Maggies on my mind.

I've owned serval pairs of Magnepan. I've heard the 1.6s sound great and I've heard them sound thin (bad). Magnepans LOVE current....not watts, but current. The more current, the more open and transparent they sound.

There is nothing else quite like them. But I'm telling you the 1.6s are much better than the 1.5s. And what your experience PROVES is that matching components to speakers is a MUST!

If you want the best that Magnepans can offer, I suggest a tube front end and a huge SS amp with plenty of current. This is by far how the Maggys sound best.

Steven

Living with and without several Maggies througout the last 20 years I can wholeheartedly agree with what I have read here EXCEPT, for driving any Maggie with a 7 watt amp!! The richness you hear might be the tubes adding some nice 3rd order harmonics from being overdriven!

A high current amp with a tube front end does work very well. Make sure you have clean electronics. It is definitely about lots of current (Bryston SST amps are awesome with Maggies), and a reasonable size room for them to breathe in. You will spend a lot of time rearranging your room if you are to arrive at what these babies can do.

The other comment I read which puzzles me is the Home Theatre applications issue. I have had very good experience with Maggies in a HT enviornment. Once again it is a matter of patience and the wife's willingness to accomodate the room for the sound first and all other consideration next.

If your Maggies are in good working order and they are not involving or does not image well, you can be sure it is NOT the speakers. The current generation of Maggies are transparent enough to easily show the differences in wires and certainly electronics. So you maybe hearing/not hearing due to something else.

Models owned: MGIIB, MG3A, MG1.6QR, MG3.6R (I am saving up for the 20.1s. This is my equivalent of going to heaven.)

Had owned AR9s, Klipch, Infinity, before buying the MGIIB and then the 3As. Then I made the mistake of listening to a pair of KEF 107/2s. The bass was better than anything I had heard at that time. And image depth was almost as good as the Maggies. For several years the 3As were the surround channels while the 107/2s were the main speakers. Sold the 3As, regretted it, tried Apogees, Carvers, Accoustats, MLs, The big Allisons, Celestions, but nothing and I mean NOTHING has the combination of coherency, imaging, accuracy, speed and involment in each of the Maggies' price points. Don't judge them in an enviornment that you didn't have any control in setting them up, eg. dealer's showroom. You simply will not get it!

Yes,I have Maggies on my mind, and with good reason since they are in my soul too and I will never part with them again.

America...You are going to love the Carver ZR1600, and your Maggies will love you for it. No speaker responds more to amplifier brute force like Maggies. I have run my set of three MG1.6 with amps ranging from 100 watts to the Carver at 600, and every increase in power rating has made obvious improvement.

And to the original poster, R1b61, yes it was probably the associated electronics, and perhaps the room. The MG1.6 are much better than earlier models (which were pretty good) and some folk (I am an example) actually prefer the sound to the ribbon tweeter that comes with the higher cost MG3.6.

Scubadaddy, Ranakabir and others

I bought my first pair of Maggies in high school, circa 1978 a pair of MG-1Bs with proceeds from my paper route. I can still remember staying up until the wee hours, mesmerized by them. The black wooden bases, the oak strips, vintage Monster cable, -- those were the good old days.

Since then, I have had MG-IIBs, MG-IIIa's, and recently restored a pair of Tympani IVa's. There are few other speakers I can even imagine owning.

I was interested to hear your opinions on tubes and SS amps, as after Hafler amps in my lean allowance days, I have evolved to that configuration, first an ARC SP-9 with an Adcom 555 and now a ARC SP-11 and a Levinson 23.5.

Advice given to me by a Maggie guru at their factory "off the record" said the ML 23.5 was the "best amp ever" with the Tympanis.

However, I am still finding my system a bit flat and bright with other Maggie diehards swearing that it's all about tubes, pre AND power.

Have any Maggie die hards done some serious comparisons with high end tubes vs. high current, high end SS for the power amp?

In any case, classic wonderful speakers.