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Maggies 3.6 vs 20.1

I am thinking about going to a pair of Maggies. I have 1.6's in my surround system and love them, but they really aren't in the same league with my Martin Logans. I have heard the 3.6's and really like them too (I am going to try to audition them in my system soon). My dealer doesn't have the 20.1's so I can't audition them........... I have never even heard a pair.

My question is: if I like the 3.6's in my system how much of a leap ahead are the 20.1's? They are twice the cost, do they offer twice the performance? Finally, has anyone ever compared the 3.6's or 20.1's with the Martin Logan Prodigy?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Chris

cmo
delancey
47 posts
 
My experience is I have owned the 3.6 for 2 years and heard the 20.1 at dealers and shows...I have not heard the ML products.

I think the 3.6 is one of the most complete speakers you can buy. I did spend a lot of time mod'ing the crossover and the stands (Cardas is a good source). I used them with VTL MB750 and they were great...in many ways I still miss that system.

IMHO nothing in audio is twice as good for twice the price. Frankly, it's possible that nothing in audio is twice as good as the 3.6 at any price. Having said that, the 20.1 are better. They can move more air and have a bigger more lifelike presentation. If you have the money to get 20.1 and great amps VTL, Atma Sphere etc. then go for it....if not, the 3.6 with great amps and some mods are better than the 20.1 with lesser gear. BTW I also agree that having the right size room is a must...hope this helps.
rooze's avatar
rooze
643 posts
 
Nealhood, thanks for that tip, I hadn't seen that website before.
Germanboxers, when I rebuilt my XO's for the 3.6's I built both the internal and external XO components on one external board (per speaker). To do that I needed to bring leads direct from each of the three drivers, through the backplate and terminated each lead with a silver spade, that now connects to binding posts on the external boards. So I have almost the perfect setup for trying active XO's. Though I do need to bolt my speaker wires directly to the spades/leads coming off the drivers when I'm using the active XO, which won't look pretty! Email me if you want more info, I'm taking liberties with Cmo's thread!

Rooze
cmo OP
471 posts
 
Thanks everyone for all of the thoughtful comments. Teajay, no offense taken.......... My point was only that if I was going on what I heard at my dealer, I probably wouldn't think 3.6's were that great of a speaker. Maybe the same can be said for the Prodigy's (they didn't sound so good until I got them home either)......... I have spent a lot of additional time getting things to sound the way they do now.

I am really enjoying all of the talk on moding too. If I do end up going with a set of maggies I'll probably get the bug to try to make them better, so the more I can learn in advance the better.

Thanks again everyone for the great info.

Chris
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