Do the big Maggies play LOUD

Hmmm ....... I agree that Maggies are not as loud as cones or horns. I'm a rocker and I run 3.6's and they are suitable to my ears. The key is a lot of clean power. I guess it's all in what your own ears hear! You'll get a lot of variations with this question. I'm running exactly what your question referenced with stellar results!

Apogees will play very loud and very clear but require amplifiers with balls of steel to do so. I personally owned VMPS RM30's and 626 and i am absolutly against recommending them. Horrible built quality and a horrible response. I would recommend any Apogee *depends on budget and amps*, Odeon Horns, Genesis or maybe try Analysis Audio?

I had 1.6 Maggie and used an Innersound ESL amp with 600 watts and the ability to dump lots of current and they played very loud, but you need that much power to do so....

I have used Electrostats from Innersound and have used Maggies but only for surround speakers, I now have VMPS and it seems to offer best of both worlds, they can rock.

I had 3.5r's a while back and although I did like them a lot they just didn't get the levels I wanted, even augmented with subs. Now I'm not your normal human, I want the music to have the live effect. After diddling around for many years I have found my speaker nirvana...Pipedream Reference 18's. These things get it right, and will play ungodly loud if you so desire, without losing the music.

Best,

Paul :-)