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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 1 response by hartf36

hartf36's avatar
hartf36
201 posts
 

I have a B&K EX-442 Sonata (it's "442", not "440", btw) running from a Parasound P5 preamp into a pair of Maggie MMGs (precursor to the LRS).  My system sounds outstanding (I run CDs through either a Denon DVD-2900 or OPPO BDP-95) both connected via RCAs.

I can tell you that as long as the 442 is functioning as it should, your issue is not with it (or likely with the Maggies either, for that matter).  While more is better, that amp should have plenty of good, clean power and high current for those speakers, IMO.

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