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Magnepan Owners - Need Your Thoughts Please

Spent some time recently auditioning the Magenpan 12's and 1.6's; I was very impressed with the sound, especially when you consider their modest cost.

I've always had highly sensitive horn speakers so a Magnepan is a totally new direction for me. I will keep my Khorns and consider adding the Magnepans for even more fun! Here are some questions that I need help with. Of course, I will bring them home for a personal in-house listen before I buy but any thoughts that you Maggie owners could add will be greatly appreciated! Questions:

(1)Will a pair of 125 watt VTL monoblocks (EL-34's) be enough juice to drive the Magnepans to reasonable listening levels in my large room (17.5w x 26L x 9h). By reasonable levels I mean 85db - 90db (at the most). I don't want to 'blow-up' the VTL's! They are rated at 130 watts in Tetrode mode into 4 ohms.

(2)I assume that the larger panels of the 1.6's would be harder to drive overall than the smaller 12's?

(3) Setup advice: where do I start on placement? How far from the front wall and how far from the sidewalls? How far apart? Also, are Magnepans designed to be faced straight-ahead or with some toe-in? And, what about the ribbons, placed on the outside or inside?

(4) What are the appropriate listening distances? How far do you sit back from the panels?

Would love to hear Magnepan owners' comments and advice on these questions or any other Maggie issues that I am not thinking about. Thanks!
stickman451
macdadtexas
1,794 posts
 
will the VTL's drive them, yes, will they sound great? No.

I keep marveling at the answers to the questions about Maggies and power amps.

It has nothing to do with volume, it has to do with low level resolution actually. The more power, clean, and undistorted, the better the speaker will sound especially at low levels, and the more base you will get.

The best sound I ever had with the 1.6qr's was with an Innersound ESL amp (600w/ch @ 4ohm). I think you should look at SS or digital amps that have at least 400w into 4ohms.

Parasound A21
Wyred4Sound 500's
Innersound ESL amps
Bel Canto's

There are many, but unless you are looking at some really high powered tube amps, I would really stick with high powered solid state.

I have currently own the 3.6R's and have for years, more power is almost always better.
Post removed 
stickman451 OP
553 posts
 
Everyone, thanks for the interesting feedback. I suspect that 130 watt tube amps are not the ideal choice of amplification for Magnepans but that probably won't keep me from trying them out in my room. If I like a little, I might buy, and then keep an eye out for a good buy on a used pair of SS with plenty of power.
scpetscott
47 posts
 
My maggies sound superb with a naim nap 90 which is only a 40 watt amp. The naim gear sounds much better than a very good plinius 8200 which was rated at 175 Watts. So, big power amps are not an automatic match with maggies. I would imagine the VTLs might do a fine job. Why can't you take them to your dealer and try them there?
magfan
1,583 posts
 
Sensitivity for both speakers mentioned are close enough for either to be driven by the amp in question......But, that being said, Key is generally considered to be current delivery. Yep, probably SS, or even Mac! Bryston is mentioned often as are the various ICE solutions sold by many. I personally have a PSAudio GCC 250 which really makes the 1.6s stand up and pay attention. Maggies don't play at nose bleed levels and distort differently than dynamic speakers when pushed. And YES they are NOT a 'bad load'. Not because of the even impedance which peaks around the x-over frequency, but because of moderate phase angle.

The Maggies are also a DIY DREAM speaker. Please check out 'Magnepan Users Group' for more than you'd ever want to know, let alone try. X-over mods, stands/supports, re-framing, and anything else you can imagine. The 'fringe' treat them like pets.

I solved my brightness problem by having the speakers 'cross' behind me. Crossing in front or AT me produced a too bright hi with compressed image.
Give them plenty of room. 3+ to the back and maybe more to the sides. The resistor supplied, of 1ohm, can be replaced by better. I consider that a 'last resort'.

The 1.6 has a mid/tweet 4 amp fuse which should indicate maximum power levels tolerated.

Nobody has yet mentioned the Cardas method. Please google. That will help with setup. Look at systems with Maggies for more hints.
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