Are Magnepan MG-IIIa speakers problematic?

i had a pair of mgII a's. they are now my son's. the set up is so critical but when you find that sweetspot it was worth it. the roon i listened to them in was asymetrical and don't know if i ever got the most out of them. i still love that honest sound they make.

You need to have room for them. You need to have sufficient power for them. Beyond that... a true audio classic and a great speaker. Magnepan will rebuild them if necessary I believe (though not cheap.. and expensive to ship).

A good source of info is: http://www.integracoustics.com/MUG/MUG/

The ribbon tweeter on them is simply amazing. The maggie bass is also extremely nice.

mdl.

Yes they can be "troublesome" however they are well worth the effort- much like a high-maintenance girlfriend :o) Magnepan still repairs them and with MUG you can't lose anything you need help with you can find there. If you are getting a good deal and the rest of your system is up to the task of driving them go for it! There is a reason magnepan has the cult like following it does.

Tireguy is right, there's a reason that Maggies have such a loyal following. I suppose, like all components, they aren't going to work well in every system or room. Maggies need room to "breath," they don't work optimally jammed into corners or against walls. They need high quality, powerful amplification and not every amp is happy driving them. I started with MGA's and have had 1.6's for several years and have found them very reliable, not at all "high maintenance." I had to go through a few amps before finding an extremely synergistic one (PS Audio HCA-2.) I guess I've been lucky roomwise, never finding them finicky or hard to set up. I find Magneplanars to have a certain magic that I haven't heard in any other speaker, especially at their given pricepoints.

I owned a set of MG 3.5Rs for 10 years, and didn't have any issues with them. They were a pain to set up in the three different rooms I had them in, but once I found "the spot" everything was great. I don't see how that is different than any other speaker type though.