Jumpers and attenuators on Magnepans.......


Hi Guys,

I have been thinking about bi-wiring my 1.6s and a few people suggest I would be better upgrading the jumpers. I would like to know if I have downgraded my jumpers by putting on the attenuators supplied as stock with the 1.6s - these look like nothing more than a paper clip with a little block of chalk attached. If upgrading jumpers makes quite a difference then I suspect these paper clips are downgrading the sound, although they have helped with the harsh highs. Is it possible to buy better quality attenuators than the ones supplied by Magnepan as standard?
thomastrouble
I've tried several expensive (good quality audiophile grade) jumpers that I own with my 1.6's but I still had the best sound by bi-wiring them.
When I had 1.6s I opened up the back and moved the tweeter wire down to the woofer wire (or vise versa) and by passed the jumpers alltogether. I forget if I had to resolder any wire but it was easy and cheap.

fwiw

Also many people think it is better to use a single run of better wire than biwire using cheaper wire.

You have to try for yourself and listen - that is the best way always...
Sorry guys, I should have mentioned that I use Kimber 8tc, which, apparently is a good cable. I like bass, so I would also be interested to hear if any of you are familiar with cables known for good bass also.

What are your opinions on those paper-clip looking attenuators supplied with the speakers - certainly not beefy looking like the regular jumpers, I mean, why use beefy jumpers if paper clips will do?
I had 8TC with my 1.6s and liked it but the bass was a bit thin, moving to Alpha Core MI2 was a big step up
Thomastrouble,

The "paper clip and chalk block" things you're referring to are called "resistors," and they are available in different values (for more treble roll off) from Magnepan.

I have not had good luck using the Magnepan-supplied resistors (sound quality suffers) and I'm sure that there are better resistors of the same value and power handling capacity available if you want to buy and try some.

But one interesting thing I found recently was that using the Speltz Anti-Cable interconnects in combination with the Speltz speaker cables in my Maggie system seems to get rid of the excessive treble brightness without the undesireable sonic degradations caused by going through the resistors.
Thomastrouble,
I forget, what amp are you using with your 1.6's and how many watts per/ch?
Sorry guys, what I referred to as attenuators are actually reisistors - can these be upgraded?
Peter Gunn likes the dueland 1.5 ohm resistors. I wouldnt go over 1 ohm personally. I think they are $20each though :(
I bought every size resistor from .22 to3 ohm. The 0.27 ohm was what I liked best.