Hello,
I had Maggie 3.3s for 3+ years and enjoyed them immensely. But I always ran out of power with the tube amps, ARC VT130 and CL150s, that I had during the time. All the talk to use Bryston amps just did not do it for me as the Maggie magic was so awesome with the tube amps that the Brystons simply could not achieve. I could not afford much more expensive tube amps so I sold off the Maggies and went with the much more efficient and dynamic Talon Khorus.
The Talons resolved all the Maggie weaknesses and gave me lower level resolution as well. But now 6 months later, I miss the Maggie midrange and 3D magic immensely. As wonderful as the Talons are in some respects, the simply do not match the Maggies for these strengths. I have heard no other speaker fill the space (10-12') between speakers as incredibly as the Maggies.
I am looking to move the Talons up to my HT system and once again be on the market for Maggie series 3 speakers. I should have just boxed up the 3.3s and put them under the bed until I had the appropriate amp! I am now hoping that my updated Counterpoint NPS400 could be the match that I was lacking with the ARC tube amps. One other option now to try with solid states is with the Plinius amps, perhaps a pair of the SA100's on the used market, as this is quite the great value. Seems universal that these have quite the magic but not the hassle of tubes.
As for Maggies requiring the user to be at one very specific listening position, I did not find this to be the case at all. And I am not sure what is meant by room dependent. They sounded excellent in the large rectangular room at the dealer and so very good in my more square-like basement room with not so high ceilings. I kept them about 2' from the side walls and 3' or so into the room from the back wall; they were up on 4" amp stands. And harsh high frequencies? NOT! Sounds like a problem further up in the chain. The incredible top end extension of these will only show the brightness caused by other components. They do not at all have the forward fatiguing brightness that often occurs with speakers like Thiels or ProAcs driven by lesser quality amps.
John
I had Maggie 3.3s for 3+ years and enjoyed them immensely. But I always ran out of power with the tube amps, ARC VT130 and CL150s, that I had during the time. All the talk to use Bryston amps just did not do it for me as the Maggie magic was so awesome with the tube amps that the Brystons simply could not achieve. I could not afford much more expensive tube amps so I sold off the Maggies and went with the much more efficient and dynamic Talon Khorus.
The Talons resolved all the Maggie weaknesses and gave me lower level resolution as well. But now 6 months later, I miss the Maggie midrange and 3D magic immensely. As wonderful as the Talons are in some respects, the simply do not match the Maggies for these strengths. I have heard no other speaker fill the space (10-12') between speakers as incredibly as the Maggies.
I am looking to move the Talons up to my HT system and once again be on the market for Maggie series 3 speakers. I should have just boxed up the 3.3s and put them under the bed until I had the appropriate amp! I am now hoping that my updated Counterpoint NPS400 could be the match that I was lacking with the ARC tube amps. One other option now to try with solid states is with the Plinius amps, perhaps a pair of the SA100's on the used market, as this is quite the great value. Seems universal that these have quite the magic but not the hassle of tubes.
As for Maggies requiring the user to be at one very specific listening position, I did not find this to be the case at all. And I am not sure what is meant by room dependent. They sounded excellent in the large rectangular room at the dealer and so very good in my more square-like basement room with not so high ceilings. I kept them about 2' from the side walls and 3' or so into the room from the back wall; they were up on 4" amp stands. And harsh high frequencies? NOT! Sounds like a problem further up in the chain. The incredible top end extension of these will only show the brightness caused by other components. They do not at all have the forward fatiguing brightness that often occurs with speakers like Thiels or ProAcs driven by lesser quality amps.
John