ARRIVED!!! Pulled the trigger: Maggie 1.7's...

[klinemj]

So, they're not 3.7's or 20.7's - neither of which really fit my room...but man do they sound good with the XPA-2, ERC-2, and USP-1.

I took my gear into a showroom today and gave a broken-in pair a listen, and they made everything that didn't sound quite so good sound a LOT better. The bass they deliver is quite amazing for what they are spec'd at. Only on really bass-heavy stuff would I need a sub (so, like Metallic's "One"...Lars' bass drum kicks just didn't quite have it; same on various cuts on Chili Peppers' "Blood Sugar...").

I did most of my listening in "full range" on the USP-1, then I switched to the hi/lo pass inputs to try my sub with the Maggies. Bingo! It blends in quite well and makes up for what would be missing with the 1.7's in just full range.

So, I bought them.

But, my local dealer does not carry stock and places orders as needed. So, it will be 2-3 weeks before I get them. That's OK...that will allow me to put my Paradigm Studio 100v3's on sale, and if (hopefully) they sell before the Maggies arrive I will drag out my old B&W's (which still sound great!). (Any tips on how to set a price on my Paradigm's? I saw asking prices of $750 to $1200 for recent ads, but I don't know what a good selling price would be...)

Mark

[G-Man]

Mark: Congrats on the maggies. Good choice. You are to be commended for the process. You did something everyone should do - haul the rest of your gear to the audio store. The closer you can replicate the home environment, the more likely it is to make the right decision. It's the next best thing to bringing home the new piece for an audition.

There are currently a number of people selling P100's on audiogon. That should give you a pretty good idea of market pricing without having to pay extra to gain access to their 'blue book'.

Best wishes.

Gary

[ludi]

XPA-2 and Maggie 1.7 are a perfect combination for me. Hope you enjoy the combination as much as I do.

Ludi

[klinemj]

Thanks Gary - will look on the "gon" and check.

Ludi - glad to hear yours are working out. Now I just can't wait for mine to come in!

Mark

[GreenKiwi]

Congrats!!! You're going to absolutely love them. If you have an ht, their mc1s are very good for surrounds.

Can't wait. To hear what you think when you get them home.

[klinemj]

Best of all...I got the WAF...wife is OK with it!!! And, she's coming to Emofest where I plan to buy more stuff and she knows it!!! She doesn't know what I plan to buy yet...that's ok. Just smile politely and act like you didn't know my evil plan when you all meet her...

Mark

[rclark]

Nice! Yeah for kick you are going to need subwoofers, and not just any old junk either. You're probably going to find your current sub doesn't mesh very well at all.

My suggestion is listen to them at home for quite a while with no subs in order to acclimate to the sound. Resist the urge to turn your subs on. Trust me.

Go to the Cardas site and use the specific Cardas Calculator for Planars. This is an EXCELLENT tool for placing your speakers. Avoid the tempation to use a lot of toe in like you would with your regular speakers. Face them flat straight ahead and listen to them like that for a week, based on the calculator position. Then experiment with tiny degrees of movement. Maggies can be affected by the slightest amount of twist. A dab'll do ya here.

Lastly, I HIGHLY suggest getting into contact eventually with Peter Gunn at Magnestand. Send them in and have him work his magic. The speakers improve greatly with the mod and the increase in bass output will truly blow your mind. And you wanna talk about WAF? Go take a look at the website I have Magnestand MMG's and I will never ever part with them. Jackfish here has them too. The change from stock MMG to modded is enormous. They aren't musically genre limited at all.

He does several things in the mod, but the main feature is going from a stock mdf frame, which transmits all the vibrations of the speaker right back into the panel (bad), to a solid hardwood frame, which allows the panel to breathe and dissipate away from the panel those vibrations. The result is magic. Your Metallica will never have sounded so freaking awesome. I have all their albums in my collection too.

On subwoofers.. Once you listen to them in 2.0 for a couple weeks to a month, you will fall in love with the sound of course. But then bring your sub back in and turn it on. Be prepared to frown at the sound. It will suck. You will easily hear your panels, and this bloated fart box trying to keep up. You are going to need to switch to high quality, sealed or open baffle.. But coming from lifelong box speaker listening, you need to acclimate to the higher quality of your planar bass.

If you put them in your room and go right with using your sub, you probably won't notice the difference. Because the sub will overpower and blur and being your first planar you won't hear it. But if you first get acclimated to the 1.7 sound, and then bring in the sub, you will definitely hear how much faster and higher quality the 1.7 bass is by itself, and you will realize you need to up your game.

You'll find yourself enjoying music more.

Congrats and welcome to the club!

[ludi]

I agree with rclark about being careful with adding subs. I have two REL subs to support the Maggies, just for the 40hz and below . I have the relative volume of the subs quite low, not to spoil the speed of the planars. A bass drum will sound without the stack of pillows you are used to hear with boxed speakers. You have to get used to the difference in sound, most of us are too used to the traditional boxed-sounds. Once you get used to the unboxed sounds of planars, you'll appreciate them even more. Be aware, Maggies are very addictive, there is very little change you ever want to go back to boxes.

[garbulky]

I've been really wanting to get some electrostats like the maggies. Unfortunately, the fuller range bass versions I've wanted are too expensive for me. I'm glad you are enjoying it!

[klinemj]

Thanks for the tips and comments on the sub, guys...

I would really like to be sub-free for 2-channel, and for most music I could be. I was really impressed with how strong the bass is - Paul McCartney's bass on "Come Together" was a great example.

With my USP-1, this will be a challenge w/o needing to re-wire a lot. The Maggies will also be part of my HT, and I will plan to use the sub for that. But for 2-channel I'd like to be mostly sub-free. That would mean I'd need to be wired in "full range" for 2-channel but switch over to "hi/lo pass" for surround given how the USP-1 works. I am hoping they change that for the XSP-1.

Last I knew, there was a switch on the back to toggle between full range and hi/lo pass. I called Emotiva on Friday to ask if they still planned to include that feature, and Ron was not sure. He was going to check and call me back. If they don't - I sure hope they have it set up with just 1 output, but enable us to adjust the cross-overs below 50 HZ, have 0 hz be an option, and put the controls on the front. If they did this, it would be really easy dial the Maggie so they'd play all they could and the sub set to 0 hz would essentially shut it off. That...would be a very nice feature. (Here's hoping!)

Short of that, the way Ludi describes his use is exactly how I listened. My sub did blend in very well...it is a relatively tiny, tight-sounding sub - so there was not big "boom"...just a nice added kick.

rclark - those mods sound awesome...how much does it cost?

Mark

[G-Man]

I agree with the idea of keeping a 2-channel system sub-free. Integrating a sub introduces a lot of complexity into the system. The need for a sub is often over-rated based on what people read in published specs rather than on listening tests. This is particularly true for people coming from a home theater system to 2-channel.

Moving a speaker just a few inches closer to a wall or a corner can often compensate for an inherent lack of bottom end in a speaker.

And for older geezers like me, the deep bass just isn't as important as it used to be.

[harri009]

Jul 22, 2012 7:02:18 GMT -5 G-Man said:

Moving a speaker just a few inches closer to a wall or a corner can often compensate for an inherent lack of bottom end in a speaker.

And for older geezers like me, the deep bass just isn't as important as it used to be.

Actually with planers the closer you get them to the walls and corners the weaker your bass gets. Just one of the differences between Maggies and normal box speakers.

[rclark]

Yeah my sub is actually sitting in my living room unused. I switched it off and haven't looked back, which shocked me as a guy who loves bass. My modded mmg's in 2.0 have enough bass and I listen to all genres. Even Skrillex pounds nicely. Not ultra low, but enough to give you the vast majority of all music. And it's heaven. Subs are down the line for me a bit but I'm happy without them. Stock however, they had no bass.

The mod? Well I spent $400 on used mmg's and about $2300 for my beautiful creation. By far the most I've spent on a piece of gear. Was I nervous? You bet? Is the result completely worth it? Absolutely! And the cool part is, the looks are just a bonus.the fact that a hardwood frame is a performance mod, well it gives you the chance to make them look how you want too. I got the top of the line crossover option, Jupiter beeswax caps bypassed with Mundorf Silver in Oil. I feel like if you were going to go into hifi shop you would pay up to 15k for a speaker made like this. It's a great value, what you get for the money.

[jackfish]

Planars, quasi-ribbons? Rythmik subwoofer(s).

[rclark]

Well there's Jackfish. Obviously you can see there are other guys out there with them and love 'em. I read my last post and realized it sounded rather shill like, but I guess that's just my level of enthusiasm for these speakers. They are really good, it's like you can hear to the very bottom of an album and get all the detail, and there's absolutely zero overhang or blur on anything, it's flat out amazing. The seperation is so good it sounds like every instrument is coming from it's own personal speaker. And on an on, so many superlatives. I'm sure Jackfish will agree. Here's the website, and so now I can shut up about it.

www.indiespinzone.com/magnestand.html

Anyway, congrats again on the 1.7's and please give us a listening impression soon! Please do try that Cardas Planar calculator, it's really awesome. Just take note that the results you get will be to 3 or 4 decimal places so be prepared with your tape measure and try to be as accurate placing them. You should also consider buying some thin painter's tape, and tape off their initial placement on the floor. Then you can tape future experimental positions until you finally arrive at your best sound.

[paintedklown]

Mark,

Congratulations on the purchase of your new Maggies.

When you have had time to put them through their paces, I am sure everyone will be excited to hear your thoughts regarding their performance.

I may have missed it, but is this your first pair of Magnepan speakers?

[klinemj]

Yes - 1st pair. I did, however, first hear Maggies at the CES in Chicago in the early 80's. Loved them, but for some reason - until reading of a lot of people here using them - didn't really consider them an option.

Now - I can't wait!

And as a bonus, I sold my Paradigm's already!

Mark

[G-Man]

Sold the Paradigm's already? Wow, that was fast. Congrats.

Time to pull some older speakers out of storage.

[klinemj]

Yep - got really lucky...I didn't even have an ad placed yet, and someone saw my 1st post in this thread and PM'd me that day! So, I hooked up my old B&W 202's. They still sound really sweet at the upper mid/high end, and with my sub - they will do fine until the Maggies arrive.

Mark

[roadrunner]

Mark

Wouldn't it be nice if everything sold as quickly? Maybe you should go out and buy a Lottery Ticket while your luck is so strong. ;D ;D

I had the Quad electrostats back in their hay-day. I imagine you Maggies will sound very similar. They were one of the finest sounding speakers I have owned. The only problem was that they required so much space to properly set them up. They needed to be 4 to 5 feet from the side walls and the back walls; and, like most planar speakers it takes a lot of time finding just the perfect spot to place them.

After moving a couple of times, it became obvious I no longer had a room capable of supporting the Quads. In the right room they were amazing, but in anything less than the "right room" they were not that good. I hope that your new 1.7s are not as difficult to place in your listening room as my Quads were.

I used to use two sided tape and some twine to mark the speaker placement while working on finding the sweet spot. This might be the easiest way for you to keep track of the small changes you will be making during the set-up process. Enjoy your new toys.