Trying Magnepans, need advice

I've got the 1.6 Maggies. Love'em. I will say this, positioning them properly is everything. When we're not listening to them my wife likes to keep them about 2' away from and parallel to the wall. Ok for background music but not serious listening. In our case they need to at least 3' from the wall and tilted in about 15 degrees toward the listener. Also, we found having the ribbon tweeters on the inside rather than the outside sounds better....fishing555

Get the MMGs and a sub.

Thanx, Russ

I agree about the tweeter resistors. In most average rooms, I feel maggies will produce too much treble energy, and needs to be balanced out. The purists will tell you to use positioning and room treatments to balance out the response, but that's not always feasable. I feel Magnepan purposely makes the treble a bit hot, to account for dead rooms, as it's always better to have to attenuate a tweeter, as opposed to trying to attenuate a power hungry woofer.

MMG's should be fine in your small room, but you will need to consider break-in and room matching (tweeter resistor), for best results. Cable choice can also play an important role. Adding a smallish, good quality sub (or two) would be icing on the cake.

01-28-10: AudioconnectionThe biggest mistake with Magies is some just folks dont realize that simply installing the correct resistor for the tweeter output for the given room is a must.When properly adjusted with either nothing,a 1/2 ohm a 1.2 ohm or 2 ohm resistors I have rarely had an issue dialing them in I remember them working in a a 9.5 x 15 with great results.Could it be that these well intended mis guided information volunteers and self appointed expert know betters are also non manual readers as well.Cheers Johnny

He is right. The right resistor is everything. I bought every resistor from .22 t 3ohm from parts express. Dialed in at .27 in my room. (Only $12 for every size!). Then I ordered the Mills .27 resistor, so I had a high quality version. This is the way to try them all.

I ran MMGs for a while in a room that size with excellent results. It sounds like you have a dedicated room which is key and actually gives you better options than a larger shared space.

I would (did) run them in the nearfield with a sub well away from the room boundaries. You will get a wide an craaaazy deep soundstage with good imaging and tone. Plus nearfield will take your almost square (bad) room mostly out of the equation. I am thinking speakers 3-4 for apart and you the same distance away. Keep speakers pulled well into the room.

I think you would be in for a real treat.