Maggie MMG

The MMG's are a good speaker for the money but you definitely want to have a high powered amp driving them (if you don't already have one) It's not that maggies won't sound good with a low powered amp but you definitely won't hear what they're fully capable of. If you do decided to go with the MMG's I would definitely send them to Magnestand for his his upgrades as your budget allows. http://www.indiespinzone.com/mag/mag5.html

I know it sounds silly to spend 3x the cost of the speaker for mods but it is money well spent, for a little over two grand you will have a speaker that will easily compete with anything under 5 grand and then some, and will play all genres of music equally well. I was very impressed with what I heard and never felt the need for a sub. There is definitely no comparison between the stock version and his "Gunned version" I really wasn't able to identify any weaknesses. More people need to hear these

FWIW I have no affiliation with Magnestand I just had the pleasure of listening to them

Some thoughts:

The trial period is too short because you need a longer time to break them in. The MMGs sound completely different after about 3 months of normal listening. You might be able to accelerate that by playing them non-stop at moderate to high levels for a couple of weeks.

As mentioned above, there are a number of tweaks that offer improvement. Some are cheap, like getting them off of the floor, bypassing the fuse and replacing the capacitors. Bypassing the fuse offers the most improvement. AA has a tweak section that could keep you busy for a while.

If you have a large room, you probably need a high powered amp. You don't need so much to obtain a high SPL with a smaller room. I run mine with a 30 w/ch push pull 6L6 tube amp in a 12x16 room. I have a subwoofer as well, crossed over at the lowest frequency, 40 hertz.

I disagree with the absolute opinion that the MMG doesn't sound good with rock music. Decently recorded performances of most genres sound fine and gives you the special soundstage and midrange. However, I don't listen to heavy metal or screaming, thrashing stuff that others might.

I have had mine for 12 years and have never thought of going back to a box.

Good luck.

I'll concur with Pckiing about MMGs and rock. I think they are better suited for rock than classical (which is what I listen to). One of their weaknesses is underplaying dynamic contrasts. Well, rock music mixing keeps most songs at a pretty flat dynamic level. The bass is also boosted too high on many rock songs. Rock plays to MMGs strengths, contrary to the cw.

I was also blown away by the MMGs when I got them; it seems you had a similar reaction. I was listening to them yesterday and continue to just love the sound. Get them and be happy.

I have had many pair of Maggies, and I think they abosolutely rock. The don't bloat bass, which many people confuse with punch and impact, but they do measureably reproduce the bass that is claimed in their literature. My favorite part of my Maggies is how they reproduce the kick drum and bass in any song. I particularly love the sound of the Police through these speakers.

That said, they do need power, lots of clean power, and that's not cheap.

If you look at the MMG I would think about a high powered Wyred4Sound amp, the most power you can afford.

Also, a sub absolutely helps once you get them dialed in. I have loved the Velodyne DD's for as long as they have been out, because depending on your set up, they can be very easy to set up and integrate.

Good luck, hope you join the Maggie club.

A sub controller (like the Velodyne SMS-1 that I use) will help get seamless integration of the Maggies and your sub -IMHO, critical for optimizing the kind of set-up you're contemplating. (You'll get room corrected bass out of the deal, too.) There are other models out there that some prefer, but the SMS works well at a reasonable price, app. $400. Once a seamless match is acheived, your sub+main speaker system will be a full range monster that represents ridiculous value for any type of music. Maybe rock isn't the particular strength, but I don't know what will rock better - and offer all the other strengths that this set-up offers - for $1K plus your sub.

Marty

BTW, all the comments on amps and power requirements are on the money.