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Bronze Member Username: NuckParkhill, Ontario Canada Post Number: 46 Registered: Dec-04 | I might consider mmg's as a replacement for the psb stratus silver fronts I use now. Although many consider the h/k 65 I use as bright, I am not getting what I want from them, Im also a little deaf( good band). The big avr 85 is out of service for now, and I may still lok at Arcam or Outlaw amps, but maybe new fronts will max what I have for the forseeable future. My reference is James Taylor live at the Beacon, followed up with Van Halen's Amsterdam. Good sized room downstairs, under 8' ceiling, and long. Havnt heard pans since '75, and they were in quads. I know they love power, and I setting myself up for more amp? |
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Bronze Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 96 Registered: Feb-05 | I went down the Maggie road and am still recovering. For my tastes they simply are not versatile enough. They also lack detail. MMG's are OK but they will just leave you wanting the bigger Maggie's. If you enjoy rock or funk they definately are not the speaker for you. Classical, folk, and acoustic jazz are served relatively well by them, but unless you spring the big bucks for a tight sub (Vandersteen or REL) and a monster power amp they don't even do those genres all that well. Maggies don't begin to get interesting until you get to the 3.6's where the true ribbon tweeter restores some of the detail lost with the QR designs. Maggie's are very seductive with their spooky "there in the room" sound. I guess it's a matter of personal taste but I'll never own them again. |
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Bronze Member Username: NuckParkhill, Ontario Canada Post Number: 49 Registered: Dec-04 | Thanks for the input Arthur. |
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Silver Member Username: SimplymcintoshPost Number: 247 Registered: Jan-05 | Nuck, I own the MMG's and am thrilled with them. Lack detail? Not in my opinion. They have an incredible soundstage, fantastic detail in the mids, terrific imaging, a relatively smooth hi end and a "clean and articulate" low end. The presentation of the instruments is incredibly life like and natural sounding. If you desire big thumping bass, they don't deliver that but I ended up being surprised by the bass they do deliver - it is tight and fast. It just doesn't "slam" - which may be important if you listening mostly to heavy rock or club music. It's true the MMG's probably need a sub to extend the bass. I'm investigating this for my system. But, after experiencing the Maggies, I don't see myself returning to box speakers. At some point, I may move to a bigger model in the Maggie line. Or maybe, I'll just get a sub and stay with the MMG since I know I'll never be able to afford the 3.6's ($3500+) or 20.1's ($10,000+). In the past year, I've owned Monitor Audio GR10's, Spendor S5e and B&W CDM 1NT (actually have had these for 3 years). Each of these models cost twice as much as the MMG's. After getting the $550 MMG's, I sold the Monitor Audio and Spendors on eBay and the B&W's were moved from my main system to the office system. There was never a doubt about the MMG becoming my main speakers after hearing them. My musical preferences are 50's-60's jazz, 70's rock, modern pop, old country, acoustic/folk and classical. In a month of listening I haven't found anything in my collection that the Maggies couldn't handle. BTW, the opinion maggies need a "monster power amp" is a little overstated too. Perhaps with the bigger maggies that might be true. With the MMG - the speaker you inquired about - if you have an amp with 75-100w channel at 4ohm you'll get good results. I've tried my MMG's with a McIntosh integrated amp rated at 100w@4ohms. Currently, I'm driving them with an Onix SP3 tube amp rated at 35 watts. Excellent results with both amps. Consider trying the MMG's out to hear for yourself whether you like them. From what I understand Maggies have greatly improved since '75. For $550 plus shipping you can try out the MMG's for 60 days and, if they aren't to your liking, return them for a full refund. You are only out shipping charges. If you consider this, you may want to ask Magnepan about whether the HK is a good match with the MMG. Personally, I don't know. Having said all that, speaker preferences are highly individual so what works for me may not work for you. But, I do feel very comfortable giving a strong recommendation to audition the MMG's. |
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Silver Member Username: SimplymcintoshPost Number: 248 Registered: Jan-05 | Here are a couple of reviews that detail weaknesses and strengths of the MMG's: http://www.sstage.com/entry04.htm http://www.goodsound.com/equipment/magnepan_mmg.htm BTW, the first reviewer is wrong when he says you can't use banana plugs with the MMG's. You can if you remove the screw he mentions. I've heard of some who use the screw to tighten down the banana plugs, too. But, when he says you have to use bare wire or use an adapter, he's wrong. |
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Silver Member Username: SimplymcintoshPost Number: 249 Registered: Jan-05 | One last thing, if you were to try the MMG's and found you like the Maggie sound but wanted to upgrade to a bigger maggie, you can get credit for what you paid for the MMG's towards the bigger models. Moving to the bigger models would probably require a more powerful amp than what I stated in my first post. |
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Silver Member Username: CheapskatePost Number: 135 Registered: Mar-04 | i lust after MMGs after being wowed by their "bigger brother" 1.2s. i HATE deep headache inducing bass and found maggie rolled off but lightning quick and super detaled bass to be much better than the "whomp whomp" from my sealed 12" subs. i also noticed that MMGs have MORE treble extension than 1.2s which sounded just a slight bit polite to me, but the greatest thing about MMGs is that they're the smallest maggies you can buy and are most likely to give you "minimonitor grade" imaging. smaller speakers image best. my NHT superzeros kick speakers at 4X the price's butt in the imaging department. lack of detail? i heard just the opposite from maggies. i heard tons of lighning fast resonance free detail from maggies with a totally relaxed fatigue free sound. maggies kick all kinds of harmonically correct butt and have converted me from an imaging freak to a harmonics freak. vocals sound downright spooky on maggies. if you want party speakers... get klipsch or cerwen vega, but if you want the most bang for your buck... get maggies if you have an amp that won't blow up with a 4 ohm load. maggies are fussy and power hungery, but if you position them right, you'll have 100% seamless, lightning fast, resonance free and time aligned sound. they aren't the most image specific speakers, but they are totally uncolored and flat sounding otherwise. from someone who despises ported speakers... maggies kick acoustic suspension butt for the freedom from boxy resonances title. they dissapear sonically and can move way more air in the midrange than most cone type speakers. maggies really have a "you are there" sound to my ears and i liked $1000 maggies better than $8000 B&Ws. |