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Post by kauai82 on Oct 23, 2014 11:32:55 GMT -5
I have owned my MMG's for 15 years. I have recently reconditioned them with new socks and repair kit from Magnepan. Many of the posts in this thread are of owners of the larger versions of the Magnepan series of speakers. Let's concentrate just on the MMG's and other speakers in the $600 a pair range. Of course these are just my opinions and your mileage my vary.
I had my MMG's in a small listening room of 12x12 that I use for critical listening only. On the MMG the sweet spot is very small. It still sounds good a few degrees off axis, but listening nirvana sweet spot is not that large. But, that sweet spot is incredible. Standing up and walking around you will notice a large change in sound. The MMG's like the power to push them to fairly high sound levels. I had a dozen of amps drive them over the years, Carver, Cambridge Audio, Nad. They sound the best with my EMO XPA-200 that puts out 240 watts a channel into 4 ohms. They also sound pretty good with my UPA-200 but not as good at high levels .
In the $600 a pair price range you will be hard pressed to find any thing that comes close to the MMG's in sound quality in the higher and midrange frequencies. So acoustic and piano music sounds like you are in the room with the musicians .... Mid bass is pretty good, female and male voices are reproduced very well. For $600 dollars a pair price range you have to give up something and with the MMG it's the low bass frequencies. They are rated down to 40hz which is fairly low, but low bass is lacking and not convincingly reproduced. That can be fixed with a sub woofer, but not just any cheap sub. Your $100 Polk sub won't cut it. I know I tried to use many inexpensive subs. I finally ended up with a HSU 10 inch sub that worked well. I got it for $430 dollars on sale. Now all types of music sounds good, low bass on jazz, heavy metal, hard rock.
If you are looking at speakers to buy and listen to all kinds of music, especially with low bass you should be looking in the $1000 a pair range retail or internet direct. You can also go the do it yourself route of speaker building and save some dollars and get better sound like I have. Yet, I still love my MMG's and paired with a good sub they produce some of the best sound to be had in there price range.
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Post by cheapthryl on Oct 23, 2014 14:58:37 GMT -5
I have an older set of MG11b's. I've had them hooked up to a Quad 405, Cary/Aes superamp mk11, Upa-2, Rpa-1. They sounded the best connected to the Rpa-1 which was the most powerful of all I tried. When I have time the maggies will be connected to a crown XLS 1500. Used mainly for acoustic, Jazz, And the Grateful Dead Enjoy the music
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Post by garbulky on Oct 23, 2014 17:16:55 GMT -5
garbulky, i thought boom is selling the aeon version ? i think the MMG still more interisting in the price point of view. Yeah they are not the ethos. They're something else not sure what
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Post by pdaddy on Oct 23, 2014 17:19:42 GMT -5
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insightfulman
Minor Hero
Have you seen the 6 fingered man?
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Post by insightfulman on Oct 23, 2014 22:20:52 GMT -5
Tiny listening window with rather poor dynamics sums up my thoughts regarding Magnepans. Maggies have always been a love 'em or hate 'em speaker. I like them because they sound like the real thing and I can't/don't want to spend $30,000 on a pair of Magico S5's or better yet $170,000 on the Q7's. Maybe after I get my kids through college. My Maggie 1.7's sound a lot more lifelike with the type of music I listen to than than many speakers costing 5 times as much. Your ears might hear them differently. I have had many Maggie's over the years and now currently own 1.7 with REL subwoofer. With a good subwoofer you will be fine with the MMG- I started my Maggie obsesssion when the first MMG came out. I also had 1.6 and I must admit that there isn't night and day dufference between 1.6 and 1.7 thus likely I'll upgrade to 3.7 next year as my dealer has a trade up program as long as I spend 2x. Well, if what you want is a speaker that will allow you to listen to them while you walk around any speaker out there will fill the bill nicely. Once I am in the "sweet spot" I feel no desire to even move my head....YMMV So are you saying this are like the old LCD TV's...if you moved more than 3-5 feet from the center you couldn't make anything out?
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Post by aldebaran on Nov 2, 2022 16:35:32 GMT -5
The MMGs are durable. The tweeter and woofer are planar magnetic, so more robust than a true ribbon tweeter. I've had mine for 20 years and sold them two years ago, still in mint condition.
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Post by donh50 on Nov 2, 2022 21:26:48 GMT -5
I got my first pair of Maggies, MG-I's, in 1979 and followed up with MG-IIIa's in 1988. I still own the IIIa's but they are in storage, replaced by Revel Salon2's.
I worked in the audio industry for years, from maybe 1974 until about 1984 when I graduated college, and piddled until the early 1990's when family life took over. The MG-IIIa's were a present to myself and from my wife for my Master's degree. Listing all the speakers I have heard, had in my system, and owned would be long, boring, and pointless. I like Maggies but "best" is so subjective, even for myself. I had them the longest but other speakers bested them in some ways.
You have to decide if you like the sound or not; they have their pros and cons. Be prepared to spend some time dialing in placement, and treating the wall behind them is worth considering. It takes away some of the "space" they project but makes imaging much better, with no (less, anyway) comb filtering (something I never liked, so I usually treated the wall behind). There is a good review on ASR and a lot of discussion of their pros and cons (though heated at times, surprise).
Older Magnepans had problems with the conductor separating from the diaphragm, leading to a buzzing sound that gets worse as volume goes higher. If you are buying an older pair listen carefully for that. The newer models use traces patterned on the diaphragm and should be much more resistant to that.
They need a sub (at least). Displacement of the panel is limited, thus how deep they play is set by panel area, and distortion gets very high when driven by big bass signals. The harmonics make them sound "fuller" to many folk (me too) but it is distortion, 10's of percent at moderately loud levels starting around perhaps 100 Hz. Even the bigger panels always sounded better to me with a good sub in play.
The 3, 20, and now 30 models have true ribbon tweeters that are fragile. The mid/bass panels are basically thin plastic sheets with wires/traces on them so are pretty rugged. My main problem with the smaller models was their lack of high end, probably less a thing now at my age, and of course less (and less deep) bass. But to me the step from the 1 and 2 series to to 3 or 20 models was big in large part due to the ribbon tweeter. Between people being overzealous driving the tweeters, delamination of the panels, and things like pets and kids hitting them, I got really good at pulling the socks and repairing the panels. The ribbon tweeters are an easy swap, but be very careful to not drop and "poof" them during the install.
They radiate in roughly a figure-8 pattern front and back, with little energy to the sides and top/bottom from the lower midrange or so (depending on panel dimensions) on up. That helps their sensitivity a little, since more energy is directed at the listener compared to a conventional driver. (That is also true for other planer speakers like ESLs.) Their impedance is low, around 3-4 ohms, but mostly resistive so a relatively easy load for an amplifier. But the low sensitivity, 83 dB/2.83V/m or so, means you need a goodly amount of power to drive them and that amplifier best be rated to drive a 4-ohm load.
There are plenty of other opinions already but them's mine. - Don
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Post by aldebaran on Jan 4, 2023 7:34:45 GMT -5
I have read many good thing about maggies, although never heard one. I am interested in their MMG models, but I had some concerns. At lest than 2 inches thick, how sturdy are these things? The ribbon type speaker they use, I have read several post of people having to replace them, do they damage easily? They seem somewhat inefficient, Would a pair of Upa-1's be enough power for them? Any other recommendations before entering the mag world. I've owned my MMGs for twenty years and I can assure you they are very sturdy. The quasi-ribbon panels on the MMGs are very robust. I've never had mine blow or had to be replaced. Listen to them first before you decide. If you listen to acoustic music or vocals, these speakers are perfect; for electronic/heavy metal/rock, not so much.
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KeithL
Administrator
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Post by KeithL on Jan 4, 2023 9:49:16 GMT -5
Maggies are relatively inefficient... As a result, even though they aren't especially easily damaged, if you want to get them to play really loudly, they do require a lot of power... (You might fairly say that "they don't need that much power to get going but they do soak up power if you turn them up".) And, with a lot of power, if you do like to play things very loudly, it's going to be easier to damage any speaker. The real question is whether you insist on being able to play your music really loud... If you do, then with Maggies, you're going to want a really powerful amp, and you're going to have to be somewhat careful... If not then you should be fine. And the short answer to your question is that, if you like listening at relatively sedate levels, then a pair of UPA-1's should work just fine. But, if you want to play Maggies really loudly, then you're probably going to want a lot more power. I have read many good thing about maggies, although never heard one. I am interested in their MMG models, but I had some concerns. At lest than 2 inches thick, how sturdy are these things? The ribbon type speaker they use, I have read several post of people having to replace them, do they damage easily? They seem somewhat inefficient, Would a pair of Upa-1's be enough power for them? Any other recommendations before entering the mag world. I've owned my MMGs for twenty years and I can assure you they are very sturdy. The quasi-ribbon panels on the MMGs are very robust. I've never had mine blow or had to be replaced. Listen to them first before you decide. If you listen to acoustic music or vocals, these speakers are perfect; for electronic/heavy metal/rock, not so much.
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Post by rbk123 on Jan 4, 2023 10:02:01 GMT -5
I have read many good thing about maggies, although never heard one. I am interested in their MMG models, but I had some concerns. At lest than 2 inches thick, how sturdy are these things? The ribbon type speaker they use, I have read several post of people having to replace them, do they damage easily? They seem somewhat inefficient, Would a pair of Upa-1's be enough power for them? Any other recommendations before entering the mag world. I've owned my MMGs for twenty years and I can assure you they are very sturdy. The quasi-ribbon panels on the MMGs are very robust. I've never had mine blow or had to be replaced. Listen to them first before you decide. If you listen to acoustic music or vocals, these speakers are perfect; for electronic/heavy metal/rock, not so much. You're replying to a question posed in 2014. Pretty sure he decided one way or the other by now...
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Post by fbczar on Jan 4, 2023 16:52:48 GMT -5
Maggies are relatively inefficient... As a result, even though they aren't especially easily damaged, if you want to get them to play really loudly, they do require a lot of power... (You might fairly say that "they don't need that much power to get going but they do soak up power if you turn them up".) And, with a lot of power, if you do like to play things very loudly, it's going to be easier to damage any speaker. The real question is whether you insist on being able to play your music really loud... If you do, then with Maggies, you're going to want a really powerful amp, and you're going to have to be somewhat careful... If not then you should be fine. And the short answer to your question is that, if you like listening at relatively sedate levels, then a pair of UPA-1's should work just fine. But, if you want to play Maggies really loudly, then you're probably going to want a lot more power. I've owned my MMGs for twenty years and I can assure you they are very sturdy. The quasi-ribbon panels on the MMGs are very robust. I've never had mine blow or had to be replaced. Listen to them first before you decide. If you listen to acoustic music or vocals, these speakers are perfect; for electronic/heavy metal/rock, not so much. I have a pair of Magnepan 3.7i's. They have a true ribbon tweeter. The midrange panel is a Quasi-Ribbon design. The midrange panel and the tweeter are fused. The Ribbon Tweeters are only warranted for a year. However, they are not expensive and, as I said, they have fuses for protection. I use two XPA 1-L monoblock amplifiers which can supply 500 watts each into 4 Ohms and they have a lot of current capability. I also use a pair of sealed subwoofers with the Magnepans and cross them over at 70 to 80 Hz. No doubt the subwoofer reduce the load on the Maggies. The 3.7i's can play louder than you would care to listen in my home theater system and can easily handle any music I throw at them. Whatever amplifier you use be aware of the current capability. As a good rule of thumb the amp should be rated to produce at least twice the power into 4 ohms that it does for 8 ohms if you want to use it successfully with a Magnepan speaker.
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Post by audiobill on Jan 5, 2023 7:45:17 GMT -5
Not completely so; My McIntosh MC452 produces the same power at any output impedance due to its use of an autoformer. And that 450 watts of high current power will certainly blow the roof off anyone's home....It can drive my Maggie 3.6/r speakers in excellent fashion in my 14,400 cubic ft listening room.
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Post by AudioHTIT on Jan 5, 2023 14:45:04 GMT -5
… As a good rule of thumb the amp should be rated to produce at least twice the power into 4 ohms that it does for 8 ohms if you want to use it successfully with a Magnepan speaker. Not completely so; My McIntosh MC452 produces the same power at any output impedance due to its use of an autoformer. And that 450 watts of high current power will certainly blow the roof off anyone's home....It can drive my Maggie 3.6/r speakers in excellent fashion in my 14,400 cubic ft listening room. Agreed, my VTLs also put out around 450 WPC and drive the 20.1Rs nicely! I’d also say that amps that can actually “ produce at least twice the power into 4 ohms that it does for 8 ohms” are not common (and that produce more than double are not likely). My point being that there are many amps that can drive Maggies well that don’t meet that criteria.
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Post by fbczar on Jan 5, 2023 17:30:39 GMT -5
… As a good rule of thumb the amp should be rated to produce at least twice the power into 4 ohms that it does for 8 ohms if you want to use it successfully with a Magnepan speaker. Not completely so; My McIntosh MC452 produces the same power at any output impedance due to its use of an autoformer. And that 450 watts of high current power will certainly blow the roof off anyone's home....It can drive my Maggie 3.6/r speakers in excellent fashion in my 14,400 cubic ft listening room. Agreed, my VTLs also put out around 450 WPC and drive the 20.1Rs nicely! I’d also say that amps that can actually “ produce at least twice the power into 4 ohms that it does for 8 ohms” are not common (and that produce more than double are not likely). My point being that there are many amps that can drive Maggies well that don’t meet that criteria. 200 watts into 8 ohms requires the same voltage as 400 watts into 4 ohms, but twice the current. (Ohm's Law: the strength of a direct current is directly proportional to the potential difference and inversely proportional to the resistance of the circuit.) An amplifier rated for 200 watts per channel continuous ("RMS") into 8 ohms and 400 watts per channel into 4 ohms (at the same distortion and across the same bandwidth) would seem to be a "high current" amplifier design. So as I said, the ability to double the power into 4 ohms vs 8 ohms is a good indicator that an amplifier has high current output. Of course, that does not mean unusual amplifiers exist that can drive Magnepans. That Magnepan speakers work best with high current amplifiers seems to be a universally agreed upon truth among Magnepan owners who are wary of clipping. They do not want to fry their ribbon tweeters.
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Post by AudioHTIT on Jan 5, 2023 18:08:29 GMT -5
Agreed, my VTLs also put out around 450 WPC and drive the 20.1Rs nicely! I’d also say that amps that can actually “ produce at least twice the power into 4 ohms that it does for 8 ohms” are not common (and that produce more than double are not likely). My point being that there are many amps that can drive Maggies well that don’t meet that criteria. 200 watts into 8 ohms requires the same voltage as 400 watts into 4 ohms, but twice the current. (Ohm's Law: the strength of a direct current is directly proportional to the potential difference and inversely proportional to the resistance of the circuit.) An amplifier rated for 200 watts per channel continuous ("RMS") into 8 ohms and 400 watts per channel into 4 ohms (at the same distortion and across the same bandwidth) would seem to be a "high current" amplifier design. So as I said, the ability to double the power into 4 ohms vs 8 ohms is a good indicator that an amplifier has high current output. Of course, that does not mean unusual amplifiers exist that can drive Magnepans. That Magnepan speakers work best with high current amplifiers seems to be a universally agreed upon truth among Magnepan owners who are wary of clipping. They do not want to fry their ribbon tweeters. My comment “ and that produce more than double are not likely” was in reference to your implication that the power could more than double into 4Ω (‘at least’), which would disagree with Ohm’s Law and I doubt you meant. Also, if we’re going to assume that no one knows anything, then let’s remind everyone that speakers aren’t resistors, and music isn’t sine waves. I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said, nor you me, I’m just speaking from a closing in on 50 year relationship with 5 pairs of Magnepans (other speakers too). I’ve had a lot of good sounding systems based on various Maggies and various amps from 50W Dyna tubes to vertical bi-amp using stereo Threshold 4000s @ 200 WPC Class A (they to your point, delivered a lot of current). Now I use the VTLs, or sometimes bi-amp with four Stealth DC-1’s. So I think your guidelines are good, but not absolute. I’ll end with a question: What percentage of ‘good’ amps do you think can double ‘rated’ power from 8 to 4 ohms? (I truly don’t know, but would think it low)
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Post by fbczar on Jan 5, 2023 19:52:56 GMT -5
200 watts into 8 ohms requires the same voltage as 400 watts into 4 ohms, but twice the current. (Ohm's Law: the strength of a direct current is directly proportional to the potential difference and inversely proportional to the resistance of the circuit.) An amplifier rated for 200 watts per channel continuous ("RMS") into 8 ohms and 400 watts per channel into 4 ohms (at the same distortion and across the same bandwidth) would seem to be a "high current" amplifier design. So as I said, the ability to double the power into 4 ohms vs 8 ohms is a good indicator that an amplifier has high current output. Of course, that does not mean unusual amplifiers exist that can drive Magnepans. That Magnepan speakers work best with high current amplifiers seems to be a universally agreed upon truth among Magnepan owners who are wary of clipping. They do not want to fry their ribbon tweeters. My comment “ and that produce more than double are not likely” was in reference to your implication that the power could more than double into 4Ω (‘at least’), which would disagree with Ohm’s Law and I doubt you meant. Also, if we’re going to assume that no one knows anything, then let’s remind everyone that speakers aren’t resistors, and music isn’t sine waves. I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said, nor you me, I’m just speaking from a closing in on 50 year relationship with 5 pairs of Magnepans (other speakers too). I’ve had a lot of good sounding systems based on various Maggies and various amps from 50W Dyna tubes to vertical bi-amp using stereo Threshold 4000s @ 200 WPC Class A (they to your point, delivered a lot of current). Now I use the VTLs, or sometimes bi-amp with four Stealth DC-1’s. So I think your guidelines are good, but not absolute. I’ll end with a question: What percentage of ‘good’ amps do you think can double ‘rated’ power from 8 to 4 ohms? (I truly don’t know, but would think it low) I should not have implied that amps could more than double into 4 ohms. However, given the load presented by Magneplanars I do think finding an amp that can double is a very good idea and is a strong indicator of current capability. I think all of the Emotiva XPA series can double into 4 ohms, as can Krell, Hegel, Levinson, etc. Strangely the B&K 7250 and Bryston 4B cannot, and even Rogue cannot, so you cannot assume I guess. I cannot guess as to a percentage. However, I think you need to be careful if you use the Maggies in a home theater environment and make sure clipping will not be an issue. I have been pleasantly surprised by the sound quality from the XPA 1-L amps. And. of course, the Magnepan's are truly awesome.
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Post by donh50 on Jan 6, 2023 11:16:59 GMT -5
"Doubling" is a complex matter and often a manufacturer's choice. Any amp will "double down" if you set the rated power appropriately (low enough), but most choose to spec higher 8-ohm power and forego the power supply and device current capability and thermal management needed to provide long-term power meeting FTC and other requirements. I have not looked at Emotiva's latest specs, but my old XPA gen 1 amps do not double into 4 ohms, and yet handled my Maggies (and worse loads) just fine. Most amps IME will double in power for short bursts even at high power.
Note Magnepan partnered with Bryston for many years; I would not be worried driving mine with a Bryston amp.
And of course as already stated most tube amplifiers and some SS amps (McIntosh, some older pro units) have output transformers that maintain the same power at all rated impedances.
Because Magnepans are pretty insensitive (though their directionality helps offset that a bit), and a somewhat low (albeit benign in terms of phase angle) load, an amplifier rated for 4 ohms with sufficient power to meet your needs is a good idea IMO.
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KeithL
Administrator
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Post by KeithL on Jan 6, 2023 13:14:37 GMT -5
The whole idea of "doubling down" is somewhat outdated... There is no benefit in an amplifier being able to deliver more current than the load you're connecting to it requires. If the amplifier is unable to deliver sufficient current then it will distort; but otherwise there is no benefit to "having extra current capability" (it won't sound any better). The whole point is to be sure to have the ability to deliver enough current to speakers that may dip below their rated impedance at certain frequencies - which some do. (Those those few speakers that have legitimately earned a reputation of being "hard to drive" are the ones whose impedance drops really low over some range of frequencies.) All of our amps can deliver well above the current necessary to meet their long-term power ratings in the short term - which is what matters when playing music through actual speakers. However, in fact, Maggies have a relatively flat impedance, and so are NOT really "hard to drive" - as long as you have sufficient power. And, since they're relatively "well behaved" 4 Ohm speakers, all that really matters is the power your amplifier can deliver into 4 Ohms. And, yes, all of our amps can drive Maggies just fine... and I'm sure any Bryston amps can do so as well... "Doubling" is a complex matter and often a manufacturer's choice. Any amp will "double down" if you set the rated power appropriately (low enough), but most choose to spec higher 8-ohm power and forego the power supply and device current capability and thermal management needed to provide long-term power meeting FTC and other requirements. I have not looked at Emotiva's latest specs, but my old XPA gen 1 amps do not double into 4 ohms, and yet handled my Maggies (and worse loads) just fine. Most amps IME will double in power for short bursts even at high power. Note Magnepan partnered with Bryston for many years; I would not be worried driving mine with a Bryston amp. And of course as already stated most tube amplifiers and some SS amps (McIntosh, some older pro units) have output transformers that maintain the same power at all rated impedances. Because Magnepans are pretty insensitive (though their directionality helps offset that a bit), and a somewhat low (albeit benign in terms of phase angle) load, an amplifier rated for 4 ohms with sufficient power to meet your needs is a good idea IMO.
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Post by fbczar on Jan 6, 2023 13:15:54 GMT -5
"Doubling" is a complex matter and often a manufacturer's choice. Any amp will "double down" if you set the rated power appropriately (low enough), but most choose to spec higher 8-ohm power and forego the power supply and device current capability and thermal management needed to provide long-term power meeting FTC and other requirements. I have not looked at Emotiva's latest specs, but my old XPA gen 1 amps do not double into 4 ohms, and yet handled my Maggies (and worse loads) just fine. Most amps IME will double in power for short bursts even at high power. Note Magnepan partnered with Bryston for many years; I would not be worried driving mine with a Bryston amp. And of course as already stated most tube amplifiers and some SS amps (McIntosh, some older pro units) have output transformers that maintain the same power at all rated impedances. Because Magnepans are pretty insensitive (though their directionality helps offset that a bit), and a somewhat low (albeit benign in terms of phase angle) load, an amplifier rated for 4 ohms with sufficient power to meet your needs is a good idea IMO. Relative to power requirements what effect do you think using subwoofers has with Maggies? Since Maggies use shallow crossovers between their bass and midrange panels, and in some cases forego a crossover in favor of mechanical tie downs to control what frequencies are handled by which panel, it seems to me giving the big panel less to do may improve the midrange. I am talking about using an electronic crossover like the one in the XMC-2 rather than playing the Maggies full range and trying to blend a sub in.
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Post by donh50 on Jan 6, 2023 13:49:14 GMT -5
Relative to power requirements what effect do you think using subwoofers has with Maggies? Since Maggies use shallow crossovers between their bass and midrange panels, and in some cases forego a crossover in favor of mechanical tie downs to control what frequencies are handled by which panel, it seems to me giving the big panel less to do may improve the midrange. I am talking about using an electronic crossover like the one in the XMC-2 rather than playing the Maggies full range and trying to blend a sub in. Short answer: I agree. I have used a subwoofer since my first pair of Maggies back in 1979. The panels have limited displacement so large bass signals require large area and even then distort heavily when driven by deep bass signals. A look at equal loudness curves shows we are less able to hear bass frequencies, so deep bass (~100 Hz and under) requires 10x to 1000x the power of say a 1 kHz tone, exacerbating the problem. Adding a sub to offload the panels (applies to ESLs as well) greatly improves their performance over most all frequencies and means you can get away with (much) less power. My first sub was a DIY servo design and I incorporated an active crossover to roll off the bass at 18 dB/octave. It made a huge improvement both subjectively (to my ears) and measured (much lower distortion, greater dynamic range before the panels were overdriven, extended frequency response from the sub which went to 16 Hz before rolling off). Since the bass/midrange panels are not mechanically decoupled (isolated) the improvements definitely went well into the midrange. The design has changed somewhat since then, but the principles and improvement possible by adding a sub still apply IME/IMO. Integration is not all that difficult these days when DSP is readily available. Back then, my sub control included all-pass stages as well as the servo control and crossover circuits so I could time-align the sub(s) and panels. After that initial setup, I upgraded from MG-I to MG-IIIa speakers, but kept the sub and controller. I worked for a store that sold Magnepan and helped other customers integrate subs into their systems as well, including several Tympani and MG-20 owners who weren't sure they needed or wanted a sub until after they heard the difference. It is not just the LF extension, it is the cleaner sound from the panels, and ability to locate the sub to counter room modes, that made (makes) a difference. I still have the old MG-IIIa speakers boxed up, may pull them out again someday. My last stereo system with them used an ARC D-79 for the mid/tweeter, Counterpoint SA220 on the bass panel, and my old sub; they sounded glorious to me. They continued to serve in the HT days when I added a CC3 center and four MC-1's for surround and rear duty, with a set of Rythmik subs, before finally retiring them in favor of a set of conventional speakers. The HT system used several AVRs, lastly an Emotiva XMC-1 with Emotiva Gen1 XPA-2/XPA-5 amplifiers. I am still using the amplifiers though have changed the processor to a JBL SDP-75. FWIWFM - Don
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