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Thinking of Magnepan ... finally!

Until recently, most of my amps have been tube-based with the exception of a few great SS integrateds thrown into the mix for fun. That's probably the main reason I have stayed away from Magnepans (or other speakers of its ilk) thus far. Now that I have an Aavik U-280 integrated amp that can do 300 watts @ 8 ohms and doubles to 600 @ 4, I would love to scratch that itch finally. Keep in mind that I do not intend to get rid of my other speakers (Joseph Audio Perspective2 Graphene, Harbeth SHL5+, Fritz Carrera BE) since I love them all for different reasons. The Magnepans will be rotated in the main listening room with Joseph Audio Perspectives. One thing I like about Maggies is that they are relatively lightweight so I can move them to the closet without breaking my back when not in rotation.

Since I've never owned Magnepans before, I have a ton of questions and doubts. So here we go ...

Bass (or the lack thereof) -- I've been told that the Magnepans are very light on bass and definitely require at least on subwoofer. Is this true in all cases? Anyone using them without subs and happy with the performance? TBH, I really would prefer that I don't use subs but not set in stone for sure.

Breathing Room -- my room is 20' x 15' with 12 foot ceilings. The speakers will be placed along the short wall (15'). I can pull them out by about 4.5 feet from the front wall and 3 feet from the side walls. Seating distance will be approximately 8 - 9 feet. Is this good enough or do you think more distance, especially from the front wall, is required to truly enjoy the speakers?

Mods -- I've also heard that the stock components (crossovers, fuses, etc.) and stands are suboptimal. Is this true? If so, what are the minimum requirements to bring the speaker to a higher standard and at what cost? 

Value -- For someone who is just starting out with Maggies, which model is a good entry point? I know that LRS+ is a good value, but my other speakers are very very good, so I want to do justice to the Maggies as well. But at the same time I don't want to spend more than I need to. Where do you think the sweet spot lies, i.e. which model(s)? I will be looking for used only since I've already spent way too much on other speakers.

Imaging -- I've also been told that imaging on Maggies is not that great. I have never heard Maggies before so I have no idea if this assertion is true or not. Your thoughts?

And finally, I want to hear from folks who love their Maggies. What is that you love most about the speakers? What qualities do they bring to the table that no other speaker does? Are there magnetic planar speakers from other brands that I should also be considering? Keep in mind they have to be readily available in the used market. So please don't suggest something that doesn't meet this requirement.

However, to bring some balance to the feedback, I would also love to hear from those who tried Magnepans and moved on to something else. Why? What was it that you didn't like about them? What did you move on to?

Thanks in advance and a sincere request: Please keep it civil ... no need for haters of Magnepan to use this as an opportunity to diss the brand.

arafiq
mclinnguy's avatar
mclinnguy
776 posts
 

@arafiq I know GIK wanted to sell me the polyfusor’s behind them, but that was before they came out with the slatfusor’s or their own Q7 diffusor . I am curious to know what they would recommend now, but me being in Canada the cost of shipping was the same amount as the cost of the products, so I decided to make my own. I found some excellent acoustics resources I could share with you if you are interested, based on those I decided to go with a quadratic residue style. I wish I could give you the listening impressions of my N11 diffuser compared to an N13 or other, but that is the only one I have heard. So no idea if diffusion from 500 hz to 4200 hz is better than 680 hz to 5300 hz (going off the top of my head :) I chose the N11 because of the size. It was a fun project and yes, it does work, very well. I just have been thinking of adding more above them to the ceiling- because the speaker exceeds them in height they should diffuse in that area as well. (in theory)

If you have the budget for Dragon cables, If it were me, I would definitely get this diffusor: RD Acoustic I think it looks awesome, I may have one in the future. Does it sound better or worse then mine? No idea :)

My philosophy is diffusion on the front wall, absorption on the back wall. I do have some extras on the side walls, but I don't think they do much- maybe reduce a bit of slap echo. I don’t think a wee bit of foam on the front wall (behind the paining) will do anything to improve soundstage, but it may tame a little of the high frequencies if one feels that is necessary. 

The common approach suggested in the planar forum was a few fig trees, I did that years ago also, and they did work for the highest frequencies to improve imaging, and the price was right, but these N11 quadratic diffusors work better. 

mclinnguy's avatar
mclinnguy
776 posts
 

Yeah, that painting is quite big, the problem is it is a large flat surface you can’t get the scattering or diffusion with it and the sound will always be compromised. I don’t know if somebody else has a say in the matter wink but the best sound will be a produced from a proper irregular surface, based on mathematical theory:

 

Look at some of this eye candy - when the visual and the practical are combined and the result is beneficial and beautiful. 

yyzsantabarbara
5,095 posts
 

The Mini was really the only option I have for my current space. It will not be on a desk, and there will be an unobstructed path from the speakers to my ears.

I was not really particularly about getting a Maggie, but I already have a great amp for Maggies and I have the KEF KC62 sub with all the cabling to make it work. It was the easiest path.

Here is a discussion on speaker cable for Maggies.

What are the best Speaker Cables for Magneplanars? - General Forum - Audiophile Style

I will find out if this is true starting today. My Mini Maggies arrive in a few hours, and I have the 10 AWG Blue Jean speaker cables already in the house. I will try the Audience FrontRow on the bass module of the Mini and also the satellites. Not a perfect comparison with the pure Blue Jean cable setup but it should have some value.

Mini Maggie System – magneplanar

 

mclinnguy's avatar
mclinnguy
776 posts
 

@yyzsantabarbara yeah, I have read plenty from really knowledgeable bloggers, some who have forgotten more about speaker and crossover design than I will ever know, and some who have designed and engineered world class amplifiers, who still state that speaker cables don't matter. My ears tell me otherwise. I currently have 2 sets of Silversmith Fidelium's connected to my Cardas binding posts on the back of my 3.6R's, I prefer them to the previous Acoustic Zen Absolute's, and I suspect they will be on there for a while. 

yyzsantabarbara
5,095 posts
 

@mclinnguy I am not making a general statement that speaker cables do not matter. I have been using the Audience FrontRow speaker cable on my now sold LRS+ (office) and my Livingroom systems. This cable can compete with any cable at any price. It was easy to hear the difference on my Livingroom system when I did a speaker cable shootout last year.

What I am trying to determine is if I did not need to use the FrontRow on the LRS+ in the first place. Today I have setup the Magnepan Mini system with my KEF KC62 sub. The only difference between the LRS+ system I had, and the Mini system today are the following:

  • different room
  • 2 sets pf Blue Jean 10 AWG speaker cables for the Mini vs 1 set of FrontRow speaker cable for the LRS+. The Blue Jean are brand new and were just setup on the Mini.

The similar parts are the following:

  • Sanders Magtech amp
  • Benchmark HPA4 preamp
  • Schitt Yggi+ Less Is More DAC
  • KEF KC62 sub
  • Sonore OpticalRendu fibre streaming

Even on this still breaking in speaker cables it seems like the Mini is smoother sounding and a bit more detailed than the LRS+. I will be giving this about 2 weeks of heavy play and then putting in the spare FrontRow to the bass panel of the Mini (from the amp) to see what happens.

Given how good the Blue Jean is already sounding I would not be surprised if I sell my spare FrontRow cables to recoup some costs.

 

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