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Can a Magnepan 1.6 be BI AMPED?

Was wondering if anyone who owns the Mag 1.6 speakers knows if the speaker can be BI AMPEDped? I know it can be bi wired, but looking at the rear connection panel has me wondering if both terminals arent hard wired to the top terminal, allowing the two lower terminals to touch internally causing possible issues with bi amping.

Please dont respond the following receiver wont drive them, because I fully know it will. My concern is ONLY on bi amping on the speaker end. Ive bi amped so seriously hard to drive speakers and the Onkyo is more then up to the task. Specially considering I will be crossing the 1.6 over to ease the demands, and I only prefer a sub to do the grunt work. But for reference sake, here is my intentions with the Onkyo:

Im using a Onkyo nr906 right now on a pair off mmg's set to 4ohm, and they sound fantastic with a sub crossed over at 80hz. I have the ability to use the rear channels from the Onkyo in a bi amp configuration to drive a pair of 1.6's in bi amp config in a dual 4 ohm load. Should be 200 watts aprox to top and 200 watts aprox to bottom, and allow me to use the full potential of the nr906 if bi amping works in this speaker.

Thanks to anyone that has knowledge of if the 1.6 accepts bi amp config or just bi wire(which if they in fact touch internally to the top terminal, isnt worth bi wiring anyway, as its one big loop either way).
sthomas12321
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Based on my experience the only mod worth doing to the MG1.6 is to replace the internal stock iron core inductor with an air core inductor. This won't fit inside and needs to be mounted externally on the back.

I also replaced the capacitors, but this isn't worth the cost and effort.
samhar
1,048 posts
 
Are you thinking the 906 is driving 696 sq in MMG's fine so I'll use another 2 channels of amplification to drive the extra 539 sq in's of the 1.6's?
Personally I'd keep the MMG's, they're working fine correct, and save up some money to upgrade the amp first then the preamp. My reasoning is the MMG's are very good in their own right and can handle upgrades of the amp/preamp in your system before you "upgrade" to the 1.6's.
I would upgrade to a better quality amp first and use the preamp section of the 906. When you save enough again you can upgrade to a higher quality preamp at which time you will experience how good the MMG's actually are then decided if the 1.6's are necessary!!
I say this because I had a Onkyo 905 in a HT system with 1.6's driven by an external 250 watt @ 8ohm amp it worked for HT but the quality of sound for 2 channel wasn't very good. Bottom line the preamp section of the Onkyo's are the weak link for 2 channel.
magfan
1,583 posts
 
Caps in the stock 1.6 are Solon and can easily be bettered, but at a price. When going to an aircore inductor, you need to keep in mind that the issued inductor is 16 ga. of 0.4 ohms (DCR) To duplicate this inductor in an aircore requires 14 or 13 ga. wire, and of course, a bunch more of it! There are several online calculators, if you want to run some simulations.
Eldartford is correct. Unless you've got a jackhammer handy, you are into an external x-over.

Cap choice is very subjective. I'd be curious to know what caps 'Eld used in his mod. I'm about to pull the trigger on ClaritySA.
Don't forget that the wiring in the panel is pretty cheesy, too. A proper, fully detailed job can replace a bunch of wire and connections, get rid of the fuse and go to binding posts, if you want to be rid of the banana connectors. Go ahead and peek thru the crossover cover cloth on the backside. Bring a strong flashlight.

Go to *Magnepan Users Group* for a good afternoons read.
hifitime
715 posts
 
Almarg,I shouldn't have put 8 ohms each halve without knowing the speakers measurements.Some speakers have crossovers with odd impedance characteristics.It would be nice if the companies gave more spec's with the bi-amp option.Amplifier companies could give us a lot more spec's too. After looking at the chart,I don't why some people act like they're(Maggie's) a nightmare to drive.They are inefficient,and 4 ohm speakers,but look nice and stable(nothing dropping down 1 to 2 ohms or something like that).Magnepan link>>[http://www.magnepan.com/faq#power]
magfan
1,583 posts
 
HiFi,
Maggies, the 1.6s in particular are indeed, not a 'bad' load. People that call them such look at impedance and sensitivity without looking at the 3rd leg of load evaluation. ANY amp with reasonable current into 4 ohms will be able to drive 'em. Some, of course, better than others. YMMV?
Phase Angle of these panels is moderate from hi to low.
Please look (if you haven't already!) at the link provided by AlMarg to the Stereophile measured data panel. This clearly shows the phase data. If you are curious, write back and I'll BRIEFLY go over the math. It is very simple and will be an eye opener. All you need is a scientific calculator, either handheld or the free one with Windows or Mac. No rocket science here, either.
The DCR of EACH driver of the 1.6 is 4.5ohms, +-0.1 ohm. This includes the lopass inductor of 0.4ohms.

As a sidenote, reviews seem to encourage the low impedance as bad load philosophy. There is simply not enough measured data for people to think otherwise. The only source of real, measured data is Stereophile which has been publishing this data for years. I don't know how long! Speakers which have both a low impedance dip AND a large phase angle are generally identified as 'bad' loads. The 1.6s don't.

And, if that isn't enough, I don't see the 0.1uf 'bypass' cap in my crossovers. I peeked, using a strong flashlight and I don't see 'em. Both schematics I have show 4 hipass caps totaling 22uf. Both my speakers have 21.9uf.
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