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!

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teajay
The stock MG 3.6R's are amazing compared to ANY box speaker. The latest version has a new crossover that mounts parallel to the panel which creates a more stable situation...it is also larger (Hmmm, an upgrade perhaps?). My new pair does sound a bit better than the older demo pair I heard. I am hesitant to screw bolts into my Maggies anyway, under any circumstances:O) The feet seem to be beefier as well compared to the old ones.
Sorry Dave B, the stock feet are no beefier then they have been in Magnepan's history. You are also mistaken I believe in that you think you have to "screw bolts" into your 3.6's for the Mye Sound stands, the bolts go into the exact same position on the frame of the speaker as the stock stands and holes.
I have a pair of 3.6R Magnepans. I separated the crossover box from the back of the speaker panels. Ran the Mid/High output of the crossover box to the Mid/High input of the Magnepan speakers. I ran the bass output of the crossover box to JBL 123A's in 3 cubic foot sealed cabinet's for the low end (bi-amped). Adjusted the JBL's output to blend with the Magsters.

This, in my opinion, improved the sound of the Magsters significantly. Mids and highs are more real sounding. All the bass slam one longs for. No sub needed. Imaging totally intact.

Acoustic upright bass sounds like an acoustic upright bass. (I've been playing upright bass for 36 years and I own a 7/8th fully carved upright bass...I know what they sound like).

Now when I put my hand on the wooden side rails of the speaker, I feel very little vibration because the bass panel is disengaged.

This leads me to suspect that the Mye stands would help to make the Magsters sound more real. Drawing vibrations away from the panel frames, and sending them to the floor.

That's all.

I have the stands for my 20.1's fill with gunshot and the panels are rock steady and on carpet with cement floor and planted firmly to floor no way can you move them.Mine don't need anything to hold them down so I'm not sure why anybody would need that.I have 650w/c mono amps and without the stands at very loud levels with heavy bass the voice were not clear but with the stands bass is stronger and tighter and the voices were as clear at low levels,my advice is anybody who likes to play it loud with rock or quality recorded orchestra [side 2 1812] music will be shock how much cleaner and tighter it would be.I would say that 20.1 with Mye Stands would sound better at high volume than 30.7,any movement from the panel makes a big difference.On my right speaker I noticed a very tiny movement from the panel and never tighten them for about two years got out the wrench and tighten it up and just that slight movement would degrade the bass that much.3.6 and up you need these stands.I give them a A+ performance and quality build.