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Anything better than Magnepan 1.6?


So, its been out for something like 9 years, but it still seems to be absolute top of the line. I also see the Dali Ikon 6 which seems to have amazing pinpoint staging accuracy. The same recording of a female Jazz singer has a mouht the size of a woman on the Ikon 6 and maybe 5 feet wide, maybe 4, on the Magnepan. Which is a positive thing for much music, that 'wall of sound' thing they do. And it has a much, much better sense of 'air' with the combo ribbon tweeter and dome than most box speakers.

Anything else I should consider? Even up to 3k? In that range, after having Maggies since 1988, speakers like the appropriate B&W and similar don't seem to compare in my opinion at all - I guess its a planar thing. The sound is so obviously coming from a little box! Just can't do it. I love Thiel in general, but in this price range I don't get enough volume.

What about Innersound Isis? I might be able to get a used pair? Tight sweetspot annoying to me, I often have people over to listen to music with me.

Oh - and I don't care about Bass below 80 Hz and possibly a bit higher, but 120, absolute top of 160 might be okay if everything else is outstanding. I already have a VTF-3 HO Hsu subwoofer with turbo.

I listen to almost everything, so that is of no help. If I had to chosoe one to focus on, I'd choose classical, but I listen to a lot of Shostakovitch for example, which is basically heavy metal in classical, so an accurate speaker that doesn't punch you a little won't work.
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Showing 1 response by mcmanus

mcmanus
82 posts
 
I think the biggest upgrade you can make is to modify the 1.6's.

From the factory, the Maggies are great speakers but they are built to a price point and that means they have to make trade offs. For a few hundred dollars in parts, you take the 1.6's to a completely different level.

Step one is to bypass the fuse. That is an easy way to see for yourself what mods can do. Then set-up custom crossovers and finally replace the internal wiring. It may sound ambitious but it is all pretty straight forward. If you do not want to do it yourself, a local electronic repair shop can follow instructions you can get online. There are lots of posts here and on the Magnapan users site.
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