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Life after Maggies?

For the past 7 years I have been extremely happy with my Magneplanar 1.6qr speakers. They've been modded to the limit: specifically, I'm using an external active crossover and running a El-34 tube amp on the quasi-ribbon tweeter/mid and a big Innersound amp (600wpc) on the bass panel. They're clamped in Mye stands and they far outperform stock. Even better than stock Maggie 3.6's to my ears. They sound fantastic!

What I love most about the Maggies is their presentation of performers in the space of my room. Pianos especially sound "real" and female vocalists are to die for. With my setup, singers sound as if they're in the room with me, and detail is superb (one of the biggest changes from modding vs. stock). Bass is solid, and cellos are rich and palpable. My Maggies don't do "slam" very well, and the lowest octave is mostly hinted at rather than delivered, but as most of my listening is classical, that's not such a big deal.

Now I'm moving and my listening room will be an unfortunately-sized 11x12' dedicated listening room. This is going to be too small a space for the Maggies to breathe, or so I believe.

I'm looking for recommendations for smaller speakers, perhaps stand-mounted monitors, that will work in this space. I think I'd like speakers with ribbon tweeters, but I've never heard any. I've also been told that Green Mountain Audio speakers, and Joseph Audio speakers should be on my audition list (but which ones?).

I'd like to find some speakers that won't disappoint me after my love affair with the Maggies... In particular, I'd like to hear from former Maggie owners who have loved them and moved on.

Thanks!
dfhaleycko
bbro
191 posts
 
Eldartford,

Same experience as with me. Had a pair of new MG IIIa's in 1986 and loved them for many years. Then went searching in the box world wilderness for many years with Spendor SP100, Soliloquy 6 series, Totems, Chatmans, etc.-all wondeful speakers- but finally came full circle with a pair of 3.6R's about 6 months ago and now a pair of MG 20 series and am now feeling complete again. The Magnepans do however require a lot of work on getting the positioning and the amplification correct to make them at their best.
slipknot1
1,423 posts
 
When I commented that I "moved on" I did not mean up or better. I loved the sound I was getting with my 3.6R driven by Wolcott P220 tube amps and well placed in a Rives Audio designed room. There is nothing like the Magnepan sound. It took a pair of cone based loudspeakers that cost 6 times the cost of the 3.6R to replace them. As much as I love what they do, and still own a pair of rebuilt MGI and a pair of MMG, I grew weary of the room dominating surface area of the big panels.
dfhaleycko OP
178 posts
 
thanks everyone for your responses! You've given me a lot to think about.

I'll definitely try to use the maggies in the new room, and see if I can make them work. Fortunately, it won't be used for anything else, so i can stick the speakers well out into the room. Cytocycle, your suggestion to put my listening position at the rear wall is interesting, I wonder how much bass reinforcement I'll get there (too much)? I'll let you know how it works out.

I'm definitely on the audition trail. Hadn't thought about spendors or Gradient Revolutions, some new things to explore! Cenline, thanks for your rave on the Green Mountain line. I'm scheduled to audition some Callisto's next week. I hope Chadnliz is wrong and I don't have to be that far away from them for them to work.

I listened to some Audio Physics speakers yesterday, and they were nice, tons of bass, nice tone, but they sounded closed in and boxy to me. Sigh. Here's hoping that magic will appear in one of these auditions! I do get discouraged when I hear there's no substitute for Maggies... Maybe the Peter Gunn modded units are worth checking out, but I'm not sure they'll be in the same league as my tricked-out 1.6's.

The search continues...
restock
831 posts
 
Ok, here is a suggestion that might sound odd:

I am more from the single driver camp and recently listened again to a pair of Maggies 1.6 (it's been ten years since I listened to the 1.5). Overall, I found quite a few similarities of the Maggies 1.6 to my Cain Abbys: The 1.6 did have a coherence across most of the range that I have not found in many speakers aside from my Cain Abbys. From my audition they were very quick, detailed, and projected similar large-scale images, just like the Abbys. In fact, in particular the imaging department the two different speakers are very similar: Fairly large, high up images that are very solid. Finally, top end and bottom end extension was where they beat my Abbys easily. Addition of the sub is necessary for the Abbys.

Running an SET amp into the Abbys I think you will get a similar openness, coherence and solid real life images that are very close to the real thing, especially when piano is playing. On the plus, the Abbys work well in smaller rooms, can be placed close to the wall and are in the same pricerange as the Maggies.
johnk's avatar
johnk
1,976 posts
 
I went from maggies, electrostatics etc to hi-eff, you can get hieff ribbons these are wonderful as is a proper front horn system
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