Maggie 1.6 and Vandersteen 3A sigs

I'm curious as well. I know it's a matter of personal taste, but I find it interesting to hear the opinions of others and there reasons for liking one over the other. There are a lot of things I love about the Vandys. It just seems the Maggies never fail to give me goosebumps.

I started my Maggie journey going to a Vandersteen dealer with the intention of purchasing 2Ce Signatures. But he had a pair of 1.6's sitting around. After a 4 hour audition listening to each speaker for two alternating 1 hour stints with some of my favorite discs, I came to some interesting conclusions. I found the Maggies as powerful and dynamic as the Vandies as well as having a comparable midrange. The major difference was that the Maggies have a narrower sweetspot. Both throw a great soundstage. I ended up taking the 1.6s home and upgraded to 3.6s four years later.

I neglected to say that I found that the Maggie just had a more "live" feel. Music seems more natural than the Vandy. I also felt that the Maggie 1.6 was better suited to my living room.

I find that the description of the 1.6 as having a great midrange and little else usually comes from those who haven't heard the Maggies being driven optimally.

I drive my pair with McIntosh amplification, a Bluenote Stibbert CD player, Clearaudio t/t and MIT wires. The most common first remark from listeners is a puzzled, "but I thought Maggies had no bass!"

You can set up the Maggies for FM listening or critical work, all depends on the time and budget you have, plus your patience and diligence with room acoustics. After this, you'll hear "boxiness" in every dynamic speaker!