Review: Mye Sound speaker stands Magnepan- MG-20 Tweak


Category: Accessories

In hind sight I have no rational or sane reason why I did not purchase a pair of Mye Sound custom stands for my MG-20's, to replace their stock footers, along time ago. I had read on different websites scores of glowing reviews regarding how the Mye Sound stands dramaticly improved the sonic performance of any Magnepan model. I had never read or heard even one negative comment regarding these custom stands. Well, better late then never.

The Mye Sound stands are beautifully hand built by Grant VanderMye in Kelowna, B.C. Canada. Grant and his wife were a delight to work with and made the purchase a very easy and pleasant experience. If you can handle working with a total of 12 screws/bolts it's a breeze to install these stands on your Maggies. They replace the stock footers with a very heavy and extremely well built stand, which come with very high quality carpet piercing brass points, and a pair of struts which lock the speaker panels into an iron fisted triangle.

I have gone through many upgrades and tweaks over the years, haven't we all, but nothing prepared me for what took place when I placed my dearly loved MG-20's on these stands. The improvement was not subtle or slight but a significant transformational change that brought the already reference level attributes of the 20's to even a higher level. If I had to try to give this a percentage rating I would say at least 25%, which is quite remarkable considering the performance level of the MG-20's with the stock stands to begin with.

Here's the details of what took place sonicly with the Mye Sound stands:

1) I have always found the MG-20's to be sonicly "seamless" and speak with one voice in a very cohesive fashion. With the Mye Stands this quality was taken to even a higher level.

2) The level of transparency/clarity was vastly improved so microdetails and decay trails become more apparent in a very natural/organic way.

3) The location of each individual player became more precise in the soundstage, with greater air around them and a yet still blended in with the rest of the music very naturally.

4) Bass became much faster, more dynamic/powerful, and accurate and blended with the lower midrange in a much more realistic way.

5) Overall timbres became more lifelike in their harmonic structure and tonality.

6) The final change seems the most paradoxical to me. The Mye Stands totally energized and made the MG-20's come "alive" and at the same time made the experience of listening to music through them a more relaxing/emotional situation.

To say I'm enthralled with what the Mye Stands did for the performance of my MG-20's would be an under statement! All this for a total of $600.00. If you own any Maggies, regardless of the model, you really owe it to yourself to put them on Mye Sound stands. My experience now is that you really don't know what sonic performance Magnepans have to offer when used on those dinky stock footers, unless you cement them away from performance killing vibrations with Grant's custom stands!

Associated gear
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teajay
Hi Teajay.
Thanks so much for the review, I couldn't describe the improvements as well even after all these years (a reviewer I am not). I'll post a link to this on my site as well. Much appreciated.
Grant VanderMye
Mye Sound
Teajay,
Your system sounds great with these stands. It definitely sounds more organic in a lifelike manner. One thing that really surprised me is the "jump factor" that these speakers now have. They start and stop in a much more convincing fashion. On well recorded Jazz, the horns are sometimes startling if you do not expect them. They sound much closer to electrostats in this regard. The leading edge is there with no hash or sizzle. What you have left is a warmer and more detailed presentation. Another way to say this is that the music seems more round rather than etched which is closer to the way I hear live music. The system is easier to listen to because the brain doesn't have to work as hard. You have made many other changes in the past that I have considered them to be subtle improvements. This is not a subtle improvements. Two thumbs up!! Bob
Being audiphiles, we know that a tweak here, a tweak there, can make a great difference. A difference to us listeners, that is. I accept that the Mye stands make an improvement. But I also want to know how and why they make such an improvement. Any comments?