Magneplanar's


I heard the Magneplanar 1.6's and 3.6's a couple of weeks ago and was blown away. However, my system is combined for audio and HT and I only have my living room for listening which is medium to large. I have room to get them out at least 3' from back and side walls, however, I have entertainment center which flanks a rear projection T.V. that will be in the middle. I plan to replace the entertainment center with a couple of open racks which will sit on each side of the T.V, but they will still be in the middle. To I have a chance to get decent sound from the Maggie's with this set-up? I've asked this question from various new groups but have found no one with this type of set-up. Thanks.
jack_dotson
Jack -

I have my MGIIIA's out in front and to the sides of my RPTV system. I have my system set up for 80% music, 20% film and as a result, keep my RPTV covered with an oriental rug when not watching a film. My equipment is in a closet just outside the room so I don't have the issue of racks, but keeping the set covered keeps the image smearing and glare down over what it would be if it was exposed.
Today is your lucky day because I have had this equipment setup with the Maggie 3.6's.

See my system with pics at this link:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vopin&1043544749&read&3&4&

Yes you can get very good sound out of the Maggies with this setup. I had the 3.6's for about 3 years, and contrary to some opinions, the Maggies are not that tough to get good sound out of with the speaker setup. I think the Maggies are pretty darn easy to setup and get to sound good without much effort (with the speaker placement). I have VA Mahlers now, and the VA Mahlers are MUCH harder to setup than the Maggies. I have spent hours upon hours working for optimal Mahler setup in my room. I could get the Maggies to sound good in a matter of 10-20 minutes.

I loved the Maggies, but for HT applications, I think they fall a little short.

The Maggies have 3 weaknesses:
1 - Lack of dynamics. This impacts HT a lot as well as dynamic music.
2 - The need to be driven by massively powerful amps. The Maggies gain dynamics as one moves up in amp power. The last amps I had with the Maggies were 2 Plinius SA100 mk3 amps in MONO (665wpc into the Maggies). The sound was awesome.
3 - Lack of bass. If you can live without much below 35hz or so, you should be set with the Maggies.

Everything else is world class with the Maggies.

I loved the 3.6's, but I think the VA Mahlers are a better all around speaker.

One more thing.... the Maggie profile being so large blocked my HT equipment rack, and I was unable to use my remotes from my listening position. This was really annoying. The Mahlers profile (being much less) gives me the ability to use all of my remotes with ease.

Good Luck!

KF