John, thanks for the helpful info. I picked up some Xterminators at work and biwired using the Sigma Retro Gold. I TAKE BACK WHAT I SAID ABOUT THE BRIGHTNESS! Even without playing around with placement, they sound good. I think it was due to my not making sure all the bananas were screwed in tight with those little hex screws where the bananas go in (Doh! Maggie rookie move on my part. Never had to futz with bananas much before). Mid bass seems much more prominent than with the Odysseys. A bit of sibilance still, but the Xterminator connectors are undoubtedly a compromised connection in comparison to hardwired and my room is not treated. I can see that these would likely be more finicky about room the placement than the MLs appear to be (although I haven't found optimal positions for either) and in their current placement, they sound constrained, like they're begging for more room to breath.
Now for another question: I get plenty of volume out of my CD player connected through AUX port on the AI Mod 3 (AUX port avoids the resistor in the signal path on the CD port), but definitely seemed to hit the ceiling with my DVD player connected to the DAT port. I'm not sure if this is a I-don't-have-enough-power-for-the-Maggies issue (my OCM supposedly is 225W at 8 and almost double that I believe at 4 ohms) or it's some funky gain issue with the DVD player and the preamp. My Arcam puts out a higher than average 2.3V or so.
Now for another question: I get plenty of volume out of my CD player connected through AUX port on the AI Mod 3 (AUX port avoids the resistor in the signal path on the CD port), but definitely seemed to hit the ceiling with my DVD player connected to the DAT port. I'm not sure if this is a I-don't-have-enough-power-for-the-Maggies issue (my OCM supposedly is 225W at 8 and almost double that I believe at 4 ohms) or it's some funky gain issue with the DVD player and the preamp. My Arcam puts out a higher than average 2.3V or so.