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Choking more SPL's out of Maggie 3.6's

My system sounds fabulous, but I can't get it to rock really hard. Not even close. Live classical performance, jazz performance, acoustic show, etc. no problem. Good and loud on rock, yes. I may have to change something, but I'm hoping not to change my speakers.

My system is as follows:

Maggie 3.6R speakers
REL Storm III sub
Bryston 7B-ST mono amps
Rogue 99 preamp
Linn Ikemi cd player
Nottingham turntable & arm
High output Dynavector cartridge
Acoustic Zen Satori Shotgun speaker cables (7 foot)
Transparent Music Wave Ultra interconnects (RCA)
(1 meter all around, except preamp to amps which is 15 foot)

The room is about 18x23 with a 7 foot ceiling.

Is there any way to get the Maggie's to go a little louder? Just a little? The Bryston monoblocs are hefty power, but when I play hard stuff (now and then) and I want to get a little carried away, I hit clipping before I hit the point where I can't hear myself sing. I never used to get to this point with previous dynamic speakers, but all those were flawed in so many ways in which the Maggies rule. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Otherwise I'll listen to most everything at home but go to the car to really rock out.

Thanks in advance.

Rich
rbirke

Showing 1 response by pbb

pbb
1,140 posts
 
It isn't those Brystons, I'm sure. The setting of the switch on the back of the amps could be something to look into. I wonder what is the best position for Maggies. Maybe someone with this combo could tell you what they use or you could always experiment with it. Sean has a dislike for Bryston based, if I remember some of his old posts, on a 4B he bought for little money, that had been beaten the hell out of, to the extent the casing was twisted or some such. Nonetheless, Bryston did a bunch of warranty repairs on it, but still in all Sean did not warm up to the amp. That's all right, "degustibus non disputandem". I don't think that 7B STs are somehow too wimpy or poorly designed to tame those Maggies. I think that the practical limit of the Maggies has been reached. They are not designed for high SPL listening. I auditioned them for an hour and half at a local dealer with my own cds and was amazed with some of the 3.6Rs strong points. I found them lacking, however, on rock and also in the bass department with jazz. The rest of the equipment was Classé. I still think, now and then, of getting a pair of 3.6Rs and keeping my Paradigm Reference 100 v2s for high SPL listening. Both these speakers are price leaders. Unfortunately, the openness and airiness of the Maggies is not found in the 100v2s, and the out and out slam and meaty sound of the 100 V2s is not to be found in the 3.6Rs. I remember that quite a few people running Maggies with 7B STs have posted here and that they were quite satisfied by this combo. In closing, what would the downside of having the Maggies at one end of the room and the 100 V2s at the other be? Since most power amps (including the Brystons) do not have switching facilities for two pairs of speakers, is there a high quality switch box of some type that would eliminate the need to change the cables every time one wants to listen to the other speakers? The area of the panel may be impressive, but the excursion simply is not there; that's one of the main reasons you still see those boxes full of dynamic drivers, I guess...
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