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Magnepan positioning

I've been looking at Maggies (online, not at a dealer, nobody around me has them), and I was wondering if it is possible to mount them on a wall. Building a bracket or stand to pull them about six inches off wouldn't be a problem for me, but I was just wondering what I lose by putting them up on the wall. The MC1s are intended for wall mounting, and I have a subwoofer (Infinity CSW-10) to take care of the bottom end. My room is small (15x10), so those giant obtrusive panels 4 feet into the room are slightly out of the question. Would this combo give me a better sound (mostly rock, jazz, classical) than floorstanders or monitors? If I built a bracket to pull them off the wall a bit, are there any construction guidelines I should follow? If you haven't noticed, I'm pretty much building my first decent system; right now I have an HK receiver, Infinity Alpha 50 towers, the previously mentioned sub, and the sub is the only thing I'm happy with. Thanks!
specgamer24cb
9 responses Add your response
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Six inches won't do the job, even if you put sound absorbing foam behind them. However, they are real easy to pull out a few feet when listening seriously. For background leave them next to the wall. The feet (of the Maggies) will keep them out about one foot.
pbb
1,140 posts
 
Not to discourage you but with a small room like yours I would stick with conventional box speakers. I own 3.6s and I can attest to the fact that Maggies need room; the distance to the front wall being, in my view, the most critical. There are so many great box speakers of every size and price that I am sure you could find ones that would give you all you want and need. Try to audition a pair of 3A De Capos with any decent integrated amp or maybe an all REGA system like I heard a couple of shows ago in Montreal. Good luck.
jvogt
212 posts
 
With a room that size I would think the MC1's would do
nicely with an appropriate subwoofer. I'm using MC1's
in a 5.1 home theater setup and they are very nice. I've
also got 1.6QR's for my two channel setup. The MC1's have
the quasiribbon tweeter and give good extension on the
upper end. I'd try to place the MC1's about 2 feet from the
front wall on the side wall.
ozzy62's avatar
ozzy62
3,132 posts
 
Total waste of a magnepan. If you can't give them at least 4 ft. of space from the wall behind them, don't even bother.

Oz
elevick
2,636 posts
 
2 other points not mentioned:
1-if you build brackets, it will be quite hard to adjust them and maggies are hard to position for a sweet spot to begin with.
2-Maggies love power. Very few receivers can put out enough wattage to make maggies "sing". I wouldn't consider less than 100 watts but am sure that all will agree that 200 or more is great. The HK simply won't be able to cut it with that demand.
noble100's avatar
noble100
2,419 posts
 
I use Maggies for 2-channel and surround and agree: they need lots of clean power and room behind them to sound their best. I move them out 4-5 ft for 2-channel and leave them about 2 ft from the wall for surround. You may be best with box speakers, good luck.
warrenh's avatar
warrenh
2,299 posts
 
Oz is on!
philjolet's avatar
philjolet
2,306 posts
 
I have owned Maggie MG1 and 1.6 and liked about 5 to 7 feet from the rear wall behind them, otherwise they are really muddy in the lower range. I also think they need a big room, more like 16 x 20 for the 1.6.
amandarae
512 posts
 
Agree with posters above. As a current maggie owner, I can tell you that no maggies will sound close to what they are capable of if you do not have sufficient distance from the speakers to the backwall. Dipole speakers are like that, they need the space to breath, to complete its "pattern" per se in order to sound great.
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