girlfireind's house to make her stereo listenable.

My first pair of Maggies were 2.5s that I bought for $800 used over the internet. That was a disaster because the dealer was a crook and they arrived damaged--but all ended well when they were sent back to the factory and refurbished at shipping company expense.

I didn't keep them long because I found a used pair of Maggie 3.3R speakers for $1100. These are close to audio Nirvana for me(Although my friend's $40K Genesis speakers powered by >$50K worth of electronics do make my system sound like chopped liver) . When positioned perfectly, you get wonderful 3 dimensional soundstaging. Very good bass, and mid ranges are very sweet and transparent.

When I purchased the speakers, I had a Denon receiver, and this sounded fine. I have upgraded to a tube (EAR) preamp and a separate power amp (Conrad Johnson Sonographe). These did improve the sound, but the quantum leap in my system was the speakers. If I were to upgrade my system I would get a Levinson power amp, a tube preamp with a remote volume control (Sonic frontiers or perhaps BAT), and a new CD player (Currently an Anthem, but the Audio Research CD-2 sounded pretty good when I auditioned it a few years ago). Even though I generally prefer tubes, I thin that Maggies do better when powered by solid state amps rather than tube amps.

I moved about a year ago, and my current living room does not have a good place for optimal Magnepan placement. For casual listening they sit back against the wall, and for more critical listening the are moved out about 3 feet from the wall to optimize sound stage.

I am relatively new to headphones. I recently obtained a Wheatfield HA-2 amplifier and I have Etymotic ER-4P (with S adapter) and Sennheiser HD-600s. The Magnepans blow away the sound quality of both of these headphones. The sound from the Magnepans is much more transparent, fast, detailed and sweet.

 

[Todd R]

I've been living with Maggie 1.6's for the past 2 years.
I went speaker shopping this summer and couldn't hardly find anything I could even tolerate, let alone liked better.
Joseph Audio RM 25 I could live with, but cost double what the Maggies did.
They are truly one of the great bargains in audio.
Yeah, they like a lot of power, they are big and demand space, but it's worth it.

 

[Hirsch]

I first heard Maggie's over 20 years ago, and have wanted them since. I'd own them now, but I've got four cats. They would make a very expensive scratching post

 

[mikel51]

Quote:

Originally posted by Hirsch I first heard Maggie's over 20 years ago, and have wanted them since. I'd own them now, but I've got four cats. They would make a very expensive scratching post

I have some spray that smells bad to cats, and keeps them away from the speakers. It goes on the wood trim and the metal speakers stands.

 

[Tuberoller]

Recently my wife wants to connect everything from her Marantz SA-14 SACD player to her Audes speakers to the Fisher 400 receiver.I have always had them around but now my Wife is in love with them.I let her have the one I took to the Chicago meet and this is now what she is using in her office.She uses it for a headamp,tuner and amplification.When she suggested that we use it to power the new Magnepan MMG loudspeakers,I figured that after they made the Haflers sweat the Fisher had little chance to do any better.I was once again wrong.This does not make any sense to me.The Fisher does not power the Maggies to the great bass performance of the Haflers but the midrange is now even sweeter and better focused.Imaging,which I already thought was spot-on,is now slightly more accurate and depth of soundstage is much improved.Bass is still good,but I know now why some prefer to use these with a subwoofer.In my room a subwoofer is probably not needed but a room of differing dimensions and acoustics may benefit.the Fisher does not even seem to be working hard and actually(this doesn't make any sense either) seems to be able to make them play better with loud music.There is slightly less treble grain and peak level distortion.Piano music still sounds just amazing.The best got better.I really am gonna try the Maggies with some of the other amps I have around,including a NAD 317 ,a Classe' I just had rebuilt and a McCormack monster that I picked up really cheap.I'll let you guys know how those sound.I am still shocked by the Fisher combo and this is what I'll keep going for now.When my buddies come by today we'll probably do some gear swapping and I'll get a second opinion.

 

[kelly]

I heard Maggies 1.6s at a local audiophile snobby boutique on all Linn equipment and was extremely disappointed. Having been a fan of Martin Logan and having had Maggies recommended to me by so many people, it was heartbreaking. I talked to John Acton about it who got to audition the Maggies in his home and he described to me some of the ways the Maggies interacted with his room conditions. Yup, that must have been the problem. This particular snobby shop had an array of Maggies and was an authorized dealer so I thought for sure they knew what they were doing, but apparently in a small-ish room with the Maggies too close to the walls, you get a ltitle bit of a bright/harsh sound. I'd thought I'd written these speakers off that day but after talking with Acton, I understood that I really needed to audition them again in a better environment.

Unfortunately, of course, that was the only Maggie dealer in Dallas (they're also the only Stax dealer, the only Linn dealer and the only Arcam dealer) and frankly, the guy who seems to be running the shop there is a prick. For them to be an authorized Arcam dealer, they'd decided they were only going to stock the CD72 from now on and tell everyone else to buy Linn. They were really snobbish and rude to me and dparrish and didn't really know what they were talking about either. (Hey, I'm amateur here--when *I* can spot an idiot, you know he's an idiot.)

Anyway, some day - some other city maybe, I'll give Maggies a shot again. I don't imagine I'll ever have a big dedicated room though so maybe it's just as well that they were set up the way they were. I get the impression that I might like even the cheap Martin Logans better in near field and I still need to find out about Quads.

 

[KR...]

The maggies were the 1st audiophile speakers that I ever heard, ages ago. I have no idea what model they were, but they kind of looked like a Godzilla size AKG k1000

These speakers are own by a certain someone on this very board, who shall remain nameless to hind the shame that they haven't been hook up to anything for years and years (6 years maybe?).

I wonder if the reason they sound too polite is because those tube amps don't have enough horse power to bring them to life. You know, just like how the AKG 501 sound too polite and boring until you hook them up to a Maxed out Home or a Max, then they show their true sound or their maximize sound anyway.

 

[RobertR]

I've been very happy with my MG111a. they not only have good midrange but excell in the highs with the ribbon tweeter.
I wanted more audio nirvana so I added a velodyne powered sub woofer. I dont know if it was worth the extra $1000.00 but now I can hear the low subway rumbling in early emi studio recordings and also those powerful lows in telarc cd's.The sub reduces a lot of strain on the planar diagram and just lets them blossom forth.

Beware of cats and dont vacuum the grill cloth near the ribbons.

 

[jim]

Hi Fred! We met at the first chicago headroom meet last winter, where I showed you my white pocket cmoy amp (I'm a tall asian guy).

Anyway, I'm in the market for some speakers, if not now then in the next few months. I was originally planning to get a pair of used monitors, something around the Proac 1sc/Tyler Acoustic Reference Monitor range. Now I'm considering these magnapans. I forgot that these were within my price range! How would you rate these to monitors in the ~$1k range? I'm going to go to the local magnapan dealer tomorrow and see if they have a pair of MMGs I can listen to.

Thanks!

 

[KR...]

Here is a pic for you all :

http://www.magnepan.com/1-800-474-1646/mmg.html

 

[Tuberoller]

Quote:

Originally posted by jim Hi Fred! We met at the first chicago headroom meet last winter, where I showed you my white pocket cmoy amp (I'm a tall asian guy). Anyway, I'm in the market for some speakers, if not now then in the next few months. I was originally planning to get a pair of used monitors, something around the Proac 1sc/Tyler Acoustic Reference Monitor range. Now I'm considering these magnapans. I forgot that these were within my price range! How would you rate these to monitors in the ~$1k range? I'm going to go to the local magnapan dealer tomorrow and see if they have a pair of MMGs I can listen to. Thanks!

Hey I remember you!You were "Just Jim".I also remember your Dad.

I was told when I called that the MMGs were only available direct.This may not be true but the person told me that the only way dealers get them is on trade, unless they pay full retail.I guess there is not much room for profit margin on these and the whole idea is to get you clued in to Maggies and then trade these up at full value(that's part of the deal) for a higher model.

Today,I tried the MMG with a variety of amps and also got to hear a set of Maggie 3.6 as installed in a system with the the 3.6 as part of a external cross-over network and subwoofer.I was simply blown away.I have to make a seperate post about the guy and his four systems.I was amazed in every way.The MMG may not be as difficult to drive as I first thought.Today I tried them with a few different amps,some tubed and some solid state and most of them were capable of making the Maggies sing.Jim,I have owned a few speakers in this price range and many way more expensive loudspeakers.I just have to say that if you have an amp that can power these,you must try them.The 60 day return and upgrade policies are nearly risk-free.

My friends who were around today offered opinions.Everybody was impressed with the soundstaging,imaging and midrange.Some guys thought the bass was accurate but there was not enough of it.Some thought it was fine.I do think if I keep these I will add them to crossover and/or subwoofer system.To a man,everyone thought these things were way too good for the price.No one believed that they only cost $550.00.When used with the Fisher 400 most thought the midrange was nicest and the bass was best when used with the Solid-State Hafler DH500s used as monoblocs.

I just met the guy with the 3.6 today and he has these installed with a Pass Labs crossover network and two custom built subwoofers using four 15" drivers.All this is driven by Four VTL MB750 reference Monoblocs.This is an all analog system that uses a VPI TNT table and a Linn LP12 table as well as two Reel-to-Reel decks.The sound was nothing short of amazing.I have never heard anything like that in someone's home in my life.That is not even his most impressive system,he has three more that are just as amazing.like I said this guy deserves his own post.