Magnepans and Rock


All my years in the hobby I have never heard a magnepan - can they handle classic rock?
pops
the x.7 Maggies are a big jump in SQ

bdp24 gives an xlnt description of the sound

you really have to listen and get used to the various benefits and detriments of top speakers or speaker designs in your price range

I can virtually guarantee that there are speakers better than maggies, as long as you spend 2x or 3x as much...

Everyone has their own idea of what reproduced music should sound like, depending on their reference. It seems to me that since live Rock music is always heard through a sound reinforcement system (a "P.A."), a listener of primarily that music might be happier with a home speaker that sounds like a P.A. speaker---15" woofers and horns.

I will take issue with only one previous statement made in this thread---"nothing reproduces a kick drum like a 15" driver" by shakeydeal. The fundamental frequency of a kick drum actually resides not in the deep bass (where a 15" woofer has a real advantage), but in the midbass. And nothing reproduces midbass like a magnetic-planar driver. Ask anyone who has a pair of Magneplanar Tympani 3-panel (two of the three for bass/midbass only) loudspeakers!

And actually, not just kick drum, but all percussive instruments, including piano and standup bass. The lower registers of a piano, when the keys are struck hard, produces a very percussive attack, as does a standup bass when the strings are "slapped" (as in Rockabilly music). The big Maggie panels produce a taut, kinetic leading edge, and also excel at reproducing the huge, shuddering wavefront created by a pipe organ in a cathedral. Very exciting!

I have 1.7i Maggie's.... I have owned many speakers over 30 + years.
I listen to more rock than ever, it sounds great on the Maggie's!
You may need subs in the mix, depends on your personal listening preferences.

Depends on the size...1.6s and bigger...plenty of bass slam even without a sub...smaller mg12s, MMGs, etc. require a sub for bass dominant material/classic rock...however even larger Maggies have very well-controlled bass which if your coming from a box design that has a warm mid-bass or lower...takes a bit to get used too...but bass is highly subjective...I tend to prefer lean bass over bloated bass
Just to be clear, I didn't hate the 1.7's, they just weren't as good as I thought they were going to be. This may also sound odd, buy the one thing I did like about them was the bass. It was really high quality, well defined and musical. They didn't go that low, but what they did give you was very good. It was that long strip of aluminium that didn't agree with my ears.
Had Maggies for years. They are very good when set up well. BEst for acoustic music and low to medium volume in general. Not a natural fit for harder or more electronic forms of rock music IMHO. I would listen and judge for yourself to decide if they work for you.
"Recent advances in computer assisted design of enclosures has changed the landscape a bit."

Time marches on, unless it doesn't.

I have heard three pairs of Klipsch Heritage speakers all with enclosure designs from 30 years ago. There are kilobuck speakers made today that can't touch them.

As for maggies, I have owned heavily modified 1.6s and stock 3.5s. Both very good. I actually thought the 1.6s did rock better because every time I would crank up Neil Young's Reactor album, I would either blow a fuse or take out a tweeter on the 3.5.

Maggies can rock, but nothing reproduces a kick drum like a 15" driver.

Shakey
Zd, you make a valid point. Recent advances in computer assisted design of enclosures has changed the landscape a bit. That said, 3 years ago I wanted to move away from Maggies and couldn't do it. I could not touch the performance level of the 3.7Rs at even twice the price.

That said, I use them for classical music, where I think the standards for recording quality are generally higher than for rock. If I were a rocker, I would probably want a more forgiving speaker. And yes, you might want something that does a little better below 40 Hz.
I had a pair of 1.7's and thought they were very overrated. I think they built their name a while back when box speakers weren't as good as they are now. If you want to try panels, I think an ESL like Martin Logan is a better choice. I know its a matter of opinion but I likes my ML's much better.
Thanks guys, figured they were not the best for my brand of music but have always been fascinated by what I have read and the loyalty of owners. I do have a dealer relatively close by so I will have to give a listen.

Always have had box speakers - Thiels and Egglestons - probably the polar opposite of Maggies.
They are not that bad with rock but lack the punch in the chest whack of a drum that big box speakers do well. I listen mostly to rock and passed several times on magnepans but they have their good points. You will just have to have a listen.
That's the main genre that I listen to on my MG3.6s. I was also a Magnepan dealer for many years and sold many, many pairs of speakers to rockers. Not hard rock or speed metal or acid type listeners, but regular rock-n-rollers.

They will not play extremely loud without panel slap, but at normal levels, they rock with the best of them.

You could always add a sub and crossover to handle the low end.