Magnepans sound great as is...but can be improved with various tweaks or rebuilds, some of which can be quite expensive, though some are cheap...sometimes have to decide between tweaks and stepping up a model or two...and after years of debate, Magnepan now offers upgrade stands for some of it's models...
Magnepan Upgrades, Silver and New Crossovers!
I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota and have wanted maggies since I first heard of HiFi. How cool to have one of the greatest manufactures of speakers in our backyard! So last Spring '22 I bought the 1.7i. I'd been watching Nelson Pass put his 3.3's on 4 1000 watt Emotiva amps and I was just in awe. So I bought 2 1000 watt Emotiva amps, new and different than Nelson's, and ran them on the new maggies. Guys, the maggies literally blew up, coils melted off the panels, the damage was so severe Magnepan had never seen anything like it, they graciously covered much of it under warranty. That goes to show what a bad example Nelson Pass is. So after getting back from repairs they're brand new again and I put them on the traditional Bryston 4BST classic audiophile pairing, they sounded great, but I'd been watching OCD HiFi guy Mikey with all his maggie magic tricks and I got the itch to improve things. I bought the silver fuses and jumpers "insta-upgrade" and OMG clarity, timbre, every aspect improved in sound, was truly shocking. But then there's more, the crazy guys over at GR-Research and took the 1.7 to a new level. They did extensive testing and designed all new parts. I gutted the crossover, steel parts, and wiring and put all new guts in it. Well after 2 weeks of working on it off and on I've got the new crossover and terminals installed. What OCD HiFi did with the silver fuses and jumpers, take that effect and multiply it by 5! Astonishing! I've never heard anything like this, it's like holographic heaven sonic ecstasy. GR-Research really has provided the pinnacle of what Magnepan can do. It was a really hard technical upgrade, Magnepan does not make it easy, 6 inputs that are backwards opposites on left and right, but after getting it perfect, I'm in heaven and all the pain, destruction, hard lessons, and seeking higher sonic ecstasies has paid off.
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Even though Magnepan emerged from the primordial soup of early 70s HiFi virtually joined at the hip with Audio Research Corp., Wendell Diller, who helped guide the company from the getgo, is a man of the people. His world view is closer to Hubert Humphrey’s than Thurston Howell’s. He has resisted inflating the cost of the speakers beyond what’s necessary. He is an evangelist for boxlessness and wants people of modest means to be able to enjoy. |
@ronboco I didn't take it that way at all. I bought my Magnepans used in perfect shape for a fraction of what you see them typically sell for used, so it's not like I have some allegiance to the brand. I think they're cool, but I don't think they're the best thing I've ever heard; they' simply fell into a price/performance range that made them worth trying. They work for me because my time to listen is on weekends, work is just too busy. |
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