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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
phasecorrect's avatar
phasecorrect
2,013 posts
 
the 12s are pretty anemic in the bass dept...if you have the room...the 1.6s are a much fuller range option...happy xmas
stickman451 OP
553 posts
 
Have moved on to Plan B... Pulled out my 20 year-old NAD 2200 PE solid state stereo amp (still use it for one of my secondary systems upstairs). This thing is rated at 100 watts continuous but can swing 600 watts or so for brief peaks; so far, so good. The NAD appears to have plenty of ba$$s to drive the 1.6's... Not as sweet, smooth, or 3-D as the VTLS but at least it hasn't blown-up! Going to spend some time listening with the NAD.
jimburger
104 posts
 
I first auditioned my 1.6's with the PSE Studio V's in a room larger than yours (dealer demo room was 30+'L x 20'W) and the bass was as strong as a pair of Vandy 2CE's with the PSEs (240W@4ohms/channel). I ran my 1.6s with a Classe'25 (500wpc@4ohms) successfully in a large volume room (irregular shaped 25'L x 20'W with 15' peak cathedral ceiling and opennings to other areas) producing 90db at the listening area 12' away! Sounded great with rock and roll even without a subwoofer. In conclusion, 1.6 can really rock out with the right amp (high power with lots of current).
stickman451 OP
553 posts
 
I agree; 1'6's are a great speaker at a great price and I may just buy them. However, as some have mentioned above I will have to find a good muscle-amp to get the best out of them.
macdadtexas
1,794 posts
 
In audio, as in life, there is no free lunch. Great high sensitivity speakers that can use nice flea powered amps, many of which are very reasonably priced, are usually very expensive. To the other extreme, there are Magnepan speakers, which although univerally praised for thier performance and price point, really don't sound anywhere near their best until you put some pricey high powered amps with them.

The digital/ice amps have mitigated that somewhat, and do sound really good in most instances, but with the exception of the BelCanto's and Wyred4Sound amps, even digital (Sanders Sound, Spectron) amps have gotten expensive at anywhere near reference levels. Also, really good Pass, Bryston, Cary and Parasound (sort of reasonalbe, used) sound the best with Maggies and they are not cheap at all.
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