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I'm a little stumped

My base system (power & speakers) is a McIntosh MA6100 integrated amp running a pair of Klipsch Chorus II's.

I'm been thinking real hard about upgrading both the power & speakers. After a fair bit of research and remembering a friend's MG1's from many moons ago I pretty much decided to go with a pair of Magnepan 1.6qr's. I auditioned a pair today and pretty much drew a blank. I expected to be amazed (I would have brought a pair home) and was left with sort of a "no comment". The audio shop ran the 1.6's with a Bryston 2B (180W @4 ohms). Overall they sounded a little thin & quite bright without much bottom end. The bottom end can always be cured with a sub, but the brightness?? I'm sure they could have used more power, but I thought there would be a hint of greatness I could draw on. I also listened to a pair of B&W 704s & Theil 2.4's. Basically they all paled in comparison to my little MA6100/Chorus combo. I was looking forward to maggie nirvana, but didn't see it...any ideas what happened? Bad room, bad setup, not enough power??
fishboat
beemer
444 posts
 
Why are you stumped? Your system sounds better to you than what you heard......be happy! Think of all the money you don't have to spend.

Best,

Paul :-)
slappy
903 posts
 
that is the worst thing about auditioning at a local hi fi shop, it is not hooked up to your gear and the accoustics are all different.

the most you can hope to do is see if you like the basic sound of the product and make a guess as to weather or not it would fit in your system
jependleton
155 posts
 
Magnepan's sound thin and bright to me, too. I heard them several times, with several different amplifiers, and in several different room, and with different types of music. They've always sounded that way to me. I have always thought that the Theil's sounded pretty good, but I would have to agree with you on B&W speakers. I have to agree with Beemer, save your money and listen to what you have.
plato
1,543 posts
 
Bad room, lack of component synergy, lack of caring/hearing by set-up person, all of the above. It's quite easy to make any very good speaker sound bad and you probably shouldn't take that demo too seriously.

That said, the Klipsch Chorus II are very good speakers and may not be outdone (overall) by the speakers you auditioned. Certainly their dynamic capability and ability to play LOUD without distress and on few watts is unequalled by any of the above.

It wasn't until I tried the larger VMPS ribbon-hybrid speakers at about $4k, that I felt my Klipsch Chorus were surpassed by a wide enough margin to warrant their retirement. In my book that makes the Chorus a very cost-effective choice if you have the room for them. Once you get used to the dynamic capabilities of horns it's hard to go back (at least for me as I tend to value lifelike dynamics very highly).
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