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Anyone send back Magnepan MMG's?

I'm currently trying out some MMG's under their 60-day money-back trial period. I'm two weeks into it and I've already made up my mind that they're going back. The presentation is interesting, but the soundstaging is no better (perhaps even worse) than my trusty Audio Physic Tempo's. There is a problem in cohesion from midrange to bass, and this manifests itself quite frequently when I play 80's rock and pop (Pat Benatar especially). And they get congested with complex orchestral music. Granted, with simple chamber music or guitar solos, they sound pretty good. But they just can't handle the gamut of music that I play like my Audio Physic speakers.

There are those who may claim that perhaps my amp isn't up to the task of powering the Maggies. I have an Innersound ESL 300 which is designed for planars and electrostats, being able to double down twice to 2 ohms, and still stable at 1/3 ohm impedance. It should be more than enough to drive the Maggies.

And some will claim that the MMG's don't adequately represent the abilities of Magnepan's higher-end offerings. I've heard a 3.6 previously, driven by Classe electronics, and while it sounded OK, I wasn't thrilled with it. Which surprises me, because I tend to gravitate toward electrostatics, and I thought I'd gravitate towards planars as well.

And I will admit, my old Audio Physic Tempo's originally retailed for $4000, which is substantially more than the MMG's $550. But still, even at their entry level, the Magnepan's should be hinting at something that those box speakers can't quite do. But I'm not hearing it. I came into this with a very open mind, and I'm somewhat surprised that the speakers are likely getting shipped back to Magnepan.

Has anyone else come to this conclusion?

Michael
sufentanil

Showing 3 responses by mapman

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,702 posts
 
Maggies are a unique breed. Not all will take to them.

One of their most endearing qualities for me is that they are most easy on the ear at both low and high volumes compared to almost anything else. You can listen to them for hours and they sound better the longer you listen and make you not want to stop.

Some will scoff at this and say its because of limited dynamics compared to live, which may be true, but the easy on the ear factor is the most endearing and unique quality of Maggies for many who just want to listen to music in an unobtrusive manner for long periods of time, IMHO.

Here are the caveats:

- They are not the ultimate in dynamic range
- They are very sensitive to placement and room acoustics
- they often work best away from rear and side walls
- They have a very focused (ie small) sweet spot (but background music compared to detailed listening can still sound very good elsewhere)
- the bass extension is reasonably competitive at the various price points but dynamic range and impact often seems limited in comparison to better dynamic designs and may not please some bass lovers (I tend to fall into this category myself)
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,702 posts
 
Audiojan,

You make a very good point that MMG's and other very good yet affordable speakers often do not get mated with the upstream equipment needed to make them shine, which may lead to more mixed reviews.

On the other hand, very good yet expensive speakers are most likely often mated with equally good equipment feeding it upstream.

The thing to remember is to never judge a speaker alone without also considering the foor chain that is feeding it.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,702 posts
 
Sufentanil ,

Those Audio Physics are pretty good dynamic speakers from what I've heard.

It just may be that the MMGs have a different presentation but in fact do not do anything the APs cannot. I'm sure the APs do large scale dynamics better in any case.

Personally, I would ad a pair of MMGs to my system in a heartbeat if I had the place or need but I would not attempt to replace any of my larger full range speaks with them.

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