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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
snapsc
663 posts
 

We need more detail on your room, the setup spacing, type of music, volume, etc., but the 1.7is are really good sounding speakers on most...but not all...types of music.  They must be minimum 3' out from the front wall.  There can't be anything between them.  The equilateral triangle seating position is a good place to start.  They won't have much deep low end in a bigger room.  And most important, they respond proportionately to the equipment that is feeding them and they absolutely love power....probably 3-500 watts minimum into 4 ohms.

I have a buddy who just bought a pair of LRS's.  He tried an 85 watt high quality, $3k integrated amplifier,....no mas....they sounded at best ok...then he switched to the Parasound Halo A21...400 watts into 4 ohms...HUGE difference.

I suspect you will need to upgrade your front end if you are going to keep the Maggies.

 

 

 

 

flatblackround's avatar
flatblackround
279 posts
 

I vote for all of the above.  They did not make 3.7s forty years ago.

I think you should ditch the Sony dvd and get a modern cd transport and dac.

The 1.7s should make you happy.

jros OP
15 posts
 

I assumed the EX-440 (350WPC @ 4 ohms) would have enough quality power to do pretty well. Its pretty well rated.  A Halo A21 is a bit out of my budget.

I think I have the DVD player configured so it is sending bitstream out of the optical cable and the new NR1200's DAC is being used.   I could be wrong about that.

 

snapsc
663 posts
 

I suspect also that back in 1979, when the maggies were on of only a few panel speakers and sounded so much different than the sealed box speakers being sold that you did have a romantic memory of the sound.  

Unfortunately, they sound pretty mediocre when not driven by the best gear...so you might read through a number of the forums and see what people are using to drive their maggies and praising the sound....and then look for some preowned that might be in your budget

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