Magnepan Mods

There are laws against doing that.  Research what happened to Apogee.

Yes but patents expire...I believe after 20 years...

IIRC, Apogee, (and Carver to some degree) got in trouble because of copying Magnepan’s tweeter. I don’t think it was the actual speaker design itself.

Not sure, but I think that all the patents that Magnepan had have since expired?

There have been others that have tried to copy the Maggies, but never to the extent of taking any business away from them, (I’m assuming here).

Carver did not design those tweeters, designed by Hi-Vi and cloned by even cheaper manufacturers. See bottom post:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/300122-bob-carver-als-system.html

Also, as far as I recall, the Apogee was spectacularly different and difficult to drive compared to the Magnepan and Hi-Vi designs. I've never gotten close enough to inspect Apogee or Magneplanar's so I'll defer to those of you who have.

Best,

E

Erik...I’m not talking about Carver’s new speakers which the link you posted was about? They had a pair of panel speakers (ALS-III). Pretty sure there was some sort of design infringement...

http://www.carversound.com/carver-speakers/al-iii-plus/

The Magnestand mods are superb - they dramatically improve the efficiency, dynamics, and bass of the Maggies - got them.

http://www.indiespinzone.com/magnestand.html

Yes... Magnepan would be well advised to adopt them... but... if you're able to sell all you can build as they are now... what's the justification - other than that they might want to improve the sound quality... for... the sake of doing so.  "If it ain't broke... don't fix it."

They don't offer stands because they don't change the sound - it is a dipole speaker.  Call Wendell if ya want - he's heard it all before.

Magneplanar blind tests their speakers (with high end electronics) and does not release upgrades unless they are worthwhile.  They also have a 2 step rating for new versions - "i" is not a full digit.

They did improve the crossovers and decide that there was no need to bi-amp for those models.

@randy-11...the Magnestands are not stands per se.  They have built-in stands, but Peter Gunn, (not is real name), modifies certain Maggie models.

I have heard several pairs.  They are indeed stunning!

http://www.indiespinzone.com/mag/mag15.html

Looks nice but I don't see any SQ improvements when I've looked at them or his site, reviews, etc.

Double-blind listening is the way to tell if you are getting SQ...

Peter Gunn only mods the earlier, "wire on membrane" Maggies. He thinks the .7 are junk and will not touch the foil on membrane Maggies. Well, I’m the opposite. While heavy wire is good for bass. its much slower than the foils which have incredibly fast transient response. This is the exact thing in real life as compared to recordings that make real life sound real. Immediacy. e11even stereophonic will be releasing a line of Maggie mods for the .7 series to die for. Finally a nice kit form that makes it easy to put together at home, so no shipping. There are ways to disable the xover and wire direct to the panels and tweeter direct with your amp channels and do it the right way with active filtering before the amps. My opinion.. Maggies cant do it all well, they can do it all in a compromised fashion only. If you accept that then optimize them based on what they do best, you will reap the rewards. I also believe the crossover points and slope are way off. Probably an attempt to give them more bass perception. Knock the midband down 5db. Bad Maggie, no cookie. Then get the sub bass the heck out of those panels! They muddy what mids are left. By the time I’m finished with my 3.7i project, I will have taken tweeter and mid panel out and chucked everything else. You will not believe your eyes when you see the radical departure from early 80’s cloth and oak...

Yo Mike, many Maggie owners have done pretty much what your mod does to a stock set of MMGs. No need for cryo, or anything else, simply bypassing the stock fuse improves the mids and highs. Do you even cryo the fuses? I ask since the sound quality improvement from a simple bypass is somewhat dramatic. I think you may be creditting a process that you aren't really doing in the first place.

Going on the net to trash a competitor in order to boost your own sales is sleazy at minimum.

Magnepan Mods

Often thought to myself, if I ever came across another pair of Maggie Tympanies cheap, I would like to do a mod on them and change the old Ferrite bar magnets for some  new Neodymium bar magnets now that they are not too expensive to buy, this should radically lift the low efficiency of the Tympanies to great heights.
https://aussiemagnets.com.au/magnets/Rare-Earth-%28Neodymium%29/Blocks/

Cheers George

Search YT channel OCD. He just finished modding a pair with custom frames. Looks awesome. He should be posting a listening session soon

I have a pair of Magnestand MG-12s. I followed Peter Gunns instructions and noticed huge improvements in mids and bass. I had the opportunity to listen to modded vs. stock side by side. I then sent them to him for full frames and that took everything to a new level. I have not given thought to speakers since and it's been 6 years now !

Thanks for the discussion about PG and his modification work on the older Maggie’s. I am running my own comparison I guess. I am in line with PG to get my older 1.6 s modified. I use them in my system in my Bonus room. My main system now uses the 1.7i and I just added the bass panel - DWM. The sound is great, but my Krell integrated amps are having trouble pushing the load - Magnepan recommences putting the bass panel in parallel. Both of my Krell now overheat (KAV 400 and S550i). 

A fair number of the guys over at the Planar Speaker Asylum, some long-time Maggie owners, have removed the fuses from the signal path of their speakers. An easy upgrade to the speaker I have performed is to replace the stock speaker cable terminals with Cardas binding posts, which requires no modifications to the speaker. The holes in the back plate on the speaker into which the stock terminals are mounted is the same size required for the Cardas posts.

Elizabeth - thanks for the lead to MUG - I learned a lot. Just got my Krell S550i shipped off to Krell for repair to help with my overheating issue. Just put my Krell KAV 400xi in the main system with a Son of Ampzilla II to carry the speakers (ampzilla now pushing the 1.7i and the Krell 400xi pushing the Bass Panel.  OMG - no overheating - now plenty of power to push the Maggie’s - great soundstage, cleaner high end, and all the bottom end I want. Everything sounds NEW!! From Diana Krall to ZZTop. What a great Country!!!

can’t wait for PG to modify my old 1.6s!! Low budget - High Quality Hi Fi - I have died and gone to Heaven!

I purchased a pair of Maggie IIA's They need a lot of work. Wire has delaminated from Mylar and needs to be replaced.

Fundamental question with this old Model, is it even worth the time and effort ... ?? If I had the wires replaced I would be looking at a custom frame for them as well.

Ozymandias - if the wire is delaminating I am afraid you are out of luck. I just got my Peter Gunned Maggie 1.6 qrs back from John. I am the original owner of the 1.6s and they have been ‘babied ‘ since I got them 10 to 12 years ago. I had no delam issues and we did the full modification - the key improvement from my Peter Gun 1.6s is the midrange vocals are amazing. Bass is better too, and the frames are beautiful. The mod cost me $3,000. Worth every penny but not cheap. Per John - I should get 8 to 10 years out of them.

My main system uses my 1.7is and I added a Maggie’s base panel to them. I had to bi amp the speakers to get them to drive well. My bass issues are gone with the 1.7is now. Total speaker costs (1.7i plus bass panel DWM) is $3,000. But they are brand new.

hope this helps.

Happy Listening

You don’t say what you are trying to accomplish or what model you have.

I have done every mod possible except apply damping material to the panels (messy). My 3.6s are biamped with a Pass Labs active crossover (totally modified) and tower subs. The remaining tweeter/midrange passive crossover uses Duelund Cast caps and inductors that cost more than the speakers. There are no fuses. The panels are rewired with 6 9’s OFC copper wire. The internal grill cloth has been removed. The system is in "All Out Assault".

The speakers use Mye stands which are an extremely cost effective upgrade for any model (Magnepan’s feet are NOT really stable and the driver panel vibrates). This helps both problems. If I was going to do one cost effective mod, I’d buy the stands with the added benefit that they won’t effect the resale value.

In principle the Maggie and Apogee tweeters are identical. Structurally they are very different. The Maggie tweeter is an individual component which you can remove from the speaker in it's entirety. The Apogee's tweeter magnets are part of the structure of the speaker frame and they can not be removed. Only the tweeter ribbon can be removed which I might add is a very entertaining procedure. I always told people who were considering replacing there own ribbons to buy 4 ribbons at a time. The first two are for practice. The Apogee tweeter is supported along it's length by little foam blocks squeezed in between the magnets at intervals of 12" or so. The Maggie tweeter is supported in it's channel by little blobs of blue something or other between the edge of the ribbon and the channel. The blobs alternate from one side to the other at around 3 inch intervals. IMHO the Maggie tweeter is a better design. It is more durable (but still relatively easy to blow) and much easier to replace. Sonically, I doubt you could tell the difference.