Maggie 20.1 and Marchand XM-44

If I were you I would spend the money on replacing the maggie cross over with like for like, but with better parts.

The active way is not as good yet as the finest analogue passive. Unless you want to do something fancy in the active cross over world.ie special EQ or room correction etc.

I hope someone has a more direct and productive answer to Markus1299's question.

I have owned 4 sets of Magnepans over the last 30 years or so, and although I have never modified them, my understanding is that both upgrading the passive crossovers and biamping can yield significant improvements.

In the case of an active crossover, perhaps the quality may not be as good as the best passive, but it enables biamping obviously and potentially huge amounts of power.

Many Magnepan enthusiasts might argue this improves sound more than incremental improvements in the transparency of the crossover.

I politely disagree with Chadeffect, I never have heard a 20 or 20.1 even with modified passive X-overs sound any were close to the performance of these speakers when they are bi-amped with a good active crossover.

I recommened the Bryston 10B active crossover, it's what I use in my system with great results. I believe it retails now for around $3000.00. I agree that the Pass Labs crossover is terrific, but costs almost twice as much as the Bryston. I know Maggie owners who have run the experiement between these to active crossovers and they came to the conclusion that sonicly the Bryston is right there with the Pass Labs for alot less money. Both are extremely well built, see if you can find either used here on the GON.

I've owned the Marchand and currently own the Pass XVR-1. The Pass is an awesome piece with tons of flexibility. While I don't have Maggies, I am running ML CLS IIZ's and the Pass has been great integrating those with my JL sub.

I've never heard the Pass Xover, but I have heard an excellent 3 way Marchand on the 20.1's (sub attached to the active and crossed over at 34 hrz) with Pass amps on the bottom and ARC tubes on the top, and that was one of the best sounding systems I have ever heard.

Of course I need to say that the analog set up was top notch as well so.......