Thinking of Magnepan ... finally!

As with all speakers, the room matters, so I convey my experience in that light. My room is 22 x 28 x 9 with a few departures from its otherwise rectangular shape. I started with SMGa. They were inexpensive and I followed all of the recommendations for placement and power, using no solid state amp below 100 wpc. They sounded great, but the sweet spot was very small, both laterally and vertically. Still, they sounded amazing with the right alignments. Then, just for fun, I connected an old tube amp, about 60 wpc. It blew me away. The sweet spot wasn’t larger, but the listening enjoyment increased. I had to find bigger Maggies. Along came 1.6QR, and with them everything that size brings, extended highs and lows, much bigger sweet spot, and the soundstage grew tremendously. I used a mix of tube amps from 50 wpc up to Classe 500 wpc, and enjoyed every one of them. Had not tried using a sub, and as a longtime bass player, didn’t feel that I was missing low end. REW measurements did confirm a hard falloff below 40 Hz. But bigger is better, and I picked up a pair of 3.6R from one of the best Maggie dealers in the USA. I’d hesitate to say this is the end of the line, as 20.somethings would appeal at the right price, but aside from continuing to play with amplifier variations, these speakers delight me every time I listen. I use either a Convergent SL-1 or ARC SP3a1 preamp into vintage Lux or Sony solid state power amps, or any of my higher powered tube amps from Eico, VTL, or Dynaco. And I’ve added a tiny Totem Storm sub to supplement bass below 40 Hz.

The comments made by others regarding soundstage, weakness in bass, power hungry, etc, have not been my experience at all. Placement dictates the soundstage and natural bass, and the volume you wish to play dictates the power needs. I’m good in the mid 80 db range with peaks touching 90. If you want to play Maggies at 100 db, then you need lots of power.

My alternate system in the same room is Altec 604-8G and low powered tube amps. The Altecs are fun with a remarkable ability to make lesser quality recordings sound decent, much like a soft focus filter does for aging actors.

I haven’t heard LRS yet, but based on the experience of others, you may want the larger Maggies for your room. 1.7 at the very least. And they will shine with your Aavik.

There are a few things I could tell you. See if you can find a place to audition before you purchase.  I've owned several models,  2.5R's up to 20.1's, one thing I would say is none of them were lacking in bass. Maggie's have a different take on bass, fast and natural.  I've never used a sub, the natural sound is part of what makes them what they are. You didn't mention a budget,  $2500 should get you a good deal on a pair of used 3.6's....

Enjoy the Music

Whenever I have listened to 3.6’s, I did not feel the need for a subwoofer. I would consider matching 3.7’s with a set of Schiit Tyr’s. 

I have been listening to my MG IIIa's since 1988.  Peter Gunn generously advised me to screw as much natural wood to the back of the particle board frames as possible to absorb vibration and he shared the schematic for his crossover.  I installed 36' of 2"x3" studs per speaker and built his crossover ($900 in parts).  Major improvements.  

Recently, Peter advised me to place a screen behind my listening position to enhance bass response.  I constructed a frame to hold a 2'x4' piece of plywood covered with 2" of Rockwool that is mounted horizontally 34" from the floor and another piece of 2'x4' plywood covered in Rockwool that hangs over the listening area at a 30 degree angle.  I had been using an 18" sub with a low pass of 35hz.  The sub is no longer necessary, unless you want sub 25hz support.  The over all sound is cleaner without the sub.  The overhanging panel helps eliminate sound bouncing from the ceiling.  It's like having a folded horn located behind you.  

My room is 35'x25'x14' (tray ceiling).  I installed a diffuser on the middle of the front wall and the sound stage bloomed.  The Maggies are powered by a Devialet 220.  The Devialet replaced a Pass Labs 250.5.  The amp is connected to the speakers via sixteen 5' 0 AWG copper cables.

I highly recommend you consult Peter Gunn and consider buying one of his modified 1.6 QR's.  Unfortunately, Peter does not modified the bigger models due to shipping constraints. 

An Audiogon poster, b4icu, recommended the speaker cables.  Shocking results as I added one cable at a time.

I have had many box speakers.  They sound good, but they don't have the magic.

Good luck.

My first foray into Open Baffle (OB) speakers was with Accoustat 2 + 2s with both their servo OTLs and the Medallion interfaces. The OTLs blew away the interfaces, but, they were very unstable... fast forward through many box speakers, I "finally" succumbed, and bought a used pair of Magnepan 3.5Rs, which I had to send to the factory due to bass panel delam. Over time, I blew about 6 ribbons before throwing in the towel, but I really loved the huge sound stage they threw (as did my OB 2+2s).

These days there are a goodly number of OB designs which, unlike maggies, are very easy to drive and are nowhere near as wide or tall. In your room EP 2.+ or 3.4 series would do extremely well and typically can be had on the used market for < 50% off. Why? Most people selling them do 2 very important things wrong

* they use the crappy supplied jumper wire

* they leave the outboard XOs on the speaker bases, which shake like crazy.

See my Virtual System which 3.4s

hth