Magnepan front stage but other surrounds? (1 Viewer)

[Charles J P]

But it still goes back to the fact that while 5 identical, full range speakers would be the most ideal, most people cant swing that, so we make sacrifices and use a horizontal center and small sized surrounds. Using a different brand and hoping they blend well is just the next step along that sacrifice. I honestly would be worried if I still had Paradigm Mini-Monitors for surrounds, but the Mirage Omni FXs are so good...

 

[Jack Gilvey]

I don't feel that looking at it as a "percentage of soundtrack" conveys the importance of the surrounds, just as I don't subscribe to the notion that, since deep bass is only present for a short duration (again, "percentage of soundtrack") in movies, a great sub is superfluous. This stuff, when present, is put there for a reason, reproducing it helps tell the story.
Now, as I stated, I don't really feel that the quality/matching of the surrounds is as important as for the L/C/R, but I do feel that their presence is worthwhile.
The quote I used mentioned "any sort of surround sound experience", but multichannel music makes much greater use of the surrounds than soundtracks, and their inclusion is a must. Listening solely to the surrounds on something like the "Dark Side of The Moon" 5.1 SACD reveals a ton of info, most of it exclusively in the surrounds. I feel that, for music, the matching and quality is more important.

 

[Charles J P]

Good point Jack.

 

[AlanZ]

Jack:

Are you thinking about jumping up to the 1.6s, or going to stick with the MMGs? And did you not like the MMG-Ws as mains, or as surrounds?

 

[Jack Gilvey]

I don't have the MMG's anymore, and I don't have enough room for the 1.6's. I was thinking about the MC1 since a wall mount would be the only Magnepan that'd really work in my room setup. I didn't like the MMG-W as mains, so I didn't even try them at surround.

 

[AlanZ]

Yeah, as much as I love the MMG-Ws for surrounds, I don't think I'd want them as mains either. If you give the MC1's a try I hope you'll post your thoughts about them......I'd be interested to hear your take on them.

 

[Alan Bakken]

I got my MMG's as a final choice. Its not that I wouldn't like a larger maggie, its that I can't afford it. I'm perfectly happy with my MMG's. They are sooooo detailed, and they sound 'big'. Its kind of hard to describe, but it feels like you're there. I've never gotten that feeling from any other speaker before. With reguards to the trade in program, if you buy the mmg's, you have 120 days to get a full refund on some 1.6's. After that, you've got the rest of a year to get $400 trade in on the 1.6's.

 

[Eric:F]

maggies are large for surrounds. however most commercial surrounds aren't a good timber match for the planar sound.
i've read that a lot of maggie owners go to some sort of ribbon design for surrounds.
i'm in a similar situation in that my mains are Salk HTS-MTMs with ribbon tweeters. for surrounds i went with Optimus PRO LX5s (ebay). they have the famous Lineum dipole ribbon tweeter. LX5s have that airy/ethereal sound, characteristic of planars and ribbons. as a bonus, they look cool, are small and easy to mount, and cost

 

[ZidankB]

Well Charles, you and me are in complete reversed situation. I owned a pair of MMG for 3 years. At first it sounded wonderful but then I became disappointed with its HT and music performance. I bought a pair of Mirage Omni 260, and wow it sounds great and much better than the MMG. I posted a FS ad for the MMG and the I bought new fuses on the day of transaction. Put the MMG back in the system for one last test. And I realized I have listened to the MMG without tweeters for more than 2 years. This was the sound I remembered when I bought it. Owning both the Mirage Omni 260 and MMG, I can say that Omni 260 play a bit louder but dialog during movie sound coarse as you turn the volum up (I have 205w/channel). The Omni sound great for music, I find that vocal are more smoother than MMG. For movie, I definitely enjoyed the MMG more.

To make the story short, I returned the Mirage and sold the MMG to buy a pair of Magnepan MG12 because I hope the MG12 will have an edge over MMG for vocal in music.

 

[Charles J P]

Well, at this point, I'm working through some of the issues that I'm having with the Mirages before I do anything. I'm moving this summer and will be going from a 13x16 room to a 22x38 room. That's bound to create some differences in sound. I'm also really only concerned about the sound for 2 channel, so again, before I go doing something that could impact both stereo and movie surround performance, I'm thinking about trying to tweak JUST the 2 channel. Right now that includes potentially creating a seperate 2ch front end electronics wize while using the same speakers for both systems. This could involve manually changing cables to use some tube amps for stereo, etc. I'm still investigating my options, but I appreciate the help even if I dont end up getting the Maggies.