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

[harri009]

Let me say the mod does indeed produce a very nice wooden heirloom created from magnificent Magnepan speakers. Every word you used to describe the magnestand sound I would say is perfect in describing the Magnepan sound, odd. I will not be going back and forth about this creating another wire thread but everyone should realize that Magnepans sound amazing because they are magneplaner speakers not because the frame has been changed.

Klinemj
Congrats on your new speakers you are gonna love them, let us know how much when they arrive.

[GreenKiwi]

And you can get used 3.6s for $2200 or so.

I wonder how the 3.6s compare to the modded MMGs.

I can't wait to hear how you like the 1.7s, though probably not as much as you can't wait to get them. I really loved my 1.6s. My wife probably wished I'd kept those instead of the 3.6s, but I made that swap before I met her, so she doesn't get tooo much say in it. =D

She really wants me to just bolt them onto the walls =D Actually, based on the room, I could almost do it... at least create a stand that folds back against the walls and put the x-overs off the speakers, or get two antimode DACs for the xovers.

[rclark]

The reason I chose MMG's was because of talking with PG. I certainly could have chosen a different speaker, I almost went with 1.6's for the mod, but I was kind of interested in taking the bottom one and seeing what it could do. By all accounts it responds to the mod very well.

I am also a small room to medium room guy, these will never be living room speakers, these are stricly listening room only. For the living room I'll be going with a general purpose, box type speaker that works well against the wall. TV is low priority.

Maggies dominate a listening room, pulled way out from the walls and with their height and size.

I'm quite certain 3.6's are fabulous speakers.

All I can do is relate my own experience. Not saying this is the only way to nirvana. Enjoy *thumbs up*.

Don't forget this is all supposed to be about fun as well.

[rclark]

Aug 14, 2012 13:45:10 GMT -5 harri009 said:

Let me say the mod does indeed produce a very nice wooden heirloom created from magnificent Magnepan speakers. Every word you used to describe the magnestand sound I would say is perfect in describing the Magnepan sound, odd. I will not be going back and forth about this creating another wire thread but everyone should realize that Magnepans sound amazing because they are magneplaner speakers not because the frame has been changed.

Klinemj
Congrats on your new speakers you are gonna love them, let us know how much when they arrive.

It is a large refinement of that sound, and a huge increase in bass output. They are still maggie mmg's, just a lot better. Worth the money spent on the upgrade.


Otherwise, comparing this or that model, via text, is futile speculation.

[GreenKiwi]

Aug 14, 2012 13:08:17 GMT -5 rclark said:

This is the kicker. All I'm using right now in an ERC-2. So the dac in the ERC-2. Speaks volumes for Emotiva source gear.

I know that I could achieve higher performance with more expensive gear, as the Ncores have near 130dB SN ratio and basically unmeasurable distortion up to a certain point, but in my system the Emotiva was gold.

I feel confident enough to try an XDA-2 and an XSP-1, and have completely balanced from cdp to the amps themselves.

I think that the Pro DAC direct to the nCores is what I'm thinking about. I think that it's (rumored) feature set will match up quite nicely... and if you have only one anlog source, you wouldn't need to have a separate pre-amp in there.

[harri009]

Rc I am sorry if it felt like an attack. I agree it's all about the enjoyment of our hobby. I guess I have just read to many posts in the past describing how awful the stock Maggie's are compared to the modded ones. If they improve the sound at all it is a wonderful accplishmeny and the look is a nice improvement. Worth the cost is very much depended on the amount you posess to throw at it

[rclark]

sounds good. Yeah it's a contentious issue wherever it's brought up, for a lot of reasons. I'm happy though. And either way, if you have Maggie's, you are in the club regardless. You still have awesome speakers, even just stock mmg's are pretty awesome.

Mods are fun though, I even know of a guy with 20.1's that he made frames for and swears by them.

But regardless, maggies of any sort are WIN for music lovers.

- caveat to noobs who may be reading, please dont misinterpret any of this. Maggie's are not house party speakers and the bass I'm talking about is not the rattle your cupboards down the hall type. Dipole planar sound is unique, buy utterly musical, probably one of the most personal speakers as to truly enjoy them you must be planted in the front row.

[jackfish]

Aug 14, 2012 13:00:23 GMT -5 harri009 said:

Aug 14, 2012 11:08:20 GMT -5 jackfish said:

harri009 obviously doesn't get it.

Lol or your just pissed I am right. If there were a mod for the XPA-1 and Dan said he tried it and did not feel it made a productive enough difference would you say we should pay $5000 instead of $1000 For the modded XPA-1. Magnepan have sold speakers for years because they are amazing not because some woodworker can mod them.

See, I was right!

[harri009]

Aug 14, 2012 15:42:28 GMT -5 jackfish said:

Aug 14, 2012 13:00:23 GMT -5 harri009 said:

Lol or your just pissed I am right. If there were a mod for the XPA-1 and Dan said he tried it and did not feel it made a productive enough difference would you say we should pay $5000 instead of $1000 For the modded XPA-1. Magnepan have sold speakers for years because they are amazing not because some woodworker can mod them.

See, I was right!

See, I was right!! Double Exclamation point, what now Jack

[rclark]

Hey!! Wow, I just tried the orientation found in this thread, it is pretty spectacular. When I get home I'm going to do some fine tuning on it but I think this will be my preferred orientation in my current room.

www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=107064.0

Pretty cool! Look at the diagram drawn.

[klinemj]

I still don't have my Maggies...any day now! But there is one thing I dread: hauling them from my Suburban to my basement!!!

Mark

[harri009]

Don't, they are really not all that heavy just big

[Deleted]

Garbulky wrote: "Well the xpa-1's has 87 or 89 db SNR @ 1 watt and I think the ncores have a better SNR if that's anything to go by... "

Not much to go by. Once you get to a certain level, and it's way before 87db down, this spec. is pretty much meaningless. Kinda like the old THD wars - impressive but meaningless...

The XPA-1s are terrific amps, no apologies needed there...

-RW-

[rclark]

If you have revealing speakers like Maggie's it means a hell if a lot. It's not just a lack of "static" or hiss, but the noise signal in the music, Ncores are the deadest of dead black.

I'm sure the xpa's are fine amps, but this is a whole other level of performance, not just in snr but in every other measurement as well.

For what it's worth, before the Ncores came along, the xpa/1's were on.my list of amps I could afford, but the Ncores open up a much higher performance category.

[rclark]

People are reporting absolutely no noise whatsoever with no signal playing, volume high, with their ears up against 101+ db efficient speakers. Nothing.like they're off.

So yeah, it matters.

[AudioHTIT]

Aug 14, 2012 17:02:55 GMT -5 rclark said:

If you have revealing speakers like Maggie's it means a hell if a lot. It's not just a lack of "static" or hiss, but the noise signal in the music, Ncores are the deadest of dead black.

I'm sure the xpa's are fine amps, but this is a whole other level of performance, not just in snr but in every other measurement as well.

For what it's worth, before the Ncores came along, the xpa/1's were on.my list of amps I could afford, but the Ncores open up a much higher performance category.

Obviously you love the Ncores but I think your missing rlw's point. If there is -87dB noise @ one watt, and the Maggie's are about 87 dB efficient @1w (my 20.1's are 86, not sure on the 1.7's), then the noise produced at 1W is at 0dB SPL. 0dB SPL was defined by the quietest sound a young person with perfect hearing could hear in a perfectly quiet environment. So since most of us don't have perfect hearing (not the same as being good listeners), and we don't have perfect environments (there is some background noise) - you'd should never hear that noise. Of course more efficient speakers would make this spec more important. The point being that at some point the number is academic, but ... MAY be indicative of a superior design.

[rclark]

All I can say is, if you ever hear of anyone in your area that has a nice rig and has these, see if you can bring over a sixpack and give them a listen.

You may find this hard to believe, but that lack of noise in the music itself is palpable. And not to get too fixated on merely one spec, the amp itself is revolutionary across the board and if you go to their website you can see all the measurements shown. Most manufacturers will not show these because they have something to hide or will say it doesn't matter.

There is also a gentleman on AC who has a very advanced measurement rig and has so far proven that his recorded measurements match exactly the published specs.

I understand what you're saying, one spec is not the end all be all, but this amp is the total package, as far as a SS amp is concerned.

My current amp is a very high performance tripath model, upgraded in several ways, and on battery power, and for sound quality the Ncores Annihilated it. Not even a contest, and I had several people over who confirmed this.

The point of my comment about not hearing any noise is that when the music is playing, there is simply no noise in the signal, period. Its quite something and very addicting.

The Ncores prove that specs do matter.

[rclark]

But again, certainly not the only way to nirvana.. your mileage may vary. And I doubt I'd be suffering too much with some xpa's.

[klinemj]

Don't, they are really not all that heavy just big

I was thinking they were 115 #/speaker in the package...looks like it's 95 total! I can handle that!

Now, just waiting for the dealer to call...

Mark

[harri009]

Hurry up dealer were dying here lol. I drove about 10 hours to pick mine up. It was a very long ride home with them in the back seat.