Wonderfully involving presentation, tuneful bass, very musical

Quite revealing of poorly engineered recordings

The Magnepan 1.6/QR caught my ears' attention like no other speaker. Spend a night listening to Christian McBride live at a club, then listen to a well-recorded McBride double bass performance on the 1.6s. Sound familiar? You bet. Are you a pianist working on that favorite Chopin piece, wondering how Ashkenazy's approach might improve your rendition? Listen to him play it on the Magnepans; listen for his pedaling technique and key releases. It is that palpable.

These speakers accommodate my modest electronics admirably and will show the worth of improvements upstream. Take time for their placement within the room--patience here will reward you with much better sound. Try biwiring them. It may result in only a subtle, more "airy" difference, but one I felt was important.

Please allow a good two months of average listening for them to perform at their best.

Associated equipment:

Acurus A100 power amp
Transparent Link 200 interconnect
Acurus P10 phono stage
AudioQuest Turquoise interconnect
B & O 2300 CDP/preamp
Pro-ject 1.2 turntable w/Sumiko Oyster cartridge

AudioQuest F-18 and Vampire Wire 12 ga. speaker wire

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Quad, other Magnepan models, biro L/1

Incredible detail, soundstage is excellent

Still haven't found any

I'm a very frequent concert-goer. These speakers come as close to "being there" as any speakers I have ever heard. The clear, crisp detailed sound is extraordinary. I almost had to check while listening "in stereo" to make sure that the surround sound system wasn't on...I could almost "see" the soundstage. I was expecting the usual Maggie lack of bass....but while a subwoofer certainly helps, the 1.6 speakers certainly are no slouch at the low end. At this price level....the Maggies are an absolute bargain!

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Full complement of Magnepan surround speakers

Excellent reproduction.

Size and room requirements.

I have used these speakers for 3 months now, and the bass just came alive recently (as they all said it would after some time.) The sound is incredible, and they do hold their own in the home theater arena. I noticed a comment from another reviewer about improving the "sweet spot curve". Although some may not feel that it is appropriate here, I do appreciate the technical feedback and methodology that this performance modification can supply (as performed by a qualified tweaker). It is, however, beyond the capabilities of most people to envision this sort of thing. The speakers are nothing less than top-notch. I have paid much more for speakers, and not been near as satisfied.

I'm upgrading my system and heard the Maggies for the first time and was blown away. They made my favorite CD's sound amazing - that sound we are all searching for. I knew they were under $1500, but if I didn't I would have thought they were big buck speakers. My problem - they are big and need some space. I'm thinking of going the MMG and subwoofer route. Anybody done this?5+ stars for value; 5 absolute

Rotel 991 amp
Adcom 565 preamp

P.S. Anyone want to buy my Chihuahua and cats - I need funds for my Maggie addiction?!?

First, I'm not quite sure what an "audiophile" is. Maybe I'm not quite there.
Anyway, review of 1.6....

After 5 week wait, I got them yesterday.

I barely ate dinner yesterday and I'm using up a precious vacation time today (skipping work) just so I can listen more. I didn't sleep enough last night. I still haven't taken a shower and it's almost lunch time. HELP ME!

But seriously, these are the most "real" sounding speakers I've heard. I've heard many that sound "great" but not necessarily "real." For some people, "unreal" and "great" might be better, but not for me. Instruments and voices sound so real on these, I can't stop listening, and these aren't even totally broken in yet. Pianos.... so real.... drooool.

Some issues: Very large. Hard to place. But as someone said, if a couch is in the way, I'll become couchless for these. May not be the best for certain types of popular music because it's too real and not electronic sounding. I'm thinking that maybe I should have gotten MMGs or MG12s because these are too much for my small apartment. I think I've got too much bass, believe or not. Or maybe I'm just not used to hearing bass because my old speakers didn't give me any.

Associated equipment:
Adcom GCD-700 changer (sounds great but cheaply made. Yamaha 765 is made much better)
Audio Research LS-15 (I couldn't afford LS-25 :()
Bryston 3B-ST (May get another one to bi-amp if I win a lottery or make big money in the stock market or whatever. Great match with tube preamp. If I were to pick one equipment that I have the least regrets, it'd be the Bryston.)
Pioneer Elite DVL-91 (mostly for DVDs and LDs)

Note that technically, bi-amping isn't as important with these speakers because it acts almost like a constant resistive load, according to technical people anyway.

I'll say 4.5 because I want those 3.6s, but then, for $1475, these are 5+.

Clarity, Looks very stylish, sex appeal

Are You Kidding!!!!!!!!!

I do not have these speakers hooked-up yet. However, I demoed these speakers at my local dealer for three months before buying them. I am waiting on my Jolida 1000a amp to come home(smile). But I can honestly say that I have never heard a better sounding speaker in this price range. For that matter, I have never heard a better sounding speaker "PERIOD". I have listened to B&W, Klipsch, Kef, Martin Logan, Paradigm, vandersteen and all these speakers were good, but the maggies have that certain "AURA" about them. You can get these babies in the cloth color of your choice with wood trim to boot. I got the off-white cloth with the light-oak wood trim. This deco complments my surroundings perfectly. Another plus is when you invite guest over, they ask, "WERE ARE YOUR SPEAKERS". I like to have things that are unique and these speakers fit the bill..............................Happy Listening.

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None. Box speakers can not touch these babies!!!!!!!

Excellent, Realistic,Great sound

None that I can find

I feel that these are great speakers. They sound very realistic. I feel that these are one of the best speakers that I have ever Purchased. I got my money worth.

Similar Products Used:

Magnepan 3.3, JBL, L55,

Very Natural, neutral sound at this price range for Classical and Jazz music.
Very good build quality.

Require room at the rear for low frequency (bass),
If close to corners (usually so) require quite some damping to reduce reflections,
Huge size,
Cannot do Wall shaking BASS Dynamics - but which speaker truly can - this is the job for a Sub Woofer.

Was looking to put together a mid-level system and was my belief that being speaker-oriented is a bit of a mistake.

(Perhaps too many stories of burned wallets from people buying BOSE speakers thinking that audio nirvana has been reached, only to find that these are usually crap and no thinking was done about other components and thus ALL the money is down the drain as no component is any good)

However, came to like the Rega Planet CDP and Musical Fidelity XA-100 R Integrated very quickly. It was back to deciding on speakers.

Initially disregarded these (Magnaplanars) flat panel jobs thinking they were some kind of gimmick and could not possibly be designed for good sound !

Really liked the Spendors for their clear reproduction of Jazz and Classical music - but did not have that kind of money and these need good stands which was yet some more money - these would set me back $2000 and stands $500.

Was a little disappointed because other speakers tended to be a little harsh/bright for the higher frequencies and not too good for detail which is very important for the emotive touches in Jazz recordings.

Finally the Magnaplanars were auditioned, these were very very close to the Spendors and were a lot less money !

Are they the best for the money ? I dont know, but they are so GOOD that I will be very surprised that anything near this price is better.

The input is Rega Planet CDP.
I Use Silver Interconnects (KIMBER KCAG) and have gone through several upgrades of interconnects. (NBS dragonfly -> AudioQuest Coral -> Kimber Select 1010 -> Kimber KCAG) These are good enough to reveal the quality of the Interconnects !
Use GOOD Amplification ! This does not mean high wattage amps but Amps that can send a Clean Signal ! The speakers are good and will reveal the quality of the Amp i.e. bad Amps will sound bad but good amps will sound wonderful ! I use Musical Fidelity XA-100 R Integrated going to Musical Fidelity HT600 Power Amp. Use good Speaker Cables, I use Transparent Musicwave Plus ($475) having upgraded from the entry level Transparent cables ($100).

Well the system is so good that most of my concepts about sound reproduction have been thoroughly revised. Every Listening is now an exploration, it is a study of sorts as all the qualities of musical instruments, recording studio/location, microphones and their positioning, voices, chairs, squeaks are revealed !

The weakest link is not in my system now, it is the house ! Distant highway noise which was never noticed before the system is now something to be dealt with, myriad appliances will soon be quietened down...

In your quest for audio nirvana, this set of speakers will not let you down !

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Auditioned several at that price range.

Clean, open sound.

none

In upgrading from a 24-year old system, my first purchase was to be speakers.After listening to Martin-Logans,B&W's, and a variety of others in the $1000/4000 range, I thought the $1675 Mag 1.6 was a steal. What made me hesitate, though, were the reviews which were almost unanimous as to the opinion that the 1.6's require lots of power. I didn't want to find myself having to spend thousands on some pre/power amp combo which most reviewers wrote was required. I was, and still am, using a Sansui 7070 receiver which I brought to the dealer. After listening to the 1.6's with my old receiver, I ordered the 1.6's immediately. Since late July, I have had no regrets as my system sounds incredible. The Maggies are wired using a 16' pair of Tara Labs RSC Prime 500 cables. I can't imagine cleaner, more open sound for the price, and though I'm planning to buy either an integrated amp or a surround sound receiver with more power, I am quite pleased with my system as is. Any recommendations for one of the above??

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none

Clear,clean open sound,depth and response

Dominates the room with their size

Back in the mid 70's I had a pair of maggies and loved the sound of them, now years later I'm back and still in love. The 1.6's are being driven with a Nak AV10 and they do just fine with it. When I first got the 1.6's my house was going through a major remodel so they were set up in the living room along with darn near everything else that we could jam in there. They sounded beautiful even in that set up. In the new family room ,which is 21x21 they sound even better. These speakers just flow with the music, no harshness or glare. I played with placement and for my room just over 2 feet from the back wall is just right. The bass is tight but not overly punchy, they do lack a bit in the real low end on some types of music and DVD's. I added a cheap ($200.00) Sony 12" sub and it fills the small void in the bottom end. The Sub's crossover is set at 60Hz and power is set almost at min. With the tight bass the 1.6's have I just didn't see the need for a high dollar sub. On my old pair I was driving them with 200 per side of a higher grade amp than my Nak AV10 and if money was no object a higher grade amp would make a differance, though not enough to jusify the cost.

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Had a pair of mags back in the mid 70's, listened to many before buying