Magnepan MMG's just arrived

Maggie's have a reputation for taking a long time to break in, (probably 59 days if you live in my world) I would give them at least a month of moderate to loud play (according to my 1.6s).

Dave, I’ll be surprised if you can give them up. They make wonderful music, easy on the eyes and have a way of making you forget about everything except the music. Good luck with them.

Welcome to Maggie world.

Well then you already know they have no highs so to speak and no lows so to speak, and no dynamics ---- so to speak, now to tell how far they are below the perfomace of your old speakers, put them back in----- ahh yes the trebles back, the bass is back and ---- darn hard to listen to em (the old ones), back to the maggies, too late, you'll never look back.

The maggies need correct set up, play with them, move them forward until the bass is best, not more than an inch at a time, I did say maggies were easy, when they are in the right spot (bass dependant only), do the same for left right, and they MAY NOT be a dead symetrical match depending upon your room.

There better already, now then---- toe them in a little at a time.

Perfect, I think not, your getting there, now then, run to the FOAM BY MAIL store, www.foambymail.com, and order they're foam sound tiles in the accoustic color of your, or your wifes choice and ONE AT A TIME start adding these behind the speakers to tame that MISSING HIGH END, which by now will start to sound just a tad bright.

Uh-oh the rest of the system is showing it inadequacies, time to up grade---

Sorry about that,

BTW, serving the maggies is EXPENSIVE, they tend to like LARGE high current amps, like oh Levinson or (I'm not a Krell fan) Threshold, Gryphon, --- time to scan the used market, a great used Trany based amp can be had for sub 1500 if your paitent.

But then the pre-will show, --- and the cartridge will show, and then the cd/dvd will prove nasty sounding.

And did I mention surround maggies?

Me thinks cocaine or a psychologist is probably cheaper, but then where else can you have this much fun.

Warning: Maggies can lead to loss of wife!

loontoon

Now If I can just find the scratch to come up with the MG20's.

Way to go Dave

NOW...your thinkin out-side the BOX!!

Dave

I agree with all posting above, most with Loontoon. I drive my SMGc (older version) with Classe CA201. My amp is 4-5 times more expensive than the speakers, that is not included the front ends, cables etc... No regret, they do sound lot lot lot better than $2k range speakers out there. The warning of Maggies about the loss of wife from Loontoon is right, but I have learned that I might lost the love of my wife but I have found the love of music again or fall in love with music deeper whenever I sat in front of them. Enjoy your time with them and for your happiness don't forget your love one. She might not soud sweet like Maggies but she fill you up on other areas. :-) Share your toy with her.....

Congratulations on your new adventure. I too am quite a happy Maggie owner. Somehow they bring on a level of musical enjoyment that can be quite captivating. They typically need to be played at a middle volume level to bring them alive.

Loontoon brings up many important tips. Perhaps the Maggies are the toughest speaker to find a matching amplifier. I still am hunting for that ideal high powered / affordable amp that does not break the bank. After trying many ARC tube amps, I found the Counterpoint NPS400 to be an all around winner. I am thinking a second NPS400 might just be the ticket.

As for losing the wife, I keep mine in the basement in a music-only setup so my family does not care. I'm not sure their presence in the family room home theatre setup would be "allowed". But then again, I find the Talons and other dynamic speakers to be better suited for surround sound movie presentations.

So let us know how you feel at the end of 2 months. I suspect Albert is right: they will not be coming back to Minnesota.

John

Congrats on the Maggies Dave43.I heard the MMGs at a friends house on a vector integrate 60 wpc also paired with a Adire active sub. Sounded damn goood!!!! I am using a Panny SA-XR25 on a pair of 2.5Rs. With very good results. Had to take the silver cable off thou..too much of a good thing with the ribbon tweeter. Plan to sell but have seriously considered keeping them. Hard to replace the sound of Maggies! Depending on the room your trying to fill it doesn't take a lot of power to get great results.

Happy Listening!!!!

Loontoon: Thank you for your entertaining,true post.

Dave43: If this has not happened yet,sooner or later,you will hear a sound seeming to eminate from the side or the back of your listening room. It is an example of artificial reverberation.http://ccrma-www.stanford.edu/~jos/waveguide/Schroeder_Allpass_Sections.html This "colorless" reverberation is created by maggie singing forwards and backwards at the same time. Sooner or later,you will get the distance from your rear wall correct. Paradoxically,the correct distance for the reverb MIGHT ring. If(when)it does,deaden the rear wall. Go to the wallpaper place and check the sample book for acoustic cloth wallpaper and paper the wall behind her.

When you get it right,the soundstage will have height,width,and depth. You'll be able to follow contrapuntal lines without the speakers getting in the way.

I use a medium power/high current,low feedback, solid state,integrated amp and believe that once you get the imaging correct,everything else will start to fall into line.

I agree with others' posts about upgrade itches but believe that getting the imaging (including the rear wall) correct is the most important thing.

ENJOY!!

Jafox...If you are still searching for an "affordable" high powered amp to suit Maggies, try the CarverPro ZR1600 digital amp. Don't laugh! For about $840 you can find what you are looking for.

At last, someone who has bought the MMGs! I have been waiting for a thread on them as getting Maggie's effect with a smaller, wall mounted speaker seems very enticing.

I have had good luck with an Anthem MCA-2 series 1 for a mere $400. Gives you 200 watts at 8ohms or of course more for the 4ohm maggies. I have had good luck with Rotel amps too, but the Anthem was better with the mmg's.

The FIRST thing you should do is take off the panel on the back and wire out the fuse with a soldering iron--you may want to wait until after the 60 days as it will void the return policy. The fuse is there to blow if the speaker is driven at high volumes for a long period of time to prevent the voice coil wire from getting too hot and melting though the milar film. I have had maggies for 8 years and never blew a REALLY enhances the imaging. I have removed the fuses on my MMG's, SMGa's, and MG-III's with no problems.

Also, crossover upgrades on the mmg's make a big difference. I replaced the caps with Multicaps for $18 each. Great improvement and easy. I also replaced the inductors with air core units. This was harder, but also valuable. My experience with replacing crossover components on my MG-III's suggests replacing the inductors should be done with the caps.

These are good suggestions for upgrades once you decide to keep them. I think the MMG's are an astonishingly good speaker for the money, particularly if you buy them used and spend the $175 on crossover upgrades.

I bought the MMG's for a friend along with the NAD C370 which drives them easily and sounds very, very good. Although she doesn't play the system as much as some audiofools, she has it on quite a bit, and it still took the Maggies a long time to break in. They were still improving at 6 months to my ear. The NAD/MMG combo is one of the best bangs for the buck in audio, AFAIC.

I've had my MMG's for about two months with about 100 hours on them so far. They are still improving.

I'm going to wait until the trade-in period is over before I do any mods but I did just build some stands to replace the stock ones. Getting them off the ground and standing them straight up was very beneficial.

Great speaker.

I'm using:
Classe ca-100 ss amp
Bottlehead Foreplay preamp

I used to sell Maggies.
Jim Whiney told me, that if I didn't play the (back then) SMGa's for everyone who came into my store, that I was making the biggest mistake I would ever make in audio.
He was right.
I remember sitting up late at night, with them sitting about five feet or less, from me, toed in at almost 45 degrees. You see it now...right?
Gigantic headphones!!!
They were magic.
I sold a lot of people systems, based on the Maggies.
My shop was in a Yuppie neighborhood, and lots of young attorneys, and other young business people came in to the store.
One day I sold a pair to a tall young lady; pretty, and very intelligent. She was an attorney, who later became a judge. So when someone says that (in an earlier post) about wives and maggies I take a small exception to it. Women loved and I am sure love, the way they sound. That lack of hash in the upper frequencies. Wow!
Good luck with your new pair. You are a Maggie owner for life probably.
Best,
Larry

I hope your quest for break in is going well,
I just recieved my MMG,s and have to go thru the same.
My kora Cosmo,s Mono sure feel a little on the wimpy side
thru these compared to the Soliloquy 5.0 they might replace. I told my wife Damn I thought 100 watts was plenty, and she asked me for my Visa. Go figure....
Have fun and let us know how it si going.

John

Is 100WPC insufficient for these speakers? I was thinking of picking up a pair and now am worried I'll have to go down the *path* ....

After a months use in my small room I can say a solid 100W
is PLENTY. I have not been able to push beyond about 1/3
volume yet. Just please be patient with break in. They REALLY DO NEED IT. also good stands are a must.

Of course 100 watts is "enough". They will sound great.

But...in my experience, each increase in power has made an improvement. I can drive my MG1.6 with 100, 200, 350, 450, or 600 watt amps (4 ohms). Clearly the best results are the with the 600 watt amp, which is a CarverPro ZR1600 digital amp, which cost less than all the others except the 100 watt Adcom.

But, But... if I had never heard them with anything but the 100 watt amp, I would still find them excellent.