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
Cwlondon...It's really the same debate about hanging speakers by chains from the ceiling, and whether the music will cause them to swing to and fro. I did an experiment about that, and music doesn't move them at all. However, if the wind blows or you bump them they will swing for quite a long time. My Maggies, if they are disturbed about 3/4 inch by hand the oscillation damps out in about 15 seconds.
Having just recently purchased and installed Mye Stands on my 20.1s I too am a believer in what they do for the speakers. What I am curious about is - what are you all using to weight them down in back? I discussed with Grant the possibility of having low profile metal boxes made to fit and match the framework but the cost was prohibitive in comparison to other options. Currently I am using a pair of concrete flower pots (86 lbs each - low WAF )but the whole set-up really cries out for something more asthetic!! Besides I think the flower pots could be creating some reflective distortion - not sure about that since I don't have an alternative to compare.

BTW, I also purchased three custom-built amp stands from Grant - they fit my Krell's perfectly and look great!! We used 1.5 inch maple for the plinth. I didn't see the stands in Grant's latest website though.
Everything is modulated from either it's own inneraction or from some outside source. Motion is endless, as is the modulated distortion that results. Try hanging a stationary hat on that. Tom
Theaudiotweak...What??? Perhaps "inneraction" means something. One minor problem with any speaker is that higher frequencies, say 200 Hz, are being launched from a cone or diaphram that is vibrating at, say, 80 Hz. That 80 Hz vibration is far and away more than any credible movement of the entire speaker system.