To All Maggie Owners (1 Viewer)

[Jeremy Santos]

Hey Everyone,

I have been lucky enough to trade up to a Maggie HT setup with 1.4's as mains, SMGa's as surrounds and an MMG as a center channel. For music the 1.4's sound beautiful and I just can't find the words to describe just how much better they sound than my previous setup(Energy Audissey 2+2). And for movies, the 1.4's and SMGa's perform magnificently. My only problem is twith the MMG as a center channel. I have it currently setup horizontally and find that eventhough it sounds fine in the sweet spot, it sounds muffled everywhere else. Is there any possible way to widen the soundstage for the MMG? I may have the ability to set it up vertically, but would only do this if there is a significant improvement. Any suggestions?

 

[Jeffrey Chin]

my suggestion is not to go for the cheap fix and buy the TRUE center "mgcc1"

 

[Josh_Z]

Jeremy,
Yes, placing it vertically would improve the off center performance. Maggies have a wide sound stage, but when you get above or below the speaker the highs taper off. This is the reason they are so tall.
Since you are placing it horizontally the highs taper off to the left and right, not above or below.
You could either place it upright, or simply bend the tweeter to improve dispersion
Hope this helps.

 

[Lewis Besze]

my suggestion is not to go for the cheap fix and buy the TRUE center "mgcc1"

And what sub would that be crossed over to?
It's rated low output is 160hz.

 

[Jeremy Santos]

Had a chance to finally setup the MMG vertically angled downwards to the listening position. It is one of the best improvements I have made, ever!!!!! Everything is much clearer and the soundstage is fine no matter where you are seated now. How anyone can have an MMG or any other Maggie speaker setup as a center sitting on its side is a mystery to me. If you have the room, set the speaker in its rightful position. If you can't, get the MGCC or something similar to match your mains, because you are missing so much if you stick with a Maggie on its side.

 

[ling_w]

And what sub would that be crossed over to?
It's rated low output is 160hz.

You would probably need either a Outlaw ICBM magnepan edition or a dedicated subwoofer for the center channel.

If you go with the ICBM Magnepan edition's route, you could basically reroute the MGCC1's bass to the L&R maggies at the selected freq of 120, 160, 200 and 240hz. That is only if you keep your mains large and not expect to cross them to the sub. If you set the mains to small, then the center channel will reroute bass dirctly to the sub.

If you go with the dedicated center sub route, it would be best to go with something that has a good quality active high pass crossover that will go up to 160hz range. If you could find a old Hsu amp, they have good quality high/low pass crossover with xo as high as 155hz. You could probably set the center to large since it would be able to handle all the bass it is given.


A interesting option is to cross the MGCC1 to a MMG nearby (maybe even above it). Orientation does not matter. This allows you to have a dedicated maggie bass panel. But you would need a good quality 2 way crossover, and your center would probably still have to be set to large, but you could cross it at a lower freq like 50hz if your pre/pro or receiver allows it.

 

[Lewis Besze]

Ling,
Yes I 'm aware of these options,but thanks for posting it,however for me those options are a bit cumbersome.I'm very interested to buy Maggies as my next suite of speakers,but the center positioning issue is problematic so I'm not sure what I end up doing.Also my two custom subs aren't designed to reproduce bass much above 80hz.

 

[ling_w]

Lewis,

I meant a dedicated sub for the center channel. There are various small subs in the 8-10" range that could go up cleanly up to 160hz. You might have to use the crossover bypass and get a good quality external crossover for that purpose.

If you don't want a 3rd sub, you would have to effectively bi-amp your center channel, pumping the bass into a single sideway MMG. External crossover would be required again.

If you don't have space for the giant center speaker, than there is nothing that could be done about that. Some people go with B&G center with various degree of success, others go with modified Ratshack Linoeum center channel with varying degree of success also.

 

[Lewis Besze]

I meant a dedicated sub for the center channel. There are various small subs in the 8-10" range that could go up cleanly up to 160hz.

Yes I would need something like that,what would you recomend that would work with the ultra "quick" Maggies?

 

[Lewis Besze]

Ok I had a chance to hear the Maggies[Model 1.6 MGCC1&2]and ,that's how my face looked like the whole time.
I'm selling my speakers,to get these,so see my ad on the hardware for sale section.

 

[ling_w]

Yes I would need something like that,what would you recomend that would work with the ultra "quick" Maggies?

That would be crossing into a small maggie like MMG acting as a woofer, or using the ICBM to cross to the maggie mains.

Otherwise, best thing would be a dipole sub. Who knows who makes those.

No sub will sound completely seamless with the center channel, it just comes down to how well you want it to integrate. I would stick to the smaller 8-10" subs. I heard them with a Hsu HRSW10V/250w amp, which has a high quality crossover in it, which was high passed to the mains @ 131hz and low passed to the sub @ 155hz. A equivalent unit would be the Hsu VTF-2, but there is all the high/low pass xo involved.