Transparency, imaging and size :-)

power hungry, finicky placement, otherwise none

Like some other reviewers, I am an long-time Maggie fan. I bought my IIIa's in 1987 after being stunned listening to a Barbara Streisand cut at the showroom -- closed my eyes and she was in the room. My wife married me, partly because of the Maggies. As with most non-audiophiles/wives/girlfriends, her first reaction on seeing the IIIa's was "My God! What are *those*?" You just knew that they didn't fit into her decorating plans. However, she is a pianist and after hearing about 2 minutes of Van Cliburn she said, "The Maggies stay, even if they are too damn big!" God, I love that woman!

Over the years, we have auditioned many different speakers, looking for something that was more "decorator friendly" but that still gave us the sound we love. I have no idea why we didn't try the MMGs sooner!

I won't repeat all the comments on imaging, detail, etc. These may be small, but they are most definitely Magnepan speakers and all those good things come in every box!

Even though we only have about 60 hours of break-in, they are already part of the family. I still think the IIIa's have better treble clarity, but Hey! they also have a true ribbon tweeter. On the high end, the MMGs are still a bit shrill, although it seems to be calming down with break-in. We will be playing with the resistors this weekend. The MMGs have a surpising amount of bass -- more than the IIIa's, even though the driver is substantially smaller. The mid-range is still a little bit "tight" (compared to the IIIa's sound). It has improved somewhat, but I hope that another 100-200 hours will open it up (we leave the CD jukebox going all day while we are at work). Mind you, even if they don't get any better, they are still the best speaker bargain available. Period.

One area where the MMGs are "bigger" than the IIIa's is power consumption. We have switched back and forth several times and there is no doubt about it -- at least 15 to 25% more than the IIIa's, which were already eating our Marantz SR-8000 (5x105) for lunch. We were considering putting a separate amp/pair-o-monoblocks in the living room for the IIIa's, but the MMGs will force the issue.

I mentioned size as one of their strengths. That may sound weird to people who are use to "normal" speakers, but for owners (current and former) of full-sized Maggies it should strike a note. The MMGs seem to give you about 98% of the reasons for buying full-sized maggies, without giving your Significant Other his/her 100% moral superiority in complaining about their dominating the living room. They are also small enough to consider having in other rooms where even the most ardent Maggie-lover could not argue the "money & space consumed" VS performance case. If these don't stay in the living room, it will be a short trip to my wife's office. They are *not* going back to Magnepan.

The MMGs are not necessarily more finicky about location than the IIIa's, they just want a different location -- about 2.7' to 3' from the back wall vs 3.9' to 4'. They also seem to like having a "reflective surface" close to their outside edge. We discovered this by accident when I "rotated" the IIIa's 90 degrees to create room to place the MMGs during a little A/B comparison. This idea seems similar to the "bass wings" for 1.6'sand 3.x's mentioned on the MUG (Maggie User's Group) Tweaks page. (see http://www.integracoustics.com/MUG/MUG/)

I am not complaining about the "distance from the wall" issue because we have lived with it in spades with the IIIa's. We *know* that if you don't give Maggies "room to breathe" you are missing the sweetest part of their performance. Hey! If you are going to push them against the wall, go buy speakers from Bose! :-)

One final thought: these may be some of the only "main speakers" in the world where you will spend as much or more on a well-matched subwoofer than you do on your mains!

Similar Products Used:

Magnepan IIIa

Can't Express the all here. Let it suffice to say these are the best speakers I have ever owned at less than half the price of most.

I can't find any.

OK, so I bit the hype from these reviews and after checking out their website and the money back offer, I thought what the heck. So, I called and ordered these, but was told it would take a minimum of two weeks since the holidays had depleted their stock. So I tohought I'd have to wait.
Then, I had to go out of town and stumbled across a audio store specializing in used high end equipment and found out they had a used pair of the MG1.6's. I told them I was dying to hear the planar speakers, so they invited me over. I purchased a couple of CD's from the local Target and headed to the store for a demo. After five minutes, I was captivated.
However, I still expected much less from the MMGs than the 1.6s ($550 vs. $1600). When I got back home last weekend, I found my current speakers didn't sound as good anymore. Well, Today the MMGs came.
When I unpacked them, I was somewhat surprised by their small size. Although I had read the specs they still seemed small. But, they give an impression of a well=made product as if the people assembling them would be proud to sign their name on the back. I was also a bit surprised to find a very well written but to-the-point booklet and all of the bits and pieces I would need to set them up.
I was in a rush to hear them and set them up totally improperly and expected to have to tweak them later. I fired up the CD player with some of my favorite try before you buy discs and...
W O W ! ! ! !
Even with improper spacing, these mini-maggies blew me away. I immediately recalled the sensation that had struck me at the used audio store with the 1.6s. Everything seemed clearer and more open, natural and "right". I spent the rest of the afternoon just listening in awe.
So far I have impressed my wife, my kids and my best friend- still without tweaking the position.
Now I can't wait to play with that and to hear them after proper break-in!
I can say only one thing if you, like me, are thinking about these and are on the fence- Buy them. These are the first speakers I have ever owned that really can be distinguished as better by virtually anyone. Five stars plus.

Similar Products Used:

B&W CDM-NT, Boston Acoustics VRM-60, Cambridge Soundworks Towers, etc.

To describe them in one word-Tranparent! Amazing! Breathless! Well, make that tree words :-) I purchased these speakers for their musical abilities and of-course their price. At $500/pr I have not heard or can think of any speakers in it's price range or double it's price range for that matter that can justly match it's imaging and it's mucial purity. I use a Carver TFM 42 Amp. and an Adcom 555 Preamp with Sony X33ES CD player. Granted they don't have usable bottom end below approx. 60hz and are very insensitive requiring a capable amp; thus my choice for the Carver delivering 375 watts rms which is a bit overkill I know; neverthelesss, they are absolutely breath taking. Closing my eyes and listening to Patrick O'Hern or some Spanish guitar is like being at the studio duing a live performance. Unfortunatley, because of their fast transient response, I have still not been able to match a suitable sub-woofer: I am thinking of Paradigm PS100. If anyone has any recommendations, I would appreciate them. Thanks.

500 dollars for a pair of decent speakers is reasonable. However, these speakers are better than decent. If you like to hear the small details of a recording, these speakers bring out those details. If you want a realistic sounding soundstage, these speakers do that too. If you want seismic bass, these speakers don't do that. If you want ear bleed volume levels(>100 dB), these speakers don't do that either.
If you like and own the bose acoustimass speakers, TAKE THEM BACK FOR A REFUND! Use the refund money to buy these speakers and spend the leftover $100-150 on more CDs.
5 stars for quality on the dollar. 4 star performance in relation to other speakers on the market that cost more than these maggies.

I home-auditioned a set of MMGs about 2 (?) years ago, when I first moved into my current home. While the MMGs were very open on the high end, they were lacking in bass. The configuration of my listening room did not allow me to vary the placement much - a factor that I think is critical in enjoying these speakers, as is a LARGE listening room. In fact these speakers sounded fine everywhere ELSE in the house, except in the room that they were in! Sitting between them, the sound was too bright, especially once the initial 'wow' factor wore off. I am still looking for speakers to replace my versitile and venerable (now 25 year old) Advents...

As others have said, these are truly remarkable speakers for the price. I was comparing the MMG's against the 602's as well, and while not having the same bass 'kick', I should state that the bass quality of the MMG's is very good. Play with the positioning a bit and depending on how live or dead the room is, you may not want/need a sub with them (I replaced a pretty good sub/sat system with these and the bass is actually better!). They are detailed and spacious sounding and are perfect if you're into vocals and acoustics. While I would never recommend buying speakers based on looks, you gotta admit, these do have that "what the hell are those?" appeal. Great sound, incredible value, good build, audiophile aesthetics... If you have a good amp with quality power above 60 watts, aren't into metal or hip hop, and want audiophile gear at a ridiculously low price- these are it.

I purchased the MMGs about a year ago along with a pair of BW602 which are about the same price. After two weeks the BW602s were returned. The MMG won me over with a more convincing sound stage and a smoother more detailed response. However, the low end and dynamics are inferior to the BWs. Head bangers should look elsewhere. Some of that is due to the low sensitivity. Listening to acoustical string instruments and percusion is a lot of fun. Lots of inner detail and space around the instruments. In the meantime my source has been upgraded to the REGA planet CD player. The amplifier is a home made PASS ZEN single ended with 12W. That's right, 12 watts on these power eating speakers. When I sit down to listen the house is quiet, no dishwasher or other obnoxious device running. The speakers are pulled out 5 feet or so from the wall. They have to be pulled out or the low end goes to pot. They are about 6 feet apart and turned in so they focus at about the same distance forward. Sitting on the floor or slightly elevated on a pillow they have the power to transport you to another world. Not through volume, but with delicious detail and 3D space around the instruments. I have since to lust after more amplifier power. If anything, the next upgrade with be cabling, and higher grade amplifier parts. What is listening to music but hearing how that string was struck or the note on a harp dying out towards silence. To bring the best musicans into your living room for $500 is remarkable.

I have 2 pair driven in parallel by a Carver M1.5t amp high passed at 90 Hz, augmented with a Sunfire MK II subwoofer. The MMG's alone get 3 stars due to limitations in dynamics and bass but 4 stars with a subwoofer.

The following is a review of the Magnepan SMGc speakers, which are essentially the same as the MMGs but with a sturdier ever so slightly larger frame. I give these overall a 5 "speaker" rating. Are there better speakers out there? Sure, for a lot more money. It also certainly does depend on your taste in music. The lower end Maganepans are not capable of resolving music with great density or volume. What you pay for as you go up the Magnepan line are deeper bass and better resolving power. Many consider the model 3.5 to be the best speaker around $3000 on the market, and nothing is suppose to touch the $10,000 model 20 (though I haven't heard them). However, in the $500 - $700 market, the SMGC/MMG speakers do things that even most conventional $2000 speakers don't do but should, and that's what the hullaballo is about. If you want rock 'n roll, stay away. Everything else is quite astonishing with these, and I do mean astonishing. These make you sit up and take notice, not as to the sound coming out of the speakers, but as to the performance being rendered. I have never listened to music through speakers and been so riveted to the performances as I am with the SMGcs. Those intimate performances by folk artists. The intensity of jazz players creating music together. I went from listening to speakers producing music to being involved in the performance. Every time! You just have to listen to them for yourself. Try to find a dealer somewhere to listen to what music through a planar type speaker is like. There is no covered mouth boxy sound of vocalists. Instruments hover in mid-air. Recreation of the acoustic space is incredible. Show me another $500 - 700 speaker that is such a gateway to the essential performance.
One thing that helps is that the area of a planar speaker that the sound comes from is quite large. In a traditional speaker, the small tweeter is near of the top of the speaker and the 6 -8" woofer is in the middle or near the bottom. The MMG/SMGC is 4 feet tall and the sound eminates from the entire space. This way the image created is close to life size. Anyway, it can be very exciting to listen to. The drawbacks? Lots of power needed. I recommend at least 50 high quality watts (I don't mean Kenwood, Pioneer, or Technics type quality). You should have an amp with a substantial power supply. Mass markets don't tend to use them. They add considerable expense. (By the way, the larger Maggies require even more power). The other drawback is careful placement is needed. Any dipole speaker (sound eminates from front and back -- keep in mind the Maggie has no box, just a frame) needs space around it, probably needing 3 feet or more from the back wall. Otherwise the sound will smear. The other asterisk with this speaker, as I mentioned above, is that loud, dense passages don't resolve well with the smaller Magnepans. This means not just Rock 'n Roll but also dense symphonic passages. A heavy duty classical listener will LOVE this type of speaker, but should look at one of the larger ones. Even the model .6, which is not THAT much larger (designed, like the MMG and SMGc, for smaller rooms), is better at resolution because better elements are used. For most purposes, these smaller ones are wonderful. Do yourself a favor and check them out.

I purchased a set of MMGs during the first weeks of 1998. I was shocked to see their tiny shipping carton, and even more shocked when I saw what little was inside. After unpacking the MMGs and setting them up, however, my prelimiary opinions soon changed. These 3/4 inch panels have a very realistic sound stage, capable of clear, non-coloured vocals, mids and highs. Like others have said in this post before me, the MMGs are known for their wonderful imaging and clarity. True, these speakers are not for those into rap, dance, and most hard rock--unless you have a good subwoofer, like the Mirage BPS-400i. For music, like acoustic and classical guitar and jazz, you simply cannot find a more accurate speaker (well unless you get another [bigger] set of Magnepans). I moved from Cerwin-Vega VS-120s to the MMGs, and honestly have not looked back since. Due to their low sensitivity, they will need some serious power to sound their best. My Kenwood Dolby Digital receiver kicks out something in the range of 220W into 4 ohms and the MMGs take this and literally beg for more. Good cabling is also essential--I use Original Monster Cable for its clarity and sound. I would guess that these speakers would sound incredible when coupled with a clean amp (in 250w/c range) and an equally fine preamp. For the money, however, these speakers are very hard to beat.