Seems to me like the amateur marketing department at Dan Richie’s GR dustbowl in Tejas is in overdrive. Guess that with interest rates being high maybe there are delinquent mortgage payments piling up.
Magnepan Upgrades, Silver and New Crossovers!
I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota and have wanted maggies since I first heard of HiFi. How cool to have one of the greatest manufactures of speakers in our backyard! So last Spring '22 I bought the 1.7i. I'd been watching Nelson Pass put his 3.3's on 4 1000 watt Emotiva amps and I was just in awe. So I bought 2 1000 watt Emotiva amps, new and different than Nelson's, and ran them on the new maggies. Guys, the maggies literally blew up, coils melted off the panels, the damage was so severe Magnepan had never seen anything like it, they graciously covered much of it under warranty. That goes to show what a bad example Nelson Pass is. So after getting back from repairs they're brand new again and I put them on the traditional Bryston 4BST classic audiophile pairing, they sounded great, but I'd been watching OCD HiFi guy Mikey with all his maggie magic tricks and I got the itch to improve things. I bought the silver fuses and jumpers "insta-upgrade" and OMG clarity, timbre, every aspect improved in sound, was truly shocking. But then there's more, the crazy guys over at GR-Research and took the 1.7 to a new level. They did extensive testing and designed all new parts. I gutted the crossover, steel parts, and wiring and put all new guts in it. Well after 2 weeks of working on it off and on I've got the new crossover and terminals installed. What OCD HiFi did with the silver fuses and jumpers, take that effect and multiply it by 5! Astonishing! I've never heard anything like this, it's like holographic heaven sonic ecstasy. GR-Research really has provided the pinnacle of what Magnepan can do. It was a really hard technical upgrade, Magnepan does not make it easy, 6 inputs that are backwards opposites on left and right, but after getting it perfect, I'm in heaven and all the pain, destruction, hard lessons, and seeking higher sonic ecstasies has paid off.
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I have been listening to my MG IIIa’s since 1988. Peter Gunn generously advised me to screw as much natural wood to the back of the particle board frames as possible to absorb vibration and he shared the schematic for his crossover. I installed 36’ of 2"x3" studs per speaker and built his crossover ($900 in parts). Major improvements. Recently, Peter advised me to place a screen behind my listening position to enhance bass response. I constructed a frame to hold a 2’x4’ piece of plywood covered with 2" of Rockwool that is mounted horizontally 34" from the floor and another piece of 2’x4’ plywood covered in Rockwool that hangs over the listening area at a 30 degree angle. I had been using an 18" sub with a low pass of 35hz. The sub is no longer necessary, unless you want sub 25hz support. The over all sound is cleaner without the sub. The overhanging panel helps eliminate sound bouncing from the ceiling. It’s like having a folded horn located behind you. My room is 35’x25’x14’ (tray ceiling). I installed a diffuser on the middle of the front wall and the sound stage bloomed. The Maggies are powered by a Devialet 220. The Devialet replaced a Pass Labs 250.5. The amp is connected to the speakers via sixteen 5’ 0 AWG copper cables. I highly recommend you consult Peter Gunn and consider buying one of his modified 1.6 QR’s. Unfortunately, Peter does not modify the bigger models due to shipping constraints. An Audiogon poster, b4icu, recommended the speaker cables. Shocking results as I added one cable at a time. I have had many box speakers. They sound good, but they don’t have the magic. Good luck. |
@ronboco +2 Mike |
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