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Maggie 1.7i's lack detail. Ideas?

Hi,
In about 1979 I had a roommate who had a pair of Magnapan's, an amp, pre-amp (at least one of which was NAD, and a fairly high quality turntable.  I was shocked and amazed about the feeling the singers were present in the room with me.   The accuracy and detail of the sound.

Fast forward 40 years and I purchase a barely used 1.7is.   I have a new Marantz NR1200.  A 15 yo BK EX-440 Sonata (350WPC @ 4 ohms), and optical bit stream out Sony DVD player.  I use optical cable between the DVD player and NR1200.   I have fairly high quality cables between the pre-out of the NR1200 and the EX-440.  I have somewhat high gauge copper stranded cable, about 6', between the EX-440 and the speakers.

The sound is not bad but very much lacking the detail and immediacy I remember in the highs and mid-range.  A great disappointment. My question is what the most likely culprit?

Some possibilities:
1. My hearing has declined.
2. I've a romanticized memory of the sound quality.
3. What I was hearing was the mushrooms.
4. The speakers my roommate had were a bit wider.  Maybe more like the 3.7s.  Maybe 40 year old 3.7s are just that much better than current 1.7is.
5. Stranded wire cables.
6. Turntable that much better than CD.
7. ????
 

jros

Showing 4 responses by gerrie

gerrie
107 posts
 

Not one receiver function on a hifi set!!! How can you use a 800€

Marantz as a pre amp???

gerrie
107 posts
 

It is the Marantz who is weak in your system i can tell you this for a hunderd procent.

Buy a secondhand musical fidelity A5 or a 308 and you shall see whats happend.

 

gerrie
107 posts
 

Dont use silver cable with the maggies. What i told you before the Marantz and the Sony are the problems and nothing else. Sell your sonate and buy a musical fidelity A5 or the 308. They have also a ht pass through. Or look for the Hegel h300, some hegels have also a ht pass through. If you dont want to buy a normal Cd player try a cheap topping or a smsl dac behind the dvd player. Dont search it in cables at this moment. And please never put a subwoofer with magnepan, magnepan has the most natural low you can have. A subwoofer for me is the modern loudnes button.

 

 

gerrie
107 posts
 

Buy a cheap secondhand Marantz sacd Cd player and a smsl dac.

I had the 3 and the 20 and now 1.7i the ribbon is also not the problem.

For example i drive mine mg20 with 4 cello performances the suite and a FM accoustic cross over with a jadis Cd player. That's the best sounds i ever hear. That was in the year 1993 till now they are writing about it. The 3 i drive with the cello duet and the encore and also fantastic i never used any sub. A magnepan needs power and a decent amp. 

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