Mapman: to the contrary, your comments comparing Class D and Class A amps to specific cars was pretty witty and valid. I did laugh at your "audio preference" comments.
A few others demonstrated a complete lack of class.
I'd love to try out those new maggies but times are tough (for me) and getting the speakers is only the beginning! If it was affordable, I would get a pair of Krell 750's (those Hummers can really drive the 20.1s) and put the current fpb 350's on the smaller, new Maggie product.
Is anyone currently using the new Maggies? Powered with what? |
"See my earlier thread titled "How's Your Power Bill" under Misc. forums. Unfortunately it denigrated into a slugfest between certain Liberals and Conservatives."
Gotta fess up that I was kind of an instigator in that "slugfest" when I said:
"At the risk of sounding "smug", Class D amps are the equivalent of hybrid or even electric cars in terms of energy consumption. Similarly spec'ed and much larger Class A amps are like Hummers!"
Then I made things sort of worse by joking about my impressions of Barack Obama's audio preferences.
Sorry. Won't do that again!
As an audio freak, I did find it way more entertaining than your typical fare on Fox News or CCN though, I must admit!
Anyone who starts going on and on about politics here will surely regret it!
Right! Now back to the discussion at hand regarding the new Maggies......... |
Mapman is on track here. Power is definitely a concern these days. See my earlier thread titled "How's Your Power Bill" under Misc. forums. Unfortunately it denigrated into a slugfest between certain Liberals and Conservatives. The recommendation was made in that thread also that Class D amps would be a wise choice since they are more conservative in their power consumption as compared to the Class A power hungry Krells. |
Assuming these require lots of power to sound good, which is my current understanding, Class D amps may be a natural mate with these for those that are cost/size/power/space conscious. |
Is this the same setup they had for the 2008 CES? If so I can remember hearing it with my wife and honestly we thought it was one of the best sounds at the show.
This system with chorale music was astounding and I believe that the Bryston went a long way to help.
I haven't heard those amps since then until today on the Gallo Ref 5's and again what superb sound. Kudos to amp and speaker in both presentations... |
You're welcome.
P.S
I'm seriously considering these for my bedroom or living room.
High WAF is no question with these small flat panels. ;)
As for the surrounds.........awesome recommendation.
Mariusz
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I had to wonder myself if so much power was necessary. I drive my 20.ls with Krell fpb 350's and it seems OK, although I would love to move up to 650's or 750's. 1000W seems excessive to me. I tend to agree with Tigerwoodkhorns, it is unlikely that most listeners would employ such massive power to drive them. If that is a requirement then no matter how Magnepan prices them it will be too much for many to afford. |
Depends on the wife, re: 20.1's. Just had a pair delivered last week and wife thinks they look great! Course, the furniture in the room is cherry with (mostly) black leather and the 20.1's are in cherry (pretty close match) and black. I think I have a keeper! (Both wife and speaker:). |
mrjstark: Thanks for the photos - They must be a remarkable piece of engineering. Their biggest attribute may end up being a high WAF. Jax2 is right, WAF is, indeed, at the bottom of the WAF scale for the 20.ls. I had to enlarge the room and pay big bucks for a remodelled kitchen. Back to the point, I still think that the mini's would make good surround speakers for planar lovers. |
This is what I found interesting. I was in the front row and saw the clip indicators on the Bryston 28B 1000 wpc monoblocks light up. I used to have Bryston 7B St monoblocks on B&W 801's and never clipped them. The 28B's have an enourmous amount of power. I really don't see anyone driving them with 28's. Maybe good candidates for Class D amps? Though those didn't work well with my friend's 20.1's. The other thing to note in considering this very relevant observation was that the demonstration was in a pretty large room with high ceilings and wall-to-wall carpet, and the music was being played at fairly realistic levels (at least in our session). They may do a bit better in a more moderately sized and lively room. Good point. |
I saw them at The SHOW too. They did strain on some of the music that was played.
This is what I found interesting. I was in the front row and saw the clip indicators on the Bryston 28B 1000 wpc monoblocks light up. I used to have Bryston 7B St monoblocks on B&W 801's and never clipped them. The 28B's have an enourmous amount of power. I really don't see anyone driving them with 28's. |
Here are some pictures of those minis: Isn't that "Close View" a shot of the computer version? It sure looks like the one they did not play and passed around to show as being for computer-based systems. Thanks for the pics, regardless. Puerto - I don't think you'll have to worry about them replacing your 20.1's. My friend had 20.1's and I can tell you these new smaller speakers will not be in quite the same league as those. Don't get me wrong, they are impressive for what they are. They are well worth considering for specific reasons and purposes, WAF being high on that list, while 20.1's are probably at the bottom of the WAF list :-) |
Remember that they were running them with top-of-the-line very high power Bryston monoblocks. The speakers may come to market relatively inexpensively, but I wonder what kind of (and how much) amplification they'll need to make them sing. |
They remind me a bit of those little mylar speakers with sub that some of the mini systems you used to see at Brookstone employed. |
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Good "review" Jax2 - As Mapman has suggested, they should appeal to the consumers who cannot accommodate those big "barn doors". WAF should be high so there will definitely be a niche for them. Looks like the woofers will be a requirement for full sound - I thought they were well hidden as end tables. While I won't be getting rid of my 20.1s anytime soon, I would love to have a pair of the "mini's with woofers - even as surrounds. I was surprised to see that they were driven by such high-powered Brystons. I suddenly feel under-powered. |
I heard them at THE Show last weekend. They were running a very impressive demo there where they'd hidden the speakers behind a acoustically transparent curtain and played a few cuts of very well-recorded, simple, stark live music (I think this lent itself strongly to the presentation). The sound was very impressive, regardless of what was back there, but when you actually saw what was back there, well, even more so. But even the guy from Maggie doing the demos admitted it would not compare to their larger models. The only normally mixed piece of music I heard him play did not sound nearly as impressive as the live-recorded cuts, but still sounded very good. Those speakers were being played with low-standing bass driver cabinets of their design, which would be necessary to fill out the range (below 300hz as I recall). As far as comparative impressions; for me it was more a novelty than anything else and without hearing music I was familiar with it would be difficult for me to comment beyond that. They are certainly WAF friendly (they're tiny), though the bass cabinets are pretty large and I didn't find them very attractive. I think it will be another niche, as Mapman suggests. One of the demonstrators questions to the group was what pricepoint should they be asking for the rig - indicating that they had not yet decided. They also had an equally small computer panel speaker they showed, but did not play. |
Wow. WOW!! I cannot believe how small they are! This bodes very well for folks with small rooms wanting to setup a killer home theater system. I'm already eyeing the Gallo Dues in my bedroom system and thinking "Your days are numbered, little ones..."
These are gonna KILL the Bose LifeStyle System - praise be Allah! I can hardly wait for the gushing reviews...
-RW- |
Reviewers are like young girls in heat, when seeing the ideal perfect stud. Then when the magic wears off and it's back to reality. |
No, but it may well broaden the appeal of the line to those who like the sound but cannot accommodate the larger Maggies properly, which would include me. I've owned Maggies and would consider a Maggie satellite/sub system in a heartbeat as a way of fitting Maggies back into my house somewhere. |
