Maggie 3.6 owners -- please help


Hi,

In my search for audio nirvana (more than 1 foot wide) I am looking for alternatives to replace my Innersound Eros MKIIs.

I was wondering 2 things regarding 3.6s;

1.) is the size of the sweet spot larger than the Eroses? Are they better off axis than the Eros?

2.) I know they need room, but how do you think they would sound being placed 3 feet from the front wall?

Thanks for your help.

Mike
1musiclover
Mike,
Three feet is a great start. They slide pretty easy on bare floor so if you can move them out a tad, go for it.

As a matter of fact, you've got me rethinking bringing mine out another foot into the room. The current 3 ft 4 in. I have them out is based on the calculations Rives Audio came up with when they did my room design.

I would think that your Innersound amp will be a sweet match for the Magnepan 3.6R.

Best of luck, and keep us up to date.
Slipknot,

I had my 3.6's at 68" for a while then was able to bring them out to around 90". It's a great improvement in stage depth and the bass has cleaned up a little too. If you can get away with it try it.

Also, if you have some foam around or something like a 2'x 2' acoustic foam panel, put it behind your speaker with one side on top of the XO box and touching the back of the speaker, and elevate the other side around 10"-12"
If you have the panels handy it'll take two minutes. You can also try it with a sheet of 2x2 cardboard if you don't have the foam.
Listen for better transparency, a wider/deeper soundstage and slightly better imaging. Adjusting the angle of the foam panel changes the tonal balance just a tad....the optimum angle depends on the height of your ceiling and the distance from the front wall, so you may need to mess with it a bit.

Rooze
maggies present some interesting options for you. You can actually fine tune maggies sweetpot. Since the tweeter is a line source you can toe the speaker in or out. Or keep it paralell to the listening position. Quite different from the innersound.
I beleive putting the maggie three feet close to the wall is bad. However with any dipole you have the option of using room treatment to kill the backwave. Some even say this is mandatory.
I'm lazy so I did not do it for you. But maggies' spec sheet gives horizontal dispersion for it's tweeter. I beleive it was 30 degree arc. check thier website to be sure. They should also have some info in FAQ sheet regarding the back wave.
generally speaking the maggie should be placed 1/3 of the way in to the room about ten feet from the listening position.
divide the distance from the side walls by 4. Place each speaker on the 1/4 distance spot. fine tune from there.
I do not own these great speakers,but,would like to share an experience I had,with the hopes that you could get something out of it.

I had an old friend who was a very capable modifier who owned a pair in a room about the size of yours.He stabilized the base(easy to do),and modified the crossover(no idea here).Also,the speakers were about 4 feet from back wall,with standard treatments.I must admit that the sound was STUNNING!!!

The speakers were driven by Spectral amps,with tubes in line/phonostage.WOW!!Was this a killer set-up!My friend had a huge classical LP collection(all the great stuff we've read about).I hope,and know,you have the capability to get this level of performance.

Large,open stage with SUPERB harmonics.Deep and dynamic.I have heard a TON of stuff,and I'm not exagerating.Really convincing midbass.Deep bass was more than adequate.No weakness here,but,the overall sound was so CONVINCING that I didn't worry about how low they went."WHO CARED"!!I had no problem with any degree of narowness of sweetspot.Never ocurred to me,the sound was SO RIGHT!!

Unfortuneately,soon after that wonderful listening session,his sweet and darling wife passed on.He sold his stereo set-up and records and moved away.I'll never forget my old friend Ernie,and the wonderful sound he was able to get from these GREAT speakers!!The state of the art IMO has not moved appreciably far beyond that recollected sound!!

By the way,I have a current acquaintance, from that old group,who was given a loan of the 3.6 speakers.He owned the INNERSOUND Eros speakers you have.As of last summer he sold the EROS's and now owns the 3.6's.

Sounds a bit strange,but,I swear, every word is true!!
One suggestion if you get Maggies, keep your Innersound amps if you have them. They sound better with Maggies than anything else out there!!!