Maggie 1.7i's lack detail. Ideas?
Hi,
In about 1979 I had a roommate who had a pair of Magnapan's, an amp, pre-amp (at least one of which was NAD, and a fairly high quality turntable. I was shocked and amazed about the feeling the singers were present in the room with me. The accuracy and detail of the sound.
Fast forward 40 years and I purchase a barely used 1.7is. I have a new Marantz NR1200. A 15 yo BK EX-440 Sonata (350WPC @ 4 ohms), and optical bit stream out Sony DVD player. I use optical cable between the DVD player and NR1200. I have fairly high quality cables between the pre-out of the NR1200 and the EX-440. I have somewhat high gauge copper stranded cable, about 6', between the EX-440 and the speakers.
The sound is not bad but very much lacking the detail and immediacy I remember in the highs and mid-range. A great disappointment. My question is what the most likely culprit?
Some possibilities:
1. My hearing has declined.
2. I've a romanticized memory of the sound quality.
3. What I was hearing was the mushrooms.
4. The speakers my roommate had were a bit wider. Maybe more like the 3.7s. Maybe 40 year old 3.7s are just that much better than current 1.7is.
5. Stranded wire cables.
6. Turntable that much better than CD.
7. ????
This article has an unorthodox placement but I tried it with my LSRs and the placement raised the sound quality many levels above what I had before. I have plenty of room so this may not work for many but my room is also very bright with 14 windows and 2 half glass doors. Give it a try. I ordered the stands that Tom Gibbs has recommended but, like many, they are having supply issues. Magneplanar LRS Room Setup Tips11-29-2019 | By Tom Gibbs | Issue 106 |
My Maggie 3.7s set aprrox. 4 feet from the wall. I mounted the panels on MYE stands. I put twice the distance between as from the side wall. (approx. 6 feet between and 3 feet outside). Some toe in, also. I power them with VTL300 Deluxe tube mono blocks. I use Audio Art cable....some silver. They sing. Detail is very good. Placement is most important to get that wonderful bass response. I replaced the jumper bars with 6 inch silver cable that match my speaker cable. (12 ft pair SC-5 e2 Cryo Speaker Cable w/Silver Banana) Have not done fuses. Again, the result is a performance....not just listening to music. I use a passive preamp. I am quite happy with my system. Ears are too. |
Lots of good ideas here...I agree with upgrading your CD, and getting a real preamp...I have also found Mike Powells silver jumpers and fuse tube to be a great low cost tweak...also not sure that your amp was ever a detail champ, even when new a few decades ago, though it is very powerful and was a good value when new... |
To the OP, I know what you seek. I seek the same. Details and wow factor are missing. When I purchased my 1.7i the dealer ran them on a McIntosh stack that probably cost $15K (USD) or more. Budget stuff for that brand but boy did these speakers sing. Details were there. You need to upgrade the front end and these speakers will show you what they can do. I swapped out my speaker cables and I heard more detail. I swapped out my preamp and I heard the difference (always pros and cons). My front end only costs approx $5000 (USD) so it is not up to par for these speakers. I am going to upgrade from the amp to the source. Just as everyone has said, watts and current are what you need. Bryston, Parasound, McIntosh, anything with high current and 200+ watts will likely work well. Don’t do a horizontal upgrade like buying anything under $2k or similar to what you already have. Save save save. Then move to preamp upgrade and then DAC\transport. I think the Maggies will highlight each change. Good luck. |
