Magnepan..the sun rises and sets on..or does it??

I used to own a pair of 104/2's. Great speaker in their day. The maggies are a pretty different sound. If you love bass, you might want to add a sub to the mix. very carefully match it though. If you value imaging, depth, etc...you'll love the maggies. All the comments above are great.

I have the older version of the 1.6 (the 1.5Qr) driven by Musical Fidelity A3cr power/pre combo and love them. I would not buy anything else even at 3x the price (though I would get the 3.6's if I could. I listen to mostly classical and I think maggies are almost universally loved for acoustic music of all types and especially for classical music. They do not have the pounding bass that some Rock or heavy metal lovers seems to want. Also HT listeners tend to want a sub with them. I'm a classical musician and I find the lowest register of double basses very realistic with well setup maggies, but it doesn't do the huge electric bass and drums of some recordings without a sub.

Maggies sound very different from conventional speakers (better to my mind, but definitely different), so it is really important to hear a pair. As mentioned above the family resemblance between all maggies is strong, so you don't necessarily need to find a pair of 1.6's.

Good Luck,

I've had the 1.6's since Nov. '98 and I power them with the same pre and power amps that Fineberg uses, MF A3cr, an excellent match. I replaced the crossovers with Hovland caps and Alpha-Core inductors in 2000 with an 80% overall improvement in sound. You can read all about the crossover upgrade in the Planer Asylum at Audio Asylum. I think the biggest weakness is the lack of clarity you get with something like a 2A3 SET powering efficient speakers. The tonal quality of the MF and Maggie combo in my opinion is at least the equal of the SET's that I have heard. Low powered tubes done right just sound cleaner. The problem with low power is dynamics, something I am addicted to. I heard a small tube amp powering ElectroVoice horns at this months Bottlehead meeting and I was quite impressed. The owner said the crossover was a bear to set up, which is the biggest problem with horns, getting them to work right in this lifetime. Good dynamics for a small amp though. I use a PSB subsonic II sub that works quite well with the rock that listen to.

Maggies can be a lot more demanding of room and placement than your Kef's. Make sure you can accomodate them. I don't know if Maggies are necessarily better but they sure are different. I happen to like both. With no disrespect to those who love other models of Magnaplanars, if it were me (room willing) I'd hold out for a 3 series. Good listening.

Maggies are GREAT and some things and not so good at others. If your taste is in jazz or especially intimate acoustic music, they're wonderful. We listen to a lot of European and old American folk music that often ends up with a guitar or a duclimer and one or two voices - the 3.6's are the best speakers I've ever heard on that type of program, period. (They did have the advantage of $20k worth of linestage and power amps.)

At the other extreme, if you are into heavy metal, their bass characteristics probably won't put them at the top of your list. And adding a sub isn't that easy either - they seem to be particular about which subs integrate well with them. I heard one Aerial sub that was horrendous with the 3.6's, despite the fact that both the sub and the 3.6s are very excellent speakers on their own.

I also have the problem of being quite a drive away from delaers, but after having gone through this last cycle of auditions, I can't imagine buying Maggies without having heard them. Frankly I'm really amazed at how differently the various VERY GOOD speakers present the same material.