Life after Maggies?

I have owned the Maggie 1.6's, 3.6's and currently own the 20.1's so I understand your appreciation of the Maggie speakers. I have a smaller room where I have a second system and I use the Harbeth SHL-5 speakers. They are excellent speakers and give much of the magic presentation of the Maggie speakers. I've tried many speakers in that room and at one point sold my Harbeth speakers but I wasn't happy with any replacements so I went back to the Harbeths. Although I haven't heard the Spendor speakers I understand they are very similar sounding to the Harbeth line so the recommendation above may be a good one.

As a former owner of the MG 12s, the 1.6s, and the 3.6s, I can tell you its going to be quite difficult to find a speaker that gives the magic you are looking for. As I now own a pair of Merlins which throw a great soundstage like the Maggies, they still don't have that dipole transparency. My advice would be as follows: First, try the 1.6s in the new room and see what you think. Its definitely a tight squeeze and the hard part will be getting them far enough from the front wall (the wall behind the speakers) to breath. Second, if they don't work in the smaller room, consider a modded pair of SMGAs. There is a startup company called Magnestand that makes modded SMGAs run by Peter Gunn over at the Planar Asylum on Audioasylum.com. I've heard these speakers on several occassions and they are fantastic. In my opinion, they have more PRAT than the 1.6s. I even liked them better than the 3.6s, though they clearly didn't have the amazing resolution of the ribbon tweeter. They are much smaller than the 1.6s, closer to the size of the MMGs. They integrate suberbly and they are, of course, Maggies so you won't be losing the love you have. They cost just a little more than a used pair of used 1.6s, somewhere in the range of $1200. Peter Gunn's craftsmanship is spectacular and his mods are innovative when it comes to performance (I've also heard unmodded SMGs and there is no comparison to the modded ones). If you want to email me privately, I can get you in contact with Mr. Gunn and he could advise you as to whether they would work in the small room (he's an honest guy and won't try to sell you anything that would be unuseable). Or, you can look him up on Audioasylum under his moniker, Peter Gunn. Third, if none of the above options work, I'd consider an open baffle speaker like the Alons, Nomad Ronins, or the Linkwitz Orions. Its just my opinion, but I think you would miss too much of the dipole magic that the Maggies give you with any other box speaker (based on the way you've described your affection for the 1.6s). Just my 2 cents.

Wish you the best of luck with whatever you choose.

Ya neveer know till you try them in new space, but as for your Green Mountian idea, I doubt you will be able to get those both far enough from back wall and far enough from you to get the first order cross-over to perform its best.

I would check out two speakers by GMA, first one is the Pico Executive 3way floorstnader which retails for 5000.00.The second is the Calisto which is a 2way and needs a stand, both of these speakers are electrostatic in transparency and have better dynamic headroom.The real secret to the GMA's is the superb build quality Q stone and the simplest crossover know to man,one capacitor per driver.My GMA Calypso's image like no other speaker I have ever heard,detailed 3-d images that totally soar and immerse you in the music. The bass is also extremely powerful and yet expressive and is totally in phase with the music. Please do yourself a favour and listen to what may be some of the best speakers on the planet!Hope this helps Dennis

I owned & loved Maggie SMGa's & 1.6's for over a decade before moving on last year to dynamic speakers. We've moved and my new listening area is considerably bigger than previously was the case, so our situation isn't analagous in that respect. All of the speakers you mentioned and others have suggested have garnered good praise and might be suitable. In my case, after considering Salk, Tyler, and ACI speakers, I bought ACI Talismans unheard and haven't regreted the decision for a moment. Now, the Talismans are rather big speakers and aren't made any more, but the ACI Sapphire XL's are are current 2 way monitor models that might be worth checking out. There are numerous reviews of the Sapphires on the web. If you think they sound like a possibility, you can try them at home for 30 days at no risk other than paying return shipping. If you were to add a subwoofer like ACI's Force or a REL, you'd have a compact full range system that would be a very good value.