What speakers can make a convert of Maggie lovers?


After living with Magneplanars for many years (1.6qr's at present,) I'm wondering what other speakers Magneplanar owners have fallen for. I'm sure this topic must have covered before, but this site's search engine leaves a lot to be desired. There are many things that I like about Maggies, the expansive soundstage, well integrated drivers, and value for the money among their many virtues. Ideally, I'd like speakers that would have better low level detail and palpability, be less picky about amplification, and have better percusive/ dynamic qualities. The need for augmentation with a subwoofer would ok. My listening room is about 15x20' with a 12' ceiling height. I don't favor any one type of music, my tastes are musically omnivorous. Price of contenders would have to be no more than $5-6,000 new. Of course, something less expensive like the Gallos would be fine too, it's good to have money left over to buy more music. I know everyone says "go listen at your dealers." I've done that, but I find dealer's rooms sound so cruddy compared to my acoustically treated room that I can't make really meaningful comparisons.
photon46

Showing 3 responses by ozzy62

>lack of low level resolution
diffuse imaging
need for power<

Only your third point is correct. The first two are absurd.

Oz
I owned a pair of hot rodded 1.6s a few years ago and loved them. After straying from the maggie sound for a while I picked up a pair of 3.5rs last weekend and just took delivery of a Classe CA-200. Boy does this combo just plain make music. Before letting go of the 1.6s, I would suggest snapping up that CA-300 that just popped up on the Gon. I shuddered at the thought of going back to any SS amp, but knew I would have to with the maggies. So far, no regrets, the Classe is by far the best sounding sand amp I have had in my system to date. Bottom line, you might not have wrung all the performance you can get out of your 1.6s. A good high powered amp and possibly a xover upgrade might just change your mind about changing your mind.......

Oz
No names were called. Absurd describes your post, not you.

First I apologize for my misunderstanding of your meaning of "low level resolution". In my mind it meant resolving information that is normally not heard, such as sounds well into the background. The maggies do this just fine. I guess inner detail would be a better term. But you are correct in that they do need to played louder than most other speakers to achieve this. But I stand by my contention of the diffuse imaging. In a large enough room and properly set up they image as well as any speaker. Not the unnatural pinpoint accuracy of a Thiel, but who wants that anyway. Music does NOT sound like that in real life.

Oz