Maggie 20.1 and Marchand XM-44


I am thinking about moving to an active crossover for my Maggie 20.1's. The Marchand XM-44 seems to be a good fit but I'm not sure what frequencies to order. Is there anyone here that has experience with this particular pairing and what freq's and settings did you find that worked the best with these speaks. My inexperience with external crossovers has me totally in the dark here.
markus1299

Showing 4 responses by markus1299

I pulled the trigger on the Marchand crossover and ordered the stock freq's as well as a few variations that plug in as modules. Will let you know what transpires. Phil Marchand is a good guy to deal with should you have the inclination.
UPDATE,

I received the Marchand crossover yesterday and installed it last night. I am now running a Cary 120S tube amp(EL34) which powers the mid and high frequencies and Cary 500MB monoblocks powering the base of my Magnepan 20.1's.
I am shocked at the difference the Marchand has made. It's a completely different speaker. Sharper, more cohereant and bassey. I must say, I did not expect this much of an improvement. I have to experiment with the various modules to find the best slopes but for now, the sound is incredable.
Macdadtexas,

The 120S doesn't have any problem handeling the high end at all. The base I'm hearing out of these 20.1's I did not know exsisted. I've pushed them pretty loud just to see and doesn't seem to be a problem. Beware of all the additional interconnects and speaker wires you will need. The sound difference between the Magnepan, passive crossover and the Marchand powered crossover is really an eye opener. Do your 3.6r's have the same external crossover boxes as the 20.1's?
Macdadtexas,

If you get a chance, try this crossover. You will be surprised. I'm still experimenting with the plug in frequency modules but the sound is far and above the stock crossovers.