Magnepan 20.1

Bvdiman,

I have to respectfully disagree. Maggies are capable of pinpoint imaging and producing layered and realistic soundstage. I had done extensive audition while I was shopping for speakers a few years ago. If not because of placement limitation of my room and my love of tube amp, I would have bought a pair of 3.6 instead of the Vandy 5; it was that good. But they need high power amp with a lot of current to shine. The more current the better. If you hear diffused soundstage or softness, it usually mean power amp mismatch or placement problem. Due to bass cancellation nature in panel speaker, Maggies don't have very deep bass so you won't get room shocking pipe organ but it should produce very realistic rim shot and kick drum.

I was just listening to a pair of Maggie 20.1s last night at a local high end open house. They were powered by an all Ayre signal chain, including the Ayre 300w monoblock amps. They sounded really good--very engaging--on a wide variety of music, including jazz and classic rock. They played Bowie's "Ch-ch-ch-changes" from an EMI LP anniversary pressing and it sounded pretty spectacular, as did jazz and pretty much anything else. The 20.1s were augmented by a pair of 2x12 JL powered subwoofers, but it was a fairly large room.

The amps certainly weren't struggling to power the 20.1s. They had excellent dynamics. They didn't sound quite as dynamic and transparent as the Wilson MAXX 3's, but those are over twice the price. I liked the Maggies.

I have to disagree as well. My Maggies 3.6r do very well all those things that Bvdiman says they don't do.

One thing the Maggies don't do well at all is boomy bass and diffused imaging. So if one is looking for single bass notes for all the records, then the Maggies are not for you.

Imaging is simply breath-taking with the Maggies. I have not heard this kind of imaging from any other non-planar speakers, regardless of price.

Bring in your little 50 watt integrated and they'll sound thin and constrained. Give them a lot of power and top notch gear, and they'll produce glorious sound. Ultimately, it all depends on the associated gear.

Best,

iSanchez

Played around with my MG20.1 for 3yrs ('03-'06), using dCS (4pcs) as source, through VTL REF7.5/ARC REF3, and alternating driving amps were ARC REF600mkIII, Jadis JA200 or FMA 611.

Well yes, they were certainly good and even excellent in some ways as many above have correctly mentioned. Loved them enough to have lived with for many years. But that was the brief and general description of what I, and a few 'phile friends experienced, in my room, where side-by-side, direct comparison, was conducted for a period of 3 days with the SF Strads which ultimately replaces them back then.

Johnnyb53 : They had excellent dynamics. They didn't sound quite as dynamic and transparent as the Wilson MAXX 3's, but those are over twice the price. I liked the Maggies.

< These more or less summarized what I felt too back then..
Nonetheless, I believe Maggies is still one of the greats in audio bargain out there today. Especially when putting cost to performance ratio into perspective.