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Review: Mye Sound speaker stands Magnepan- MG-20 Tweak

Category: Accessories

In hind sight I have no rational or sane reason why I did not purchase a pair of Mye Sound custom stands for my MG-20's, to replace their stock footers, along time ago. I had read on different websites scores of glowing reviews regarding how the Mye Sound stands dramaticly improved the sonic performance of any Magnepan model. I had never read or heard even one negative comment regarding these custom stands. Well, better late then never.

The Mye Sound stands are beautifully hand built by Grant VanderMye in Kelowna, B.C. Canada. Grant and his wife were a delight to work with and made the purchase a very easy and pleasant experience. If you can handle working with a total of 12 screws/bolts it's a breeze to install these stands on your Maggies. They replace the stock footers with a very heavy and extremely well built stand, which come with very high quality carpet piercing brass points, and a pair of struts which lock the speaker panels into an iron fisted triangle.

I have gone through many upgrades and tweaks over the years, haven't we all, but nothing prepared me for what took place when I placed my dearly loved MG-20's on these stands. The improvement was not subtle or slight but a significant transformational change that brought the already reference level attributes of the 20's to even a higher level. If I had to try to give this a percentage rating I would say at least 25%, which is quite remarkable considering the performance level of the MG-20's with the stock stands to begin with.

Here's the details of what took place sonicly with the Mye Sound stands:

1) I have always found the MG-20's to be sonicly "seamless" and speak with one voice in a very cohesive fashion. With the Mye Stands this quality was taken to even a higher level.

2) The level of transparency/clarity was vastly improved so microdetails and decay trails become more apparent in a very natural/organic way.

3) The location of each individual player became more precise in the soundstage, with greater air around them and a yet still blended in with the rest of the music very naturally.

4) Bass became much faster, more dynamic/powerful, and accurate and blended with the lower midrange in a much more realistic way.

5) Overall timbres became more lifelike in their harmonic structure and tonality.

6) The final change seems the most paradoxical to me. The Mye Stands totally energized and made the MG-20's come "alive" and at the same time made the experience of listening to music through them a more relaxing/emotional situation.

To say I'm enthralled with what the Mye Stands did for the performance of my MG-20's would be an under statement! All this for a total of $600.00. If you own any Maggies, regardless of the model, you really owe it to yourself to put them on Mye Sound stands. My experience now is that you really don't know what sonic performance Magnepans have to offer when used on those dinky stock footers, unless you cement them away from performance killing vibrations with Grant's custom stands!

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teajay
listener614
26 posts
 
Teajay, thank you for the background information. I can't audition the stands and so I need to know, ideally, the theory and development behind them, as well as the experience of others. As a college student, I once bought a pair of Tympani IC's sight unseen. Big mistake. To this day, I rarely buy a component without hearing it first. But, by understanding a product's history, I can much better evaluate it. Thanks again.

Theaudiotweak's post asserts that if the maggie frame is held rigidly the diaphrams are more efficient. That makes sense to me. (Incidently, there are horizontal struts across the maggie frames for a similar purpose. These can become loosened. Magnepan recently tightened mine when replacing socks.)

Yes, I thought the Mye stands were "pricey". It didn't help when I read a review stating the stands were $305 only to discover that they were, 18 months later, $500, and a year later roughly $650. When you read a great review then go to the site to buy only to find the product is twice what you expected, it takes the steam out of the purchase. Reading all these other great reviews changed my mind again. Anyway, some people think everything I spend on Audio is crazy!
cwlondon
1,210 posts
 
Listener614

Do you have any agenda or commercial affiliations which might bias your views or prompt you to scrutinize any praise of the MYE stands?

I am just curious, because Grant is pretty universally well reviewed, and I also note that that you have enthusiastically jumped into this discussion in what is registered as your first thread.

But as an owner of 3.6s and former owner of Typanis, you certainly don't sound like a "newbie".

In any case, welcome to Audiogon.

I too can confirm the dramatic improvement of the MYE stands which I use on my Tympani IVa's, as well as the good value and no BS service of Mr VanderMye.

cwlondon
listener614
26 posts
 
I'm an analyst by trade. NO affiliations. Might the stands compensate for loose struts?
cwlondon
1,210 posts
 

I am not an analyst or an engineer.

Intuitively, however, I would think that the stands do at least two things:

1) Couple the speaker to the floor with more weight using the stands and the spikes, and

2) Significantly increase the rigidity of the Magneplanar frames surrounding the drivers

My impressions may be entirely explained by the placebo effect and have no scientific justification.

But it seems to me that minimizing or elminating any front to back movement of the panels would greatly reduce "smearing", increase bass and clarity and bring any number of other sonic benefits as described above.

Although not related to the sound, it is also nice to know that Magneplanars might not be knocked over so easily by a pre schooler, or any friends who drink more than 1 martini.

Look forward to your thoughts as an analyst.

cwlondon
listener614
26 posts
 
Mye Stands reviews are glowing. Especially by those who have a financial stake in them. I.e., once you pay for them, they had better work, or your decision to buy sound unheard is discredited. Very uncomfortable feeling. Understandably resisted.

Perhaps if there were a "try and buy" option for the stands?
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