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Maggies with no Sub: Fantastic surprise

OK, I have had Maggies for years, and always had subs with them: Vandersteens, DefTech, Velodyne, JL Audio, Sunfire, SVS Sound, etc...

When using set up software I have measure the lower end to 35 hz consistantly, so then I would take a ton of time and effort placing the subs in the correct spots, and letting the sub or controller (SMS-1) set up the crossover for different locations. I was always looking for that perfect integration for both stereo and LFE effects, so I finally bought a Rel B1 and I am awaiting it's delivery.

In the mean time, I have for the first time ever, been listening to the Maggie 3.6R's without a sub, and I am shocked. My God, there's a lot of bass there. I have a lot of juice going to them (Cary CAD 500 MB's) and Mye Stands, but wow, they really sound great. I'm kind of sorry I bought the Rel now. I think I may just buy a cheap sub for LFE effects on movies and just leave the Maggie's on their own for Stereo.

Anyone else have this experience??

It may all be amp related, but I will now dispute anyone who says Maggies have no low end authority. I am shocked that much of the low end bass I thought was coming from the subs over the years was actually coming from the Maggies!!
macdadtexas
macdadtexas OP
1,794 posts
 
I am getting plenty of slam right now in my room. Be it Mettalica, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Pink Floyd.

All that sans subwoofer for the first time ever.

My new sub should be here, this week, we'll see how much it actually helps.
martykl
3,578 posts
 
Mac,

A lot of your experience with removing subs could be explained by the x-over frequency you were using prior to losing the subs. If you were crossing at lower than 50-60 cps, I'm not surprised that there's little difference in "slam" w/o the subs. The Maggies were doing (very nearly) all the work in the "slam" region, anyway. Unless your program material was unusual (pipe organ, a handful of solo piano recordings, etc), the subs were doing a different job (adding weight, ambience, and mid-bass "clean-up").

If you were crossing above 70hz, you'd probably hear a more obvious difference in "slam". Even that, however, will depend on program choice. For kicks, try crossing the subs at >100hz with the SMS, then remove them. In this case, you'll hear the effect with a lot of recordings.

Marty
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,333 posts
 
Remember an ES hybrid design like Martin Logan can be an alternative to Maggies + sub for more slam out of the box.

PErsonally, I'm not a fan of most speaker systems that attempt to merge the best aspects of dynamic and other driver technologies, but some folks are.

For me, I prefer a good fast dynamic monitor, like the Triangle Titus, with a sub for very good and cost effective full range sound that is not hard to set up.

I didn't know at the time when I acquired the Triangle monitors and started to use them with a sub that they would signal the beginning of the end for the big, hard to place (with a small sweet spot) Maggies in my house.
macdadtexas OP
1,794 posts
 
I've never liked Martin Logan's, well except for the CLS series, those were/are really special. They never sound coherent to me, especially on loud rock music.

That said, I got my sub all hooked up and dialed in and......

Yeah, sounds better with the sub, and this sub is MUCH better than my last one (which UPS destroyed in shipping btw, and we are in dispute still on the insurance I paid for), which I thought was very good.

The new one's a Rel B1 and after some problems with the hookup instructions that seemed to have something to do with the type of amps I have (balanced differntial??), I am dialed in and really happy.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,333 posts
 
I've heard smaller Rel subs (not sure of model) dialed in very well with the big Maggie 20.s in my favorite local dealers system.

Glad its working out for you.
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