Yeah, agree with Shakey -- Maggies sound awful before burn-in. Apparently it's the thermal cycling that limbers things up.
Rjohnson, the word from Magnepan is that while the Minis can be used in a small room they're basically designed to be desktop speakers and won't perform as well as the full-sized models in a large one. For home theater, the on-walls are often a good choice.
I haven't yet heard the Minis myself but from what I've read, you get a very three dimensional image but you may have to pull the desk out from the wall to get the best imaging, as with any speaker early reflections from the wall behind them can reduce the sense of space. |
Maggies can sound very disappointing right out of the box, glad you gave them more time.
Shakey |
Jataro- do you use these in a home theatre system or with your computer? Also do you get a decent 3D image from them? |
So I thought I'd post an update to the thread in case someone in the future sees has a similar issue. I decided to ride it out a little bit and put some more time on the speakers. After another one hundred hours the speakers broke in and that top end burn went away. I still have the 1 ohm resistor in but may take it out in the future. I also raised them up so they were more at ear level when seated. I also added an old subwoofer which had been going unused. Overall time was the most important thing as they seemed to need 200-300 hours to break in. Raising them helped ~20% and I'd say the addition of a sub accounted for another 20% of the improvement. I'm very happy with them and would now really recommend them. |
As a former Maggie owner (Lover), take my advice and get get your money back. It aint worth the headache, time or $$$ involved to make a Maggie sound acceptable. |
According to the Magnepan website, the Mini is has very well defined setup assumptions. They are intended as a desktop, near field system. Magnepan even cautions that most dealers won't have them properly displayed. |
After being impressed in store I demoed the 12QR in my system. Tried all the tricks recommended by members here to tame that irritating sound. After ten days I gave up and returned the speakers.
They simply weren't to my taste. |
Put in a higher value resister. My MMG's needed more than the ones supplied as I can recall. They sounded fine after that. |
Get the Polk Lsi15. They have never been accused of clogging ears. |
1) my 1.7's took about 3 months to fully break in
2)I found power connector and interconnects contributed to edge. Audioadvisor has a Pangea power cable and Black Mamba II interconnect combo that I'm very happy with (although I do like the PS Audio jewel power cable more)
3) make sure amp and speakers aren't on same piece of furniture, you could have feedback issues
if remedying these doesn't work, borrow a better source and don't be surprised if you have an "ah ha" moment. |
I'm not familiar with the "mini", but after looking them up, and seeing how small they are, I'm wondering if you're listening to them more near field in your office than you did at the dealer. Is there any way you can move back away? I have a pair of Monsoon plainers on my computer, they don't sound "right" unless I move well back from the desk they are on. I don't listen critically to them much (really only NPR news & YouTube), so it doesn't bother me, but they really CAN sound good if I just roll my chair back a few feet. |
Maggies REQUIRE rear diffusion and space. That little ribbon can be too much of a good thing too. A resistor is an easy fix. |
you always want to demo speakers in your environment using your equipment. i would suggest a more powerful amp. the peachtree unit is not that powerful. demo an integrated amp that has 200 watts of power: audio research, mcinstosh, classe, etc.. or a nice powerful tube amp and see if that makes the speakers sing. |
|
Thank you for all of the responses. In terms of power the dealer (who is willing to take them back and is a class act all the way) is using an arcam mini to power them (25wpc) and they sound great. I also checked with peachtree and their R&D guy told me he knew of a dealer who was doing this (otherwise he said he would've told me it wouldn't work). Just for kicks I tried a proamp that I have (1000WPC stable into 4ohm, needed minimal gain) and there was no change. I will double check the speaker wires. In terms of room acoustics I live in a rental place and major changes will not be live in girlfriend approved. I could try something behind the maggies but I thought they needed space? I'll also try leaving them on all day/night now. |
couple things...poor recordings will be just that...secondly..some find maggies and similiar speakers too fatiguing due to too much resolution(compared to their old speakers), phase/coherence issues, etc..really shine on vocals, acoustic, small jazz ensembles, string quartet, etc |
I'm thinking its the Peachtree. Can you try a high power rig just as a test? |
Absorption or diffusion behind the speakers. But most importantly, I'm wondering if you need more power? What were they demo'd on at the dealer. I heard their prototypes several years back demo'd with Bryston 28 amplifiers (very powerful). None of us could believe what was coming out of those tiny speakers! |
from my experience Maggies have a lot of high freq energy
try ficus trees right next to the speakers
keep the speakers away from the walls if possible
try warm wire, AZ copper cables are quite good and of course Cardas are a popular choice
good luck |
This is a wild guess and something you've probably already checked out, but it kind of sounds like the speakers might be hooked up out of phase. Any chance that's the case?
-Bob |
Most panel speakers require alot of break-in. Maggies are no different. Give them some time. I'd say 200 hours or so, (maybe even more). |
A number of tweeks you could try. Cables both IC and Speaker, re-positioning to take away a direct aim(both angleLR and up-down), room acoustics. If your dealer will take them back, that may be the ulimate solution. |
Have you made the necessary rooms acoustic changes needed when listening to the Maggie's? |
