Magnepan Mods

I purchased a pair of Maggie IIA's They need a lot of work. Wire has delaminated from Mylar and needs to be replaced.

Fundamental question with this old Model, is it even worth the time and effort ... ?? If I had the wires replaced I would be looking at a custom frame for them as well.

Ozymandias - if the wire is delaminating I am afraid you are out of luck. I just got my Peter Gunned Maggie 1.6 qrs back from John. I am the original owner of the 1.6s and they have been ‘babied ‘ since I got them 10 to 12 years ago. I had no delam issues and we did the full modification - the key improvement from my Peter Gun 1.6s is the midrange vocals are amazing. Bass is better too, and the frames are beautiful. The mod cost me $3,000. Worth every penny but not cheap. Per John - I should get 8 to 10 years out of them.

My main system uses my 1.7is and I added a Maggie’s base panel to them. I had to bi amp the speakers to get them to drive well. My bass issues are gone with the 1.7is now. Total speaker costs (1.7i plus bass panel DWM) is $3,000. But they are brand new.

hope this helps.

Happy Listening

You don’t say what you are trying to accomplish or what model you have.

I have done every mod possible except apply damping material to the panels (messy). My 3.6s are biamped with a Pass Labs active crossover (totally modified) and tower subs. The remaining tweeter/midrange passive crossover uses Duelund Cast caps and inductors that cost more than the speakers. There are no fuses. The panels are rewired with 6 9’s OFC copper wire. The internal grill cloth has been removed. The system is in "All Out Assault".

The speakers use Mye stands which are an extremely cost effective upgrade for any model (Magnepan’s feet are NOT really stable and the driver panel vibrates). This helps both problems. If I was going to do one cost effective mod, I’d buy the stands with the added benefit that they won’t effect the resale value.

In principle the Maggie and Apogee tweeters are identical. Structurally they are very different. The Maggie tweeter is an individual component which you can remove from the speaker in it's entirety. The Apogee's tweeter magnets are part of the structure of the speaker frame and they can not be removed. Only the tweeter ribbon can be removed which I might add is a very entertaining procedure. I always told people who were considering replacing there own ribbons to buy 4 ribbons at a time. The first two are for practice. The Apogee tweeter is supported along it's length by little foam blocks squeezed in between the magnets at intervals of 12" or so. The Maggie tweeter is supported in it's channel by little blobs of blue something or other between the edge of the ribbon and the channel. The blobs alternate from one side to the other at around 3 inch intervals. IMHO the Maggie tweeter is a better design. It is more durable (but still relatively easy to blow) and much easier to replace. Sonically, I doubt you could tell the difference.