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Thinking of Magnepan ... finally!

Until recently, most of my amps have been tube-based with the exception of a few great SS integrateds thrown into the mix for fun. That's probably the main reason I have stayed away from Magnepans (or other speakers of its ilk) thus far. Now that I have an Aavik U-280 integrated amp that can do 300 watts @ 8 ohms and doubles to 600 @ 4, I would love to scratch that itch finally. Keep in mind that I do not intend to get rid of my other speakers (Joseph Audio Perspective2 Graphene, Harbeth SHL5+, Fritz Carrera BE) since I love them all for different reasons. The Magnepans will be rotated in the main listening room with Joseph Audio Perspectives. One thing I like about Maggies is that they are relatively lightweight so I can move them to the closet without breaking my back when not in rotation.

Since I've never owned Magnepans before, I have a ton of questions and doubts. So here we go ...

Bass (or the lack thereof) -- I've been told that the Magnepans are very light on bass and definitely require at least on subwoofer. Is this true in all cases? Anyone using them without subs and happy with the performance? TBH, I really would prefer that I don't use subs but not set in stone for sure.

Breathing Room -- my room is 20' x 15' with 12 foot ceilings. The speakers will be placed along the short wall (15'). I can pull them out by about 4.5 feet from the front wall and 3 feet from the side walls. Seating distance will be approximately 8 - 9 feet. Is this good enough or do you think more distance, especially from the front wall, is required to truly enjoy the speakers?

Mods -- I've also heard that the stock components (crossovers, fuses, etc.) and stands are suboptimal. Is this true? If so, what are the minimum requirements to bring the speaker to a higher standard and at what cost? 

Value -- For someone who is just starting out with Maggies, which model is a good entry point? I know that LRS+ is a good value, but my other speakers are very very good, so I want to do justice to the Maggies as well. But at the same time I don't want to spend more than I need to. Where do you think the sweet spot lies, i.e. which model(s)? I will be looking for used only since I've already spent way too much on other speakers.

Imaging -- I've also been told that imaging on Maggies is not that great. I have never heard Maggies before so I have no idea if this assertion is true or not. Your thoughts?

And finally, I want to hear from folks who love their Maggies. What is that you love most about the speakers? What qualities do they bring to the table that no other speaker does? Are there magnetic planar speakers from other brands that I should also be considering? Keep in mind they have to be readily available in the used market. So please don't suggest something that doesn't meet this requirement.

However, to bring some balance to the feedback, I would also love to hear from those who tried Magnepans and moved on to something else. Why? What was it that you didn't like about them? What did you move on to?

Thanks in advance and a sincere request: Please keep it civil ... no need for haters of Magnepan to use this as an opportunity to diss the brand.

128x128arafiq
arafiq's avatar
arafiq OP
1,665 posts
 

did i stumble into a class d amp thread?

Well, I did mention in the OP that I will be driving the Maggies with a class D amp, so I think that part of the discussion is relevant and not off topic :)

I understand that Magnepan employees cannot possibly test every amplifier under the sun, but it will be beneficial to the audiophile community if they perhaps broaden their horizons a bit more and revisit their stance vis-a-vis class D amps. As we can see on this thread alone, there are several folks who have successfully paired class D with Maggies and are quite happy. Maybe they can pick some top shelf amps from the likes of Atmasphere, AGD, Jeff Rowland, or Aavik for that matter and see what the new (and improved) technology has to offer.

Anyways, regardless of their official stance, I intend to find out how the speakers perform with my class D amp. Hopefully I can find a nice used pair locally. Not much available right now though.

jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,612 posts
 

@arafiq

if your class d amp sounds good with other speakers you have owned and liked, chances are that they will do just fine with maggies

as you know i have a set of agd audions, after trying many other class d amps i did not enjoy, and the agd’s do very well with my 1.7i’s as well as 3.7i’s...

phcollie's avatar
phcollie
342 posts
 

My class D experience using plenty of power from monoblocks was a bust with the 1.7s. They lacked the capacitance to handle abrupt movments/changes and the amps would bail. When I listened to mellow jazz and accoustic they were lovely. 4B3 doesn’t even know they are there. This argument has been debated here for about a decade and my opinion and my experience is that Maggies benefit from substantial capacitance.

 

krelldreams
128 posts
 

@arafiq : There’s a variety of advice here. I’m going to add my own experience, but the absolute most important thing to do is to try what you have access to and decide for yourself. We all have different rooms, and different expectations, so one person’s advice may, or may Not apply to you. I’ve owned six different Magnepan models over the last 36 years, and I’ve experimented with dozens of amplifiers to drive them. Incidentally, I own, and have owned several other brands and types of speakers as well, but for me, the presentation of sound by the Magnepans is my favorite. As some others have advised… watts of power, in and of itself, is not what makes these speakers sound “good”. Amplifiers sound different. Period. So comparing amp A @ 50 w/ch to amp B @ 300 w/ch is only useful (in terms of power) if one is exceeding the limits of the smaller amp. If you’re actually only using 25 watts of power to drive your speakers to the levels at which you listen, it doesn’t matter if an amp has 15 watts more available or 275 watts more available… UNLESS that particular 300 watt amp sounds Better in the range from 0 watts to 25 watts! I personally do not listen to music super loud. I do play it “loud” sometimes, but not to the point where I NEED hundreds of watts. I have compared amplifiers where the model with the lower rated w/ch sounded more powerful than the model with higher rated w/ch. The point is we all “use” our systems our own way. I’m extremely pleased with what I’ve settled on: 3.7s driven by a medium powered tube amplifier (and Yes, I’ve also owned many SS amps with hundreds of w/ch). I use a pair of Speltz autoformers to raise the impedance of the Maggies to better match the amp, but not because it sounded bad, but because I know electrically it’s a better match. Buy the speakers.. use your amp.. let your brain get used to a different (better imo) sound presentation, and decide for yourself. Oh, if you buy new Maggies, let them have time to break in! That’s totally legit… more than any other speaker I’ve used. One more thing: Someone in this thread wrote that he blew six ribbons then quit trying Magnepan. I have had three different models with ribbon tweeters over many years. I frequently play rock music at a fairly loud volume level, but not crazy loud, and I’ve never blown even one ribbon. I remember blowing a fuse once… I replaced it and that was that. This is just my experience and my advice. Ymmv 

mesch
3,481 posts
 

Well this is the 1st day with my new LRS+ speakers. I have them mounted with the  Maggie riser stands. Room as described in a post above.

I am using my Pass XA-25. System is in a averaged sized bedroom well treated.

Driving the amp with my Aric Audio tube preamp which has variable gain which I believe to be set at 16-18 dB. The XA-25 has gain of 20dB.

Volume level not presenting peaks over 90dB. Amp has been on for about 5 hours and I can place my hands on the heat sinks and leave them there.  

I hear no strain from the amplifier. 

I am loving these speakers. It remains for me to continue playing with placement. Right now just enjoying some music.

 

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