What speakers can make a convert of Maggie lovers?

SoundLab

As a huge Maggie fan I agree with Greg on the shortcomings of the Maggies. I had Maggie 3.3 and 3.5 and they were so incredibly musical but Greg nails it with their weaknesses. His comments are not absurd at all as they are relative to other speakers as noted.

It is interesting that Greg describes the pinpoint imaging of Proac speakers. I would describe the Proac 2.5 as the most pinpoint-imaged speakers I tried in my room when I borrowed many speakers from 3 different dealers here in Minneapolis. This was initially impressive and yet it did not sound natural as musicians occupied almost no space; I knew exactly where they were and yet they were a point, not a 3-dimensional object. It did not matter as the Proac 2.5s had a tonality that was all over the darn place which made them way too unacceptable anyway. Perhaps the Proac 3.5 are a different matter in this regard. There will always be tradeoffs and for me, the Maggies at that time were the clear winner in sheer terms of musical enjoyment over the many speakers I had tried in the $3-4k range.

When I changed from Maggie 3.5 to SoundLab A1 speakers, it was very evident how much more low-level information existed in the music that I had missed for many years. The Maggies are good but now with the SoundLab, it's a whole new world of detail at low and high sound levels. Until we hear something, we do not know what we have missed; and once we hear it, it is darn tough to go back. This describes the Maggie-to-SoundLab transition I made early last year.

And on the issue of diffused imaging, with the Maggies, you can not walk around the room and expect the performance (images) to be in their same locations. This also results in very different tonality as you walk around. You can walk across the back of the room with the SoundLab and everything stays much in place. This is very impressive.

I would add one additional weakness of the Maggie as bottom-octave extension. They do fairly well but against the SoundaLab, it's not even close. Just the difference in the amount of air moved is significant.

John

"I believe panels had their advantages back in the 80's ad 90's but top cone speakers have surpassed them today."

That's one heck of a bold statement with the Magnepan MG12's as a reference to judge all other panel speakers. And what exactly is a top cone speaker model? .... Avalon, Vandersteen, Wilson, or ...... gasp, the Spendor?

A more realistic comparison to have been made before such a blanket statement would be the Spendor to the 3.6.

I too have found the Spendor products over the years to be excellent. But to compare a $3k+ Spendor to a $1k Magnepan is kinda silly. After owning the 3.3 and 3.5 Magnepans (the series 1 and 2 did nothing for me) for 6 years, I know that these speakers excel in areas that the Spendors do not and vice versa.

And if you're listening to the Maggies with a solid state amp like the Brystons, you are not hearing the Maggie magic. A speaker can not ultimately be judged on its own...its interface to the amplifier is critcial.

The problem with Maggies is that they need to be pushed a little to be awakened and play their magic. They are not a good choice for low-level listening as their dynamics and resolution just don't getting going at such levels. It is this ultimate lack of dynamics that always had me wanting to change....but then so much is lost when going to a box speaker at anywhere near the cost.

Since owning Maggies, I have moved onto SoundLab A1s ..... another panel speaker. These are in a whole different sonic class than the Spendors .... but then again, they are 5x the cost. And they do not have the Maggie limitations described above.