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Magnepan Owners - Need Your Thoughts Please

Spent some time recently auditioning the Magenpan 12's and 1.6's; I was very impressed with the sound, especially when you consider their modest cost.

I've always had highly sensitive horn speakers so a Magnepan is a totally new direction for me. I will keep my Khorns and consider adding the Magnepans for even more fun! Here are some questions that I need help with. Of course, I will bring them home for a personal in-house listen before I buy but any thoughts that you Maggie owners could add will be greatly appreciated! Questions:

(1)Will a pair of 125 watt VTL monoblocks (EL-34's) be enough juice to drive the Magnepans to reasonable listening levels in my large room (17.5w x 26L x 9h). By reasonable levels I mean 85db - 90db (at the most). I don't want to 'blow-up' the VTL's! They are rated at 130 watts in Tetrode mode into 4 ohms.

(2)I assume that the larger panels of the 1.6's would be harder to drive overall than the smaller 12's?

(3) Setup advice: where do I start on placement? How far from the front wall and how far from the sidewalls? How far apart? Also, are Magnepans designed to be faced straight-ahead or with some toe-in? And, what about the ribbons, placed on the outside or inside?

(4) What are the appropriate listening distances? How far do you sit back from the panels?

Would love to hear Magnepan owners' comments and advice on these questions or any other Maggie issues that I am not thinking about. Thanks!
stickman451
55dok
162 posts
 
Magenepans like lots of high current power if you want them to play at orchestral levels. Good amps for the 1.6 models would be innersound esl 300, coda, classe 201 etc. The higher powered tube ampes will cost much much more (VTL 450,etc) and are proboably not worth the expense for the smaller and mid sized maggies. You can also try an integrated classe CAP 151 for the 12's and even for the 1.6's or my favorite budget solution; a vintage luxman R117.
dsper
663 posts
 
I recently bought new MG12's and run them with a McIntosh MA6300 integrated amp. It is solid state at 100 wpc/8 ohms and 160 watts/4 ohms.

My room size is 18 by 33 with 8 foot ceilings.

I have the Maggies sitting on 14 inch square hard wood cubes and in a vertical position.

Due to room logistics and WAF, I have then about four feet from the front wall and about six feet apart. My listening position is about 8 feet out from the speakers so there is about 20 feet of open space behind me. The concrete floors are carpeted. My sense is that the Maggies would sound better if I could use a lttle bit more of the length of the room between me and the front wall.

I play the amp at about 40% of the available gain and am quite happy with the loudness with all types of music.

If you sit and really listen, the Maggies put out quite a bit of bass that has timbre and texture.

Having said that I am thinking about upgrading the low end passover to see if that helps the bass. I already bypassed the fuse and that has improved the high end.

The Magnepan specs show that the 1.6's are a little bit more efficient than the 1.2's.
magfan
1,583 posts
 
Well, Stickman, are you ready to try a few tests?

Turn 'em around. Yep....put the mylar to the wall and the pole piece facing you, the listener. Magnepan flipped sides maybe.....15 years ago. I didn't get the memo, so when I went from MG-1 (late '70s vintage) to the 1.6 it took me a while and lots of reading to realize the cause of one of the largest differences between those 2 named panels.
Don't forget there are FOUR (4) ways to orient your panels. Mylar front / back and-or tweeters in/ out.

ALSO, get out the tape. I measure my panels distance to the wall. I use the edge of the tri strip as my reference. I am at 30 1/2" inside and 34" outside.
This is just over a 10degree toe and crosses the speakers about 20 feet away, well in back of me.

To get louder, don't forget relationship between additional power and loudness. Even going to 250 a side, you may not get loud enough.

Dsper? One of the few I've read who use Magnepan with Mac. I'd like to hear such a setup. For me in my room, the MA6900 or MA7000 would be about right.
dsper
663 posts
 
Magfan,

I always wanted a McIntosh amp since I was in college and finally got the extra coin together to afford one when I turned 57.

I have not listened to anything else with the Maggies and do not know how they might sound with something else.

I think that the Mac quality is there and the protection cicuits work. Before the Maggies, I listened to double stacked Large Advents. While moving the stacks around I managed to cross a wire and the amp protected itself and did not "blow up".

With either the Advents or the Maggies, the amp is dead quiet when it is supposed to be.
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Hi All: Does anyone have experience or an opinion regarding how well an Audio Research Corp VS-115 will drive Magnepans? I believe the ARC VS-115 generates 135 watts power into 8 ohms; 125 watts into 4 ohms.
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