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Tossed between the horns Maggie 3A/PSB Gold I

I have been a long time Maggie fanboy, having bought my first pair back in 1982. For the past 12 years I have been using a pair of MG 3A's with a pair of M&K subs. I have continued to keep these in great operational shape and over the past winter I upgrade the caps in the cross-overs, replaced the tired ribbons, rewired the speakers with silver/cooper/teflon wire and remoloxied the diaphragms. I also put new socks on them. Needless to say they sound and look great. I also have Sound Anchor stands; so for all intents and purposes, these speakers have been taken almost as far as they can go.

Recently, I have taken in a pair of PSB Gold I. Generally, I get a second pair of speakers to listen to and play with from time to time. After a short period of time I usually sell off the second pair because they do not provide me with the same sonic enjoyment as the Maggies. However, the PSB are proving to be a bit of a different story.

They are a bit more upfront sounding and have great dynamics at low/medium to low volumes. They throw a good sound stage and when bi-amped and used with subs they have a well defined and deep low end.

My Maggies, on the other hand, have a better high end. The ribbon tweeter can't be bested, in this regard. They also have a more organic sound and throw a larger sound stage. However, you do have to be sitting in the sweet spot to enjoy it. Off axis and everything collapses. The mids are more laid back, which is great for some recordings.

So, that is the good and the not so good about each speaker. I can keep both but would eventually need to sell off one due to limited room and it makes a mess of my listening space.

After another week or so I'm going to throw the Maggies back into use and make my choice, however, I know it is not going to be an easy one.

Ultimately, I am going to use my ears, as I always do, to decide but my question to you, the reader is, "which would you choose?" Please no responses that include it is up to me and let my ears decide. Of course, this is what I am going to do. I want to entertain your thoughts specific to these two choices.

Thanks!!!!
raymonda

Showing 1 response by timrhu

timrhu
2,779 posts
 
I was in a similar situation a couple weeks ago, albeit on a smaller scale. I have a pair of Revel M20s as my mainstay now but am always experimenting with different speakers to spice things up. If I find something that betters the small Revels I would be tempted.
Recently I acquired a pair of Magnepan 1.6s and set them up as a possible contender. Of course the first few days they were sounding wonderful and I was experiencing the planar magic. Huge soundstage (in the sweetspot), great pitch and timbre were my initial impressions. After a about a week I realized the the weaknesses as well, lack of dynamics, a very two dimensional soundstage, and that must be in the sweet spot aspect which I find annoying.
Right now I'm waiting for my grandson to come and pick up his new speakers. He'll blow them up in a couple weeks but as he said to me, "it'll be a good week."
My recommendation is for you to sell the PSBs and find a good used pair of Thiel CS2.3 or 2.4s or a used pair of Vandersteen 2CE signatures as the next contender. I say that having owned the PSB Silvers a few years ago; that tweeter drove me nuts. I've also seen some well priced Revel F30s, but as I've never heard them...
Good luck.
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