Magnepan .7 Alternatives


Looking for suggestions…Currently I have Magnepan .7’s and am generally happy but at times they just don’t do it.

I find these speakers to be schizophrenic, sounding great on some tracks and other tracks leaving me wondering what the hey !… I’d say probably 30-40% of the time I’m feeling this way. Either too much treble, not clear or not tonally balanced. I’m no expert but just my opinion, it often comes off as the midrange being pushed to it’s limit trying to be treble. I assume I feel that way being the speaker’s lack of accuracy, although what Maggi’s do they do well, just not an accurate speaker.

I experience this pretty much no matter what source or style of music I play, certainly a non forgiving speaker. Yes, I’ve played around with Toe-In, tried various resistors & jumpers…sounds great on everything I adjust, just not a consistent sounds great.

Lets get it straight, I’m not a “Magnepan Hater”, there’s certain qualities I truly love about my Maggi .7’s, the open sound, the transparency but hoping I may be able to find a speaker that’s not as finicky and can give me the open feel, transparency and clarity that I seek.

My set up consists of:

Odyssey Khartago Extreme Amp

Tubes4hif SP-13 Preamp

Bluesound Node

EAT B Sharp TT w/Sumiko Moonstone Cart

Pro-Ject Tube Box S Phono Pre

(2) REL - T5x Subs

 

Room dimensions: 11.5’ W x 12’ L

10’ Ceilings -

Listening Distance from Speakers

8.5’ - 9’

Carpet, Curtins, (4) 48” x 12”Acoustic panels on wall behind sofa facing my set up.

Not a fan of bookshelf’s and rather would prefer recommendations on

Floorstanders but will listen and research any suggestions you feel would work.

Note: I’m just starting my search, so don’t beat me up if I don’t go right out and purchase your suggestion as others have done in the past.

My Budget is around the $3k mark.

Thanks

🔊

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that room is both way too small [maggies need much more space due to the requirement of being away from the back wall at least 3 feet] and also that room is almost a perfect cube, unfavorable acoustics as there are standing waves at the same frequencies both horizontally and vertically, causing severe lumpiness in the bass and lower midrange. bass damping is mostly futile [you’d need to take up even more of what space remains in that room with bulky bass traps] in a room of that size and dimension. IMHO your real-world choices are nearfield with compact monitors, or headphones. maggies OR Vandersteen speakers will not sound [as designed] in THAT room. that was my experience, having to save up [for years] to move someplace roomier was the result.

@kingbarbuda: "I think this narrative about Maggies not integrating with subs is a myth." One guy perpetuating this "myth" is Wendell Diller of Magnepan. In his recent introduction of a prototype dipole sub the company will soon be offering, Wendell made the statement that using a monopole sub (a woofer in a sealed or ported enclosure) with a dipole loudspeaker "doesn’t work" (his exact words).

The failure to get a monopole sub to integrate with a dipole loudspeaker is not new, nor unique to Magnepan; QUAD ESL users were attempting it back in the 1950’s. The Finnish company Gradient designed and built an OB/Dipole sub specifically for the QUAD 63, and later one for the original QUAD (aka "57"). The problem with the Gradient sub was not in its design, but in it's execution.

The Rythmik Audio/GR Research OB/Dipole Subwoofer has been available for over 10 years, as has a similar OB/Dipole sub from the loudspeaker genius Siegfried Linkwitz. Eminent Technology recently introduced their new dipole sub, so the consumer now has the choice of a number of excellent subs to use with his or her dipole loudspeakers.

I used Maggie SMGs, MMGs and the 1.7s over a 40 year period. I was one of those Magneplaner devotees.

BTW, as several have said, they integrate beautifully with REL subs.

I down-sized to a smaller home 2 years ago. My previous listening room was 16x15 feet. The Maggies were great in that room, although the 1.7s were straining trange a bit. After down-sizing to a room only 12' deep, I started having issues with the 1.7s. I just couldn't get the "Maggie sound" that I was used to from them...they were dull and lower level listening made them sound like damp cardboard. After enjoying Maggies for so long, I hated to do it, but I sold them. I picked up a pair of Kef r300s to go with the RELs, and was amazed at how much better they sounded in my room. No, they aren't 5½ feet tall, with a 4 foot tall tweeter, but they gave me much better sound in my room at all volume levels and excellent soundstage and imaging. No regrets!

The Kefs are very nice, but I got a ridiculous deal on them, so I can't say how they'd compete against other speakers in their respective retail price ranges.

1th the most recordings are bad but really bad, why do you think if you listen in a shop it sounds great? Because they take the best recordings you can sell an aiwa set with this recordings. 2th tubes with maggies is not a very good combination they like more a power and fast amp. 3th mine son plays the .7 with two svs subs sounds ok. I have the 1.7i i do it without, i had the 3 and . 20 i listen mine whole live to magnepan the weak thing is the filter you can upgrade this. 

Any other speaker, I just don’t think any Maggie speakers are that good when you want to play a variety of music thru them. I have friends with the 3.x and 20.7’s.

For you smaller room and in your budget for used speakers, check out the Totem Model One, Hawks, or the Revel F206/226 since you have subwoofers.