Magnepan MMG's (1 Viewer)

[Stephen_Ponte]

Hello.

I've been quite interested in the $550 'factory direct' price that Magnepan has on their MMG speakers.

Was wondering if any of you have had any personal experience with the MMG's?

I work for an audio engineering firm ( www.dlcdesignaudio.com 'the DUMAX people' ), and we have a set of very old 'maggies' from about 15 years ago, and I absolutely LOVE them. Then again, they are heavily equalized, and have 4 Hafler 220 amps on them. There is no way that I can get to a dealer and listen to the MMG's, since Magnepan wants you to only get them factory direct.

I COULD build my own towers for very cheap, but I simply don't have time to do so. This is why the Magnepan's really stuck out to me - simple, and cheap.

I'm well aware of the Magnepan's lack of efficiency, and of their moderate bass response. But these do not bother me, as I have plenty of power, and have 4 8" woofers to handle 40-100Hz.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

I believe that the MMG is easily the best $550 speaker there is. A DIY dipole might surpass it for that budget, maybe. Almost always need a sub, but the bass they do produce is of the highest quality due to the dipole radiation.
As far as their "power-hungry" nature, I used them quite happily with a 35wpc NAD 314 integrated.

 

[Mark Leitch]

The MMG is nice (I owned some) but I would save my money and get a mint pair of IIIa's (or up in the 3 series) for not a lot more money on the used market.

As for blending in your woofers... good luck... it is not an easy task with maggies (I went through a few iterations).

M.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

I couldn't agree more with jack I still miss my maggies

 

[Jack Gilvey]

As for blending in your woofers... good luck... it is not an easy task with maggies (I went through a few iterations).

Dipole subs work best, but rarely provide the SPL/impact that HT owners look for because they don't excite enough room modes...too clean.

 

[Phil A]

The MMGs are an excellent value for the money. In the last "Sound and Vision" issue an ad indicated that they will have a matching center and surrounds as well. They are not as hard to drive as other Maggie models too. I would however recommend with any Maggie if you play stuff at decent levels to look into the Sound Anchor stands rather than the feet they give you with the speaker. I think they run $150.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

In the last "Sound and Vision" issue an ad indicated that they will have a matching center and surrounds as well.

Wow, very cool. Are these specifically for the MMG?

 

[Haru]

I have owned two pairs of MMGs. They were at once charming and infuriating. They need to be positioned correctly, and I found what worked best for me was to place them far away from side walls and the wall behind them, toed in toward my listening chair (a very minimalistic thing. no heavy padding or large absorbtive area), the chair also far away from walls. Done correctly, the sound on many recordings was just breathtaking. The upper end was rolled off, as was the bottom end, but what was there was simply magical. THe sound had a rich, silken texture to it that is unlike anything you will find at anywhere near that price. The airiness, the quick witted microdynamics, all were just exquisite.

The problem was that the range of competence of the MMG was far narrowed than my needs. Loius Armstrong and Annie Lennox sounded great, but dynamically complex music like Dark side of the Moon or orchestral Beethoven was simply not adequately performed. The speakers got muddled and compressed sounding when the music demanded that they sing. And boy are they inefficient. Stereo Review measured 83db/w/m. And I'll believe it. I blew out the MMG's fuses on many occasions. my hafler 105wpc power amp, which had impressed me mightily with its performance and which remains one of my favorite components, would clip like mad even in a smallish room. With a 250wpc amp, they still wouldn't sing. The MMG simply can't do more than modest output levels.

At the time I had a pair of B&W 602s, and though they didn't have that magical surrealism of the MMGs, were so far ahead of the maggies in the breadth of their competence that I ended up listening to them 80% of the time, except when I was in the mood for something the MMGs did well.

And there you have it. exquisite at what they do well, but they don't do too much well. They are best on music that doesn't have too much happening, and doesn't have large dynamic demands.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Bottom line? Try them yourself. They are Maggies for a small room...pretty obvious in that they're the small model. Like I said, they worked fine with my NAD 314 in a 12' x 13' room on all music (including a spectacular presentation of DSOTM ). Big music in a big room demands bigger models.
Placement is important, but I actually found them more forgiving than any box speaker I've had in that they were free of bass anomolies/room effects.

 

[Jack Dotson]

I'll let you know my experiences some time next week. I ordered a pair of the MMG's today. I heard the 1.6's and 3.6's at an audio dealer about a week or so ago and was blown away. However, I use my living room for HT/music and have a large screen T.V with a entertainment center that flanks it. Therefore, I'm not sure what kind of results I can get from the Maggie's in my room. I can get them out 3' from he rear and side walls, but it's the T.V./entertainment center that will be inbetween them that has me worried. They will actually sit out a bit further into the room than the front of the entertainment center, but it's still there. Figured I will try these and if they don't work all I'm out is shipping money. I don't expect them to play too loud or to have great bass extension. But, I've also ordered a SVS sub, so I intend to see how well I can mate it to the little Maggies as well. If I can get anywhere near the performance I heard at the dealer, I will put my PSB Gold's up for sale and go for the 1.6's (until I can afford the 3.6's). Anyhow, I'll post my results when everything arrives. On a side note, I also upgraded my PSB Center channel speaker to the C6i, but UPS lost it. I live in TX and two days ago they were trying to deliver it in Michigan. They still can't locate it. Kind of has me worried because I've been tracking my SVS and the last scan on it was in Indiana two days ago? Why do all these company's use UPS, seems FEDEX is much better?

 

[Haru]

Fedex was supposed to deliver something for me from Wisconsin to Madison, and it ended up somwhere in connecticut. THey promised to have to me the same day by 5pm, but just to be sure, I asked the sender to send again. The original package that went to connecticut never showed. no idea what happened to it

 

[Burke Strickland]

Therefore, I'm not sure what kind of results I can get from the Maggie's in my room. I can get them out 3' from he rear and side walls, but it's the T.V./entertainment center that will be inbetween them that has me worried.

While, ideally, you wouldn't want anything between your main speakers, since the Maggies are dipolar and thus radiate with a null pattern to the sides, it is less of an issue than with box speakers. Much more of a concern is the proximity of the speakers to the walls. It is good that you will be able to place the MMGs well out from the walls.

Aside from the MGMC1s which are designed to be hung on the wall, all the upright-panel Maggies need plenty of room to "breathe" properly and yield the fabulous depth and breadth of soundstage that they are capable of and famous for. That sure is the case with my MG 3.6s, particularly on two channel music. With Dolby Digital and DTS, since the sound field is electronically manipulated anyway, placement is somewhat less critical -- but still worth your attention. So once you have the Maggies set up, don't be afraid to tinker around with their position relative to each other and the walls, and toe-in, etcetera -- as with most speakers, sometimes a slight change in these areas can make dramatic differences.

Enjoy!

 

[StephenL]

Does anyone have experience with acoustic foam such as Auralex that might allow speaker placement closer to the walls without compromising the sound?