2. speakers
  3. 1257643807

Can a Magnepan 1.6 be BI AMPED?

Was wondering if anyone who owns the Mag 1.6 speakers knows if the speaker can be BI AMPEDped? I know it can be bi wired, but looking at the rear connection panel has me wondering if both terminals arent hard wired to the top terminal, allowing the two lower terminals to touch internally causing possible issues with bi amping.

Please dont respond the following receiver wont drive them, because I fully know it will. My concern is ONLY on bi amping on the speaker end. Ive bi amped so seriously hard to drive speakers and the Onkyo is more then up to the task. Specially considering I will be crossing the 1.6 over to ease the demands, and I only prefer a sub to do the grunt work. But for reference sake, here is my intentions with the Onkyo:

Im using a Onkyo nr906 right now on a pair off mmg's set to 4ohm, and they sound fantastic with a sub crossed over at 80hz. I have the ability to use the rear channels from the Onkyo in a bi amp configuration to drive a pair of 1.6's in bi amp config in a dual 4 ohm load. Should be 200 watts aprox to top and 200 watts aprox to bottom, and allow me to use the full potential of the nr906 if bi amping works in this speaker.

Thanks to anyone that has knowledge of if the 1.6 accepts bi amp config or just bi wire(which if they in fact touch internally to the top terminal, isnt worth bi wiring anyway, as its one big loop either way).
sthomas12321

Showing 6 responses by eldartford

eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Elizabeth...
..Both the woofer and tweeter sections are 4 ohms.
..Yes, you can hook up full range signals to the woofer and tweeter input terminals (the tweeter terminals are those connected by the jumper). This will utilize the passive crossover, which I don't consider true biamping.
..If you want to biamp using an external electronic crossover you need to perform surgery on the speakers to bypass the internal passive crossovers. I don't recommend biamping these speakers because the characteristics of the internal passive crossover are a bit unusual, and hard to duplicate with an electronic crossover.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Based on my experience the only mod worth doing to the MG1.6 is to replace the internal stock iron core inductor with an air core inductor. This won't fit inside and needs to be mounted externally on the back.

I also replaced the capacitors, but this isn't worth the cost and effort.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Lightminer...Whoever told you that had never had the X/O apart!

Magfan...I used Hovland capacitors. There is considerable opinion that Solons are not bad at all, and, as you say, any improvement would come at high cost. I didn't know what kind of capacitors were in the MG1.6 when I ordered parts for the project.

My air core inductors are AWG10, so the DCR is lower than stock. The effect on crossover frequency is insignificant. Crossover frequency is somewhat arbitrary anyway.

The bypass capacitor is really there. It is a small ceramic which you probably can't see through the cloth.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Lightminer...That capacior is really there. I have seen and touched it. Are you sure your info was from the mouth of the horse?..:-)

You can also look at the schematic of the crossover (Maggie owners group) and see the capacitor.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Lightminer...The 1.6 crossover also has separate inputs for woofer and tweeter. In stock form the tweeter input is connected by the jumper.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Lightminer...The woofer and tweeter sections of the MG1.6 crossover are (to use your words) "totally separate". If you don't want to biwire or biamp you connect the tweeter input using a jumper.
More to discover