Maggie update - Page 19

M, Disagree with me all you want. The important thing is that I just ordered another Avalanche 18 in addition to the one I ordered yesterday. So, nanner, nanner, nanner.

Now I need to find an amp to drive the things. I need a stereo amp with ~500W/channel @ 8 Ohm (cheap - new/used). I'd like one with auto on/off like the M-200s. Anyone have any ideas?

Dean (Here on in known as Boom Boom)

John:

In answer to your question. Yes, I find the SV Sub line to be very fast, musical and detailed in every way. I find them to be this way no matter what I throw at them from music to movies. There again I am not running maggies in my system so I bow to the experiences of Dean and P.

I think that maggies being so transparent in nature that breathe sound into a room (instead of just keeping the sound localized to each particular speaker) that any type of ported sub is going to have its waveforms somewhat muddied by the maggies. (I think it would be a cool experiment to find out why that is).

Another thing to consider would be a pair of the SV PB10 subs. They have smaller ports and don't push as much air so you might be able to get them "tuned" into your setup and give you the results you are looking for.

Just an idea.

6

Dean:

So you are going to have 6 18's in your IB? Damn man. Or are you going to build another IB to put in the back of the room?

I would check out Outlaw for B Stock M-200s for the amps.

6

No, four 18s, not six. I only had two in the beginning.
Even so, I'm betting my neighbors will be calling me, Boom Boom (or worse).
I thought about the M-200s, but according to Chad I'd need four of them to drive the subs well. That would run me ~$1000 for the B stocks, and I don't have room for them in my EC anyway. What I think I'd like to have is two of the 1000W BASH amps like SVS uses, and make some spiffy wooden cases for them.

Hamsters? Hell, I've got six dogs. What do I need hamsters for?

hi all. Thought I'd give the new guys opinion. I've got MMG's and I recently picked up a paradigm seismic 10 sub. It took a bit to get set up with the maggies, but it sounds great with music and movies.

M:

Yet another thing in common. I have a Gordon Setter.

Dean:

Sorry, I thought the IB had 4 already in it. I could give Ron an email about the Bash amps if you want.

6

M, I had three dogs and she had three dogs when we moved in together, so now we're sort of the white trash version of the Brady Bunch in our neighborhood.

6, I gave up on the BASH amp idea after looking at the specs of some of them. I would need too many of them. I think I'm going to bite the bullet and look for a used Crown K2. It has no fan and it has the auto on/off.

Dean M. and Alan P. - Thank you for the words of warning concerning matching ported subs to my beloved Maggies. Much appreciated.

Parker C. - (6?) - Thanks for the perspective. I had indeed been thinking of a pair of PB-10's. Now I'm not so sure after all those comments on ported subs and Maggies not getting along well. I guess I'm back to the Vandersteen 2Wq, the ACI Titan II, or the ML Depth... or maybe one of those up front to blend with the Maggies and an SVS or Paradigm Servo 15 hooked to the LFE output just for movies... hmmmm.

MikeNi - I think you may be on to something. I can't quite decide whether to use a pair of 2Wq's or Titan II's, hooked up as left and right channel subs... or to do as I stated above (and as you seem to be thinking of doing), and use one sub to reinforce my main speakers and a second for the low frequency effects. Decisions.... decisions.

By the way, you get a gold star Mike. JohnMAN and John Mannix are one and the same. I'm not even sure how I got the second log-on, other than spacing out one day and signing up all over again. Somehow I got logged in under that moniker last time on.

Thanks guys.

They should be happy, they have their own air conditioned room and a fenced acre to amuse themselves. I should have it so good.

M:

My wife had the Gordon when I met here 7 years ago. She got the dog as a show dog but he has droopy eyes so she never did show him. He is a bruiser at 110 lbs and stomps through the house from room to room brushing over anything in his pass.

John:

Number 6 from The Prisoner. Good luck with subwoofer hunting.

Howdy All,

Well my basement is finally finished...now I am waiting on my preamp to be returned from Underwood HiFi where I had sent it to be modified!!

I have my eyes set on a Music Hall CD-25 cdp modified by Sound Odyssey. I am really looking forward to getting my system back up, and I think some of my recent upgrades should make a big improvement in the sound.

I can already hear a difference in the acoustics of my room with the new ceiling in place. I will keep you posted!!

Edit: I just pulled the trigger on an Onyx XCD-88 CDP modified (level 1+) by Underwood HIFi. It is the exact same player as the Music Hall CD-25, both of which are made by Shanling. It should arrive next week along with my preamp!!

P:

I look forward to seeing the pictures.

6

Hey guys....

Been a while since I posted, but that's cause I was afraid of the fallout of telling you what I decided to do with my system....

As much as I love my Maggies, I made the decision to upgrade. I sold my MMGs and MMGWs and replaced them with Martin Logan Claritys up front and four frescos around the sides and back. I'm really happy with the upgrade, and I don't see myself going back to Maggies ever again.



Okay, just kidding....sorry, I'm in a mood The only thing about the MLs that I'm envious of is the way they look. Other than that, Maggies are much better in almost every area to these ears I've actually been tying up some loose ends from my divorce last year and it's been kind of a painful thing, so I just haven't been in the mood to talk HT. But that's behind me now and I just took a new fockering position that should be enough of an increase in pay that I can start keeping pace with more of you guys I dont' think I'll be able to give P a run for his money with the number of changes he's making, but hopefully I"ll have enough flexibility to make similar changes as the rest of you.

I'm 90% certain that my next upgrade is going to be a Sanyo Z3 projector and Carada screen. I'm expecting that to run me somewhere around $2500. Hopefully that will be slated for the end of July. After that I really want to find a way to go to 7.1, so I'm going to take some pics of the room and hopefully you guys can help me figure out where on the side of my room I can fit another pair of Ws. I'm also toying with the idea of going with the MC1x4 configuration across the front of the room - two for the center and two for the mains. I think this may solve some of my off-center seating issues, cause I've been having more people over for movie time as of late. That will primarily depend on the width of the Carada screen I get, cause I wouldn't want the inside and outside pairs on top of each other. But I'll eventualy get some pics going and maybe you guys can help me out.

Anyhooo, that's my update. Glad to see there have been some more contributors to this thread lately! The more the merrier

Boy was my head fockered up when I read that!!

I too hope to get some pics up soon!!

Nice to hear from you Z!!

P, Any plans to upgrade to the 3.6s any time soon? I'm hoping for a pair by the end of the year, but it looks like I may have to go back to w-o-r-k (ugh!) to get them.

Z, It's great to hear from you. I've been wondering where you disappeared to.

Nothing much new to report here. I've been on the road for the past couple of days, and I'm now sitting in CT visiting with relatives.
I'm waiting to hear from Outlaw about the 990, hopefully it'll be soon. It looks like they're up to May 19, and I signed up May 22. My pair of Avalanche 18s should be delivered by the end of the month. In the meantime, I've been trying to decide what amp to use to drive all four of them. I think I might have it narrowed down to the Crown K-2 or a pair of ADA-1200 sub amps from Adire Audio. Whichever way I go, I think I'm going to have to install a couple of dedicated circuits for my HT stuff. I can hardly wait to get up in the attic and crawl around in the fiberglass insulation in bazillion degree heat.

Ah...fiberglass and sweat. What a wonderful combination.

6

I'll be itching for days.

Has anyone else gotten to order a 990 yet? I got back home just in time to order mine yesterday.

Dean

I paid for mine yesterday, and it should be shipping this week. With the 990 and the Avalanche 18s coming at about the same time, it's going to be almost like Xmas around here.

Dean:

I am looking forward to reading what you think of the 990. I know that Steve Simon really likes his.

6

John:
I have been hoping for a used 2WQ but the only one to pop up on Audiogon was snatched immediately...

I have been talking to Dr. Hsu (Hsu Research) about the Vandersteen 2WQ and his comment about their approach with the 2WQ was: "They try to get the bass from a signal where the bass has already been rolled off. That greatly increases noise." He looked at what I am trying to do and has recommended the HSU VTF3 MK II (of course ) with a Behringer feedback destroyer. Given his expertise in subwoofers, I am currently investigating the Hsu/Behringer.

I'll report back.

6, I'll keep you posted. According to all of the posts I've read, it seems that everyone who has received one to date has been pleased with the SQ, so I'm very optimistic. Surprisingly, the only negatives I've read so far are from folks who haven't seen or heard one, and many of them have been quite vocal and nasty about their opinion. I'll have to be careful about what I say about the 990 I guess. Those folks could hurt my feelings if I had any.

Dean-O: I think I had your pre/pro confused with someone elses, cause I thought you had a 950 and were upgrading to the 990. I would be willing to bet that if you are comparing this to something clearly 'less' than the 950, you'll be pretty happy with the 990. I remember the first film I played though my 950 was the Bourne Identity a few years ago. I had upgraded from an Outlaw 1050 receiver and outboard Parasound HCA-855 amp. The biggest difference I noticed was great resolution of detail and much better integration of the surrounds. If the 990 improves those areas even more, I think it'll be a stellar unit.

Z, Yep, you cornfused me with someone else, which is understandable. I often confuse myself with someone else too.
I've been using my Denon 3802 as a pre/pro, and I'm sure that I'll be happy with the 990. I probably won't be able to tell the difference between it and a unit costing thousands more, and I can't justify spending more on something that will probably be outdated/obsolete in a few years.

Dean: I hear ya.....my Outlaw gear is the only thing that's really stood the test of time. Of course, so far the test of time is only two years, but that's longer than I've kept anything else! My Denon 2900 has held up well too, though. I've had that about two years and still love it. I'm hoping to get another two years out of it. Anyway, I feel as you do....no sense spending more on a pre/pro that may not have any discernable difference - at least not one worth the extra money spent. I think with Maggies the money is better spent on the speakers and the amp(s).

By the way, I start my new job on Monday, so hopefully by about the third paycheck I'll be nabbing some new gear and I'll have more to contribute to the thread than just all this babbling I do currently

PS. Who was it that had the 950 then? M? P?