[Hirsch]

The other high-end store in Champaign when I was there was Audio Associates. It was on Neil St. IIRC. They were a Linn dealer, also carried Audio Research and other lines. At the time, they carried better equipment than Glenn Poor's. However, it was basically a one man operation, and I don't think they had the sales to keep going the way they were. Appletree Audio was another store in the area, more towards mid-fi most of the time, but with the occassional killer piece. Good Vibes was getting going, but they weren't as interesting as the other stores at the time.

 

[RobertR]

tuberoller: its not clear whether your maggies will be facing the longest dimension of your room which i think will be best.
You can also experiment with placement so that the tweeters are inside or outside as you face them.
On my maggies the ribbon tweeters are on one side of the panel and placement can affect the sounstage. Balance is also affected by how close any one unit is to the side wall and its better if both have equal space around them. Their bipolar nature makes them finicky but theyr'e not fickle once you find the sweetspot.

 

[Andrew Pielet]

I forgot to mention, I use Kimber 8tc speaker cable, in 4 ft lengths.
I was happy to learn that my set up has the monoblocks only 2 1/2 - 3 feet from the MMG's, so upgrading my speaker cable will be inexpensive. I am thinking the monocle, but I have yet to get my hands on some for trial.

 

[Tuberoller]

The Maggies will be facing the long dimension of the room.I have heard that the tweeter can moved by switching the speakers side-to-side.I will try this when I get things set-up.There is also a small cast iron radiator on the left side of room and there are no vents in the room.

 

[FCJ]

Quote:

Originally posted by Tuberoller I have heard that the tweeter can moved by switching the speakers side-to-side.

I always liked the sound better when the tweeters were on the outside, not the inside. I felt the soundstage collapsed a bit when they were on the inside. Of course, my room could have been the influencing factor here, though.

 

[fredpb]

They need a fast, high current amp. At least 100wrms a channel.
I had some Maggies once. They are gone now.

I now have Vandersteen 2ce SIgnatures now. They are awesome. And they do (sorry) stomp maggies.

 

[Tuberoller]

Quote:

Originally posted by fredpb They need a fast, high current amp. At least 100wrms a channel. I had some Maggies once. They are gone now. I now have Vandersteen 2ce SIgnatures now. They are awesome. And they do (sorry) stomp maggies.

Hey Fred,If you take a look at the pics from the Chicago Head-fi meet you'll most likely see the pair of Vandersteen 2CE sigs on display at the store that hosted our meet.I had those at my house for about a month and tried them in various systems with various amps and never could get them to perform well.They have a really wierd hole in the midbass that I could not get rid of.I used all the available adjustments on the speakers to no real effect.the midrange was indeed sweet and very airy.Soundstaging suffered a bit due to the afformentioned midbass hole.I talked to John at Van L Speakerworks( the local Vandersteen dealer) about this and confirmed that it is indeed characteristic of the 2CE.He says once you have noticed it,you can't ignore it.I think these are great speakers but they would certainly drive me crazy.I think that perhaps a different crossover would fix that problem.I see it as a lack of cohesion between the bass drivers and midrange.there seems to be a very obvious gap right around the frequency occupied by instruments like acoustic bass and some drum machine notes.

 

[Budgie]

Count me in. I have owned three pair of Maggies, and still have two pair of them. I don't have the room for them now so they are boxed up, but I do miss them. Hard to beat for any reasonable price. Give them lots of good power and man can they sing!

 

[puppyslugg]

On powering the Maggies, I heard when Magnapan's goes on the road, they use Bryston amps.

 

[fredpb]

Like the Maggies, the IICE sigs are very room dependent. I have no problem with the mid bass in my room. In the same position, I had a lot of problems with maggies. Had good luck in this position with Fulton Tempos (on good stands).


If you have a good room, and the big maggies, they are wonderful. But I like my Vandersteens.

 

[carlo]

tube,

cool.

Quote:

I gotta back-track and say that the best amplifier for the Maggies is the PS Audio HCA2 .

haven't heard the hca-2 (yet), but the mmg just isn't transparent enough to me and lacks the control across the frequency spectrum - to me its worth the step up to the 1.6 before dumping the green on amplification (and this is after trying mmg's with quite a few amps). not sure how limited the $550 offer is by the way since its been at that price for a hell of a long time.

re the room: right on, too rare in this hobby. i don't think anyone can just tell you what configuration to use - i'm sure you'll find yourself experimenting with the thickness of bass traps and diffusors/absorbers, but your references to "the path" of the speaks: while you're setting up the equipment along the wall be wary of reflection points. also, are you considering a stand assembly as well? during my audition i had a lot of complaints about the bottom end of frequency response and was told later that there's work arounds with stands/platforms.

for what its worth though, i think the mmg is too far behind the 1.6qr - its a speaker that opens the door and gives a touch of what maggies do, but its still a budget speaker. the 1.6qr gets closer to the goal.

best,
carlo.

 

[bootman]

Quote:

Originally posted by Budgie Count me in. I have owned three pair of Maggies, and still have two pair of them. I don't have the room for them now so they are boxed up, but I do miss them. Hard to beat for any reasonable price. Give them lots of good power and man can they sing!

I'm in the same boat.
I have a pair of SMGa's that are still boxed up after I moved to my new house 4 years ago.
I don't have the heart to sell them.
(but if you are local I might be tempted to drive them to a good home.

)
Maggies need room to breathe because of their dipole design.
The back reflections is what gives the maggies their sound and if not positioned correctly can destroy all of their advantages.

Tube, try different speaker cables also.
You might be surprised.

 

[Tuberoller]

Thanks for the input guys.I find myself in the rare position of being completely clueless.I have no experience with Maggies.I realize that the MMG is the "sample plate" model of Magnepan but I just wanted to try the flavor.I was told by a Magnepan rep that the MMG do offer this taste,just in a smaller portion.I was told that no matter the size,the maggie flavor is pretty much consistent throughout the range.I have found this to be true after listening to a few other Magnepan-based systems.Don't get me wrong,the bigger maggies offer a much more full-range sound and are much more capable of filling a room with the maggie sound.I'm still learning about these,and once I get them into a dedicated system,in a room that is optimised for them,I think I can offer some better impressions. I have all the gear in place now,I'm just waiting for the audio rack and a rug I ordered.

 

[FCJ]

Quote:

Originally posted by bootman I'm in the same boat. I have a pair of SMGa's that are still boxed up after I moved to my new house 4 years ago. I don't have the heart to sell them. (but if you are local I might be tempted to drive them to a good home. ) Maggies need room to breathe because of their dipole design. The back reflections is what gives the maggies their sound and if not positioned correctly can destroy all of their advantages. Tube, try different speaker cables also. You might be surprised.

Unfortunately, this sounds like a trend--my SMGa's are also boxed up, at least for the time being.

One other tweak--I used two Tiptoes on the bottom of the metal stands (I glued them onto the back of the stands) and two more under the wood frames. This gets them off the floor and improves isolation and imaging.

Also, occasionally over time the screws that hold the wood frame to the speakers tend to get loose (at least they did on mine). Make sure to keep these tight.

 

[Andrew Pielet]

There are a few more tweaks that really NEED to be done to hear the MMG's sing full throttle. Most noticable, the voices seem to be coming from the floor. Now, with the stock legs, they are slightly pointing upward, which diperses music better and the sweet spot doesn't seem so small. What I did was weld a set of Maggies Legs (link not available at this moment). This let me raise them up to 6" off the ground (I have them at 2 1/2" due to short couch) and all of the sudden the soundstage is defined, and you feel like you are being sung/ played to. It also made them push music forward at me, rather than above me. More like the projection of a boxed speaker. This might be different for you, due to acoustic treatments and room dimensions of course. And last but not least, I had my friend custom make me some satin finished cherry rails for the sides. Whoa, they look beautiful now. (It really helps to pick out the most gorgeous pieces of wood you can find) Can't wait to check out your system when its done Tuberoller!