What Does a Ribbon Lover Do for 2nd Room Speakers? (1 Viewer)

I'm looking for a pair of speakers for my family room. It will be used a good deal for TV sound, as most of my casual TV viewing is in this room instead of in the HT room. My wife will use them for her casual music listening (she's afraid to touch the main system ).

I'd love to keep the expenditure reasonable, hopefully less than $800. My problem is that I'm spoiled by the ribbon sound. Even though the use of these speakers is far from critical listening, I'm having a hard time dealing with what I perceive to be the shortcomings of the "box" speaker relative to my primary mains, based on some recent auditions (IMO, the biggest gap is in the midrange, probably lower part).

So, I'd like to hear what others have done in a similar situation. Any suggestions for a speaker? It's hard to find inexpensive ribbons, especially ones that cover a fairly wide freq range. What about the Maggie MMGs, which Magnepan offers direct for $550/pair? Width may be an issue for my room, but do they sound good? How much juice do they need? My old Pioneer DPL receiver is rated (in the manual) at a continuous average power output of 105W/ch (8 ohms at 20Hz-20KHz) and does support a 4 ohm speaker load. Realistically, though, I rarely expect to play these speakers loud.

BTW, I will probably get a sub for the room as well, although likely not near term. No need to recommend a sub at this time.

Thanks.

Doug

If you can live only with the ribbon sound then the magnepan mmgs for 550 will be hard to beat. They also have 60 day return policy ( less shipping ) so you can't go wrong. Also keep in mind that you can also find the mmg used for about 350-400. Getting a sub down the line will help out alot. The mmg's just do not go low, they are rated down to 50 hertz and really roll off hard below that. The only other sub 800 ribbon speakers I can think of are (for used) apogee's or eminent technology lft-viii and (new) monsoon. Keep in mind other than the mmg, these companies use a hybrid design to cover the low frequency range. Hope this helps.

Dave

Doug,
I have a pair of MMG's that I have run with a 80wpc Sony receiver. Used to get a little warm, but worked fine. Go for it!

Thanks for the info guys.

Joe, for some reason I had the impression that the Maggies you have in your family room were a larger model than the MMGs. I guess it's a testament to the MMGs that you can live with them just fine given the superior Maggies you have in the basement.

Thanks.

Doug

You might check VMPS speakers. They make ribbon speakers, I haven't heard them (yet)but they have had some really good user reviews.

Doug,
Indeed, they are MMG's. They were the speakers that forced me to the 3.6's. Another testament to the MMG's is thier durability; they've been SLAMMED to the ground by the occassional errant hip countless times and still sing away. One point to note is that I do use a sub with them, although it was approximately a full year after buying them that I added the sub.

Beware of used Apogees just go Maggies. Apogees usuall are difficult loads. Their impedance curve is not flat and they do go below 2 Ohms, which will not be to the liking of 99.9% of the receivers (and some expensive amplifier by the way).

Maggies present close to a constant impedance to the Amp. Difficult to beat at their respective price point vide the 3.6 vs most sub $4k or many 10K speakers, for that matter.

Frantz
Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Actually, you might want to go HERE VERY soon and see if you can get in on the Leisure2 speakers. It will take a while for them to get here, but they are only $530 shipped and apparently use the same drivers as some Red Rose speaker that retails for $3500. And they are ribbons! The thing officially closed yesterday, but you might be able to get your order in today anyway.

Aren't red rose speakers the ones that are imported from China, messed with in undisclosed ways, and resold at ten times their origional cost in the states? I saw a thread on this a while back...


Edit: Yep. Leisure 2's are the speakers Red Rose was rebadging.

i really like your pink room

Hi Doug,

I just picked up this new line and they might be worth looking at.

http://www.wraithspeakers.com/specs.html

Cheap ribbons are hard to find. even the cheapest VMPS lists for $1580.

Regards,