Is my room OK for Magneplanar 3.6's

your pushing it with the size of that room .Maggies need to breathe.Your room might work but again pushing..good luck

I agree with Schipo

Try setting up the speakers using the 1/3 rule. If the length is 15' place the speakers 4' from front wall sit at 10' and leave 5' behind you.Changing any of these by a foot worked for me . This was learned from robert harleys "the complete guide to hifi" has worked wonders with my mags.If these are your first mags also place diffusers behind the speakers and listening position as well.And if you add a subwoofer place it right by your listening position.This setup of a subwoofer blends best usually.

If possible in a room that size without being in the way, you might try a less commonly advertised but highly effective (for best sound) alternate placement strategy for the Maggies for best results. That would be about 1/3 to 1/2 way or so into the room and only a foot or two from sidewalls. You have to play with exact placement within these parameters to get optimal bass results.

Otherwise they may work but not reach their full potential with the more conventional placement closer to the rear wall for bass re-enforcement in a smaller room like that.

I agree with Schipo. I tried to fit the much smaller MG12s in an 11X13 room and felt it was too small a space. They need room.

I tried 3.5s in a similarly sized space many years back and could never get them to behave properly.

Not even close. Go with the 1.6 or 1.7 instead

Square? wrong shape.
I think I made that answer in another LD thread.

Sorry, man, I simply think you've got the wrong room for the right speaker.

You may be able to make MMGs work.....save a BUNCH of money and have full upgrade credit for a year, so if you want to than, you can trade UP to the than new 3.7s

I've had panels in as small a room as 100ft/sq and it was miserable. And that was with MG1s.

Probably too small, especially being square. I have a pair of 1.6s in a 15 x 21 x 8 room. 6' off of the front wall, 30" of space between them and the side walls. My head position is 2' from the back wall. It sounds good, but not as good as when they were in a larger room. The back wall is key. They say 3' will do, but that is a stretch in the same way Magnepan claims that one can get away with only 50 watts or so. This is with wall treatment behind the speakers fwiw.

Work is one thing, optimize is another. For example, Elizabeth's setup described above = work. Does NOT = optimize. Find another room or a different speaker is my advice, sitting 7 ft. from maggies is not the way to get the best out of them.

Shakey

Magnepan's are best in a rectangular room, and one larger than yours. I would speculate that you will have some strong room modes with any speaker that has any bass output. One wall where the dimensions are 15L by 15W by 15H will create a big problem.

Do you have a system in this room now? If so, how does it sound to you? I would think a pair of small 2 way stand mounts would offer a better match to the space.

I had ADS 810's in there before. Sounded fairly good. Then I put in Gallo Micro Ti's with a Gallo TR3 sub and that sounds also fairly good. The other speaker I was considering -- and clearly a whole different experience - was either a B&W CM8, CM9 or maybe 804D. Any ideas whether these would work in this space? Thanks again.

Laurence:I only said you were pushing the room size because I am writing with some experience using maggies. I purchaed my first pair in 1986 the MG III from a very famous audio salon in NYC. When delivered the tech took one look at the room for set up and asked me did you tell tem what size room 14x12.5 these were going into. I then and there knew I made a purchase Boo Boo. Well with thegrace of God and allot of work by him and mer later I got them to work well enough to listen but not enough for total enjoyment. I finally sold them and bought a pair of proac super tablettes and I was very happy. Then of course I did what some men do when emotions hit them on the head for the 2nd time. I married the same woman twice. I bought the MG IIIA speaker s and took another stab. Well it didn't work the first time what made me think the second time around would? So there you have it. And if you think maybe I didn't have the gear to get the best out of them. Heres the list. Goldmund TT and arm,Koetsu,AR sp-8 pre,AR 79B amp and MIT music hose with all silver wire from Mark levinson. So please look for a speaker that will compliment your room and be happy.

Then it would help to know what you perceive deficient with your current speakers and what areas you are seeking improvement. Do you want more bass, better bass, better definition, more detail, less glare, better soundstage?

Then again maybe just different from what you currently own which is valid as well.

I empathize, since my room is even smaller than yours. Have you considered the Mini Maggies? At the introduction, people were comparing them favorably to the 20.1's, and rumor has it they'll finally be out in January. I'll be given them a listen myself.

Thanks for all the comments. I just want to make clear -- and this may change opinions, so please comment -- but the room is not square. It has seven wall surfaces and the back of the left Mag would be facing three angled wall surfaces, one 3 feet back, another 5 feet back. The right speaker would be facing 3 wall surfaces as well (about the same distances as the right) I would also be using a JL Audio F112 sub just two feet from where I am sitting. The setup is solely so I can listen while I work at a computer stand, about 6-7 feet from the speakers.

If you are going to listen 'near field' at low to moderate levels...than skip the big panels and get some MMGs. Same Magnepan sound and presentation....

My listening area is also wacky. 8 walls and a vaulted asymmetrical ceiling.
No 2 walls are the same length. But at least I was able tp get the speakers pretty uniformly into a short wall setup.

Sounds to me like you've already got your mind made up. Any chance in the future of having a larger space available?

No, unfortunately this is the only space I have to work with and it's where I listen to 90% of music when I'm home.

I would say go for it, although if you are new to Mags you may want to just start with 1.6 or 1.7 and move up the line if you feel you want more. Your room can work for either IMO, you may not get the most out of them but they are still going to be better than most box speakers in their price range. I often listen to mine against the back wall with a few inches of toe in and they are thoroughly enjoyable.

Agree with Magfan, espicially in light of the subwoofer. The little guys are much easier to work with in a smallish room and the JL should round out the borrom end very nicely. I (sometimes) use MMGs with a pair of Rythmik subs and the result is absolutely wonderful.

Marty

I would like to know what size room do the people who say no have ? what is the ideal size then ?

Good idea to consider a near field listening solution with those in this room.

It'll work but practically big maggies with a sub is probably overkill. Go with the smaller mmgs and save money and provide yourself the most flexibility in setup as needed.

Thanks again for all the help. At the dealer I heard the Mags 1.7 and 3.6 in a room about the size of my room (but I have more walls surfaces). I sat where I would sit in my room, and I had the speakers separated as if they were in my room. Maybe it's just my ear -- or maybe it's because I was a professional musician in a past life -- but I felt I needed more detail than I heard on the 1.7 and I felt the 3.6 was closer to what I used to love about my Mag Tympanis (also from another life). Laurence

That's 3 votes for MMG.

Ld, you are a former timpani owner, eh? Well, you should know you've got your work cut out for you getting large panels into your listening space.

I'd set one panel on side of the listening space. Kind of like HUGE open air headphones. You won't believe what you hear. Detail? yep. Impact at even lower levels? for sure.

Listen in the extreme near-field and you can get away with it....maybe.

Maplegrovemusic,

The general rule of thumb is a minimum of 3' behind the speakers, a minimum of 2' on either side. But 5' is better behind and they keep getting better up to 15'! They really like to breathe.

To put this in perspective, you want the tweeters on an equilateral triangle with you, or a bit less, it will vary with room and preference. And you don't want to be too close to the large ones, because a) it will boost the bass and b) you'll start to hear the angular separation between the woofer, mid, and tweeter.

Another thing you have to consider is that the big ones can make a small room inconvenient and claustrophobic.

Unfortunately, there are no precise guidelines. I think it helps if you can equalize the bass, as the speakers grow large with respect to the room the room starts to act like a sealed enclosure and the bass output goes up. Which can be good or bad depending, but in any case can be tamed with EQ.

What are the dimensions of your room josh358 ? Do you own the 3.6's ? My room is 14' x 22' 8' ceilings. would anyone say this is the right size room for 3.6's? my goal is to upgrade this summer from 1.6 to 3.6 .

I wish! I own a pair of Tympani 1-D's but my new listening room is only 13' x 14', so I can't fit them and I'm temporary using a pair of MMG's that I bought for my home office. I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do -- I'm thinking I may be able to shoehorn in a pair of 1.7's. Also eager to check out the Mini Maggies if they ever show up at stores, some people at the show were saying they sounded as good as the 20.1's.

On the other hand, I'm thinking you could probably squeeze a pair of 3.x's into your room. They'd be happier with more space of course but tat doesn't mean they won't sound good, I ran my 1-D's for years in a room that was too small and there were some compromises as a result but they were still fairly spectacular.

The two most important things in a system, for me anyway, is selecting good performing speaker that I like the sounds of AND that can integrate in to the room very well. If they can't integrate in to the room well, can't be placed in their optimal position, then that's too significant a negative. Speaker placement in a room is that makes are breaks a system. As does good acoustics and treatment. Everything else, electronics, AC power, cables etc is secondary. If you're getting a lot of feedback that says these speakers won't work in this room, you should abandon the idea and find a different speaker.