Hear things I didn't before.

size, maybe

I really can't add much to what's been said already. I have never been happier about spending $500.00. I use a Dennon AVR 3200, 85 watts per, and let me tell ya these things will go loud enough to damage your hearing. I listen most of the time with the volume set at 10 and my sound level meter hangs around 90db. Even at louder volumes (when the neighbor calls)they sound just as sweet. And on the rare occasion that I listen at reasonable levels the same magic happens. After much reading and a little education I understand why people use the terms soundstage and imaging. Maybe the best education is to get a pair of these and listen.

Clarity, detail, soundstage, price/performance ratio

No freq response below 50, sensitivity, impedance

This is a great speaker regardless of the price. Factor in the price ($500 delivered) and I challenge you to find a speaker that gives you more bang for your buck. The clarity, detail, and soundstage are truly amazing. The planar speaker creates a soundstage as if the artists were live in your own living room. The bass is accurate, but not always adequate depending on your listening taste. If you are a fan of rock, you may be disappointed. I solved the problem with a 10-inch velodyne subwoofer (CT-100). This sub matched very well and was able to keep up with the MMGs. The MMGs and the Velodyne cost a total of $825. I haven't seen a pair of speakers on the market that will deliver this kind of performance for $825. The sensitivity may also be a problem if you really like to crank your music up. However, I have no problems powering it with my Yamaha RX-V995 and it gets plenty loud without any distortion. I do notice if you really turn it up, the wood panel frame starts to vibrate and rattle, but other than that, the MMGs will eat up your wattage like there is no tomorrow. I am toying with the idea of modifying the speaker panels to stand completely vertical (instead of the tilt) and elevating the speaker about 8-12 inches on a speaker stand platform. I have heard this improves performance another notch. I highly recommend the MMGs. I would give them a value rating of 5 and an overall rating of 4.5.

clarity and soundstage

bass

Got this baby 4 months ago for Magenpan dealer and loved every bit of it... This Maggie can gives you a execellent soundstage much for the money. The Magnepan people are so sure that Audio listners will love it that why they offers 60 days full refund guarantee if you not happy it. I was one those who have to the offer and glad I did. I had a B&W DM603 and NHT speakers before and although it sounds great with good bass but it was lack of image and soundstage that I am looking for until I try this Maggie. I found that once you listner to the Planar speakers, you don't want to go back to BOX speakers.... Althoung this Maggie is lack of bass (Feq 50Hz-20kHz) but I found out you can fix it by placed closer to the wall (24"-28") you will get more out it or get a sub with it.
I used Adcom gears:
A pair of GFA-555II as a mono for each Maggie (800w @4ohm)
a GTP-550 preamp
a Denon CD with external D/A conveter
1m MIT T-2 interconnects
8' MIT MH-750 Plus speaker cables (shoter cable sound better)
B&W ASW 1000 Powered sub.
** My next upgrad will be the Magnepan 3.6R once I move to a big house.

Show me something at $500 that beats these puppies....

Ho hum....placement, amplification.

Simply put, for $500 show me another pair that has the clarity, soundstage, depth, imaging (and a slew of 50 more commonly used audiophile-type adjectives) that matches these entry-level planars. I disagree with folks that opine thier inability to reproduce 'rock' with the slam associated with MMG's. If properly matched with the right electronics, crossed over at arounf 70-80 HZ, and a good fast sub, even Trent Reznors new albums sound incredible (within moderate SPL lelvels)! One has to be able to distinguish between fast tight bass and distortion to truly enjoy what these speakers have to offer. For the novice? Lets call them High Definition speakers for now.
Ciao!

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ML's, B&W's, SF's, other dynamics in this price range.....

Dynamic sweet sound, smooth bass, sky's the limit soundstage, pin-point imaging.

WILL NOT go much higher than 95 db.
Really bad design on the speaker terminals.

Well, I had it for about 3 weeks.
Sounds really strange the first 3 days breaking them in on the hi end.
But after 3 days, really sweet sound, and really SMOOTH base to at least 50 hz.

The sound stage it's unblievably wide, a good 180 degree and maybe slightly more. But the sound stage it's still located at the speaker plain mostly. No behind the speaker soundstage I've heard some people talked about before.

And the BASS it's so smooth, you don't want to cut this out at 80 hz like that from a normal DD decoder. I'm running them full range right now, until I can get a decoder that will cut at 40 - 50 hz. I clocked them at about 95 db, but it seems they have problems with 20 hz stuff, when driving hard, they CRACK like hell. Like the beginning of track 11 on the Titanic CD, than again even my dual Advent AV550S, which are cut at 40 hz, make a lot of noise from the port with that track. FYI, mines are placed about 5.5 feet from the back wall and 3 feet from the side wall, in a 17 x 12.5 x 8.5 room.

They really like to be played loud though, the sound does not fatique even at over 90 db, very sweet. I'm driving them with the Audiosource AMP THREE with no problem at all.

Noone seem to have said this so far, but they are GREAT for movies, the true dipoles generate really good front background effects, box speakers cannot compare.

Last but not least, they are dirt CHEAP, what else can you buy at $500, they didn't even charge me shipping. Shipping or tax along cost 40 to 50 bucks, so, they really only cost like $460. Who sales full range ture dipoler tower speakers that sound anywhere close to decent at $460 a pair?

These speakers it's definitely better than the front speakers of my Carver Cinema 5.2 System, which I put in the back now. That costed me a grand after shipping at close out prices from onsale.com.

Best $500 bucks I've ever spent!

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Carver Cinema 5.2 system.

Sonic detail! It's an amazing value for $500! True audiophile sound.

Some people may desire a Sub on some music &/or home theater

I had been looking for "something different" in loudspeakers. I have always owned conventional cone speakers but I had heard many other types over the years.

I had finally tired of the cone speaker sound, and was yearning for something with more unfatiging, and with detail/elegance than are most, but not all, cone speakers.

In fact, when I began my search I had in mind to get an Ohm speaker, or an electrostatic, etc. I had simply had enough of the cone speaker sound and wanted to try something else. I had heard an Ohm (Ohm F, I believe) speaker system many years ago with their wonderful Walsh driver and they had been the best speakers I could remember ever hearing.

So I started researching audio sites on the Internet and came across AudioReview.Com. Sure enough there were postings for Ohm speakers, and the reviews were very favorable. I also "followed" the link to Ohm home site and found that Ohm now only sells direct.

Even though I had found the Ohm speakers I was initially looking for, I thought I should look around to see what else there might be out there. So I looked around and stumbled up Magnepan...fate smiled upon me for sure! My first thought was: "these guys are still making speakers!?!"

Then I began reading all the reviews on all the current, and past, models of Magnepans. Since I had already looked at the reviews of many other speakers, I was immediately struck by the passion expressed in these reviews, and the almost unanimous 4 & 5 star ratings. These reviews "resonated" with me...these people obviously had very similar thoughts as did I on what qualities made a speaker truly outstanding.

The preponderance, and quality, of reviews of Magnepans vs Ohm led me to switch to considering Magnepans instead. But there is only one official Magnepan dealer located in my state to actually hear the various models. So knowing about Magnepan's $500 try-me offer on the MMGs. I thought well here's a way to hear Magnepans in my listening room, with my music for 60 days...and if I didn't like them, I could send them back. I thought this is certainly worth the potential loss of the S&H fees should I not like them.

Well as all of you know that have/love Magnepan speakers, even the lowest MMG model is a "sonic revelation"(dittos for all the qualities that have been praised by others in this forum)...and for $500, it's an amazing value! However, I must admit that my very first impression was, as many have mentioned herein, they seemed to be sorely lacking in dynamics...I thought I had made a big mistake.

But, here's were perseverance really paid off! The longer I listened the more I began to love the "Maggie sound"! To paraphrase one reviewer here, it's though something finally "clicks" with your brain/ear connection with these speakers. Also, as many have mentioned, these speakers do require a long break-in for the "membranes" to loosen up. The mids/base dynamics have improved remarkably over a period of about 3 months, or about 100 hours or so of use...and they are continuing to improve even now!

Although the MMG's could certainly be all the speaker many would ever need, I found myself wondering (just what Magnepan wants from their try-me MMGs) how much better could the higher end Maggies be?

Well just recently on a business trip, I had a chance to finally audition the 1.6QR's, and the 3.6R's at the Audio Forest in Atlanta (I have to plug them for just carrying Maggies...though I wished they had the 20R's too!) The 1.6QR's were connected to Conrad Johnson tube amp and CD, & the 3.56R's were connected to Rotel equipment (sorry I can't recall the specific models on these now).

Yep, you guessed it, both of these also sounded marvelous...basically the same qualities as the MMG's...but just "more" of it. I'm now in the market to augment my MMG's with one either of these models. I intend to use the MMG's as the rear speakers for Home Theater. But I can certainly see why many people would never need anything more than the MMGs...or MMG's mated with a fast, quality, subwoofer. And if you had sufficient Amp power, it really makes you wonder what about a set of 2 or 3 pairs of the MMGs could do...3 pairs of MMGs would only cost $1,500....of course the Amp power required would cost much more...but I would love to hear such a setup, just to see what it could do!

Lastly, I'd like to thank all those who have contributed who have contributed valuable insights on these speakers! From just reading the reviews I know that there is a special "kinship" that all Maggie lovers share, and it would certainly be a pleasure to meet you in person for spirited discussions, and to revel together in the music "revealed" by Magnepan speakers. I certainly owe my awareness of Magnepan speakers to all of your thoughtful and heartfelt reviews. The only way I can think to thank you all is to list some of the music I've found that highlight the amazing Maggie sound that you might enjoy as well...from easiest listening, to hardest(I deliberately do not list classical, or jazz, as those folks usually already know what they like):

Sade - The "Greatest Hits" CD. Sensuous/sultry Latin/Carribean rhythms

John Secada - "Greatest Hits" (English version,or Spanish) Great vocal performances.

Black Lab - "Your Body Above Me" - Great rock/alternative music...with lots of "sonic candy".

Naked - "Naked" (smarmy name, but a GREAT L.A. band - rock/alternative CD)

Chalk Farm - "Notwithstanding" - Another almost unknown great rock/alternative music CD.

Stabbing Westward - "Darkest Days" - Only for those who can tolerate extreme rock...but chock full of amazing sonic details. A real sonic workout for your Maggies...and your ears. A great CD with which to demo Maggie dynamics...if you can stand it.

Hope you enjoy....Thx again to all!!!

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None

clarity of detail, excellent soundstage for their size
unheard of value for their price

light on the lowest bass
very placement sensitive

I've owned the MMG's for 3 years now and still love the sound. I'll never buy a conventional speaker again and would only upgrade to 1.6's or better. Their transparency is amazing for the price. Acoustic jazz, classical strings especially acoustic guitar sound more lifelike than any box speaker I've heard.

I added a Klipsch KSW 12 subwoofer recently only to capture the low pedal work in pipe organ music that was missing. For most music, however, including standup bass, their bass output is clean and precise without a sub.

My Carver 130 watt receiver has more than enough power to drive them to the sound levels for my listening room (14' x 24'). I chose to damp the treble a bit with the 1 ohm resistors.

I've found they're extremely sensitive to room placement (especially in bass production). In my setup they sound warmest at 10" from side walls and 20" from rear walls.

It's the best $500 I've ever spent on audio gear in my 25 years of audio fun. Some good examples of music to show them off are:

Acoustic guitars: Paco de Lucia/Al DiMeola/John McLaughlin
Rock: Alice in Chains-MTV unplugged
Classical: Stravinsky-Rite of Spring by Lorin Maazel & Cleveland Orchestra (great dynamic range and orchestral color--you can hear the musicians flipping the music in the quietest parts)

It's a real treat to listen to old stuff on these speakers. It's like hearing them for the first time again!

Value, value, value. Excellent clarity for the price

Where's the beef?

I have been using these gems for a little more than one year. I have no complaints and have been very enthusiastic about recommending them to friends with good ears. The clarity of these speakers is tremendous when you compare them with others in this price range. I was able to hear things I was only previously able to hear in my AKG headphones. You will need a very clean, powered subwoofer with these speakers though, not a very hard thing to find really. If your intention is to use these maggies for home thearer then you'll need to be sure to find a very good surround speaker set also. Anything with any "muddy-ness" will turn what could be a great listening experience into something simply ordinary. My one complaint is that I keep blowing fuses. There isn't anything more frusterating than wanting to listen to a good CD and then remember, "Doh! I need to go to Radio Shack!", It's like needing toilet paper...you know what I mean?

No sense repeating several of the preceding reviews...these are amazing speakers.

Setup, etc.,etc. See below.

The main weakness is not the speaker, but the site. Some of these people must need 24-hour care ("no flipper feet so I had to sit on cushions to get the sweet spot"???). And yet they'll let these people drive and vote.

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Energy, Pinnacle

Clarity, musicality, and all good attributes music lovers
raved about this speaker

Non-audiophile price and speaker posts

This is absolutely an excellent value for music lovers who can afford up to $2,000 for a pair of loudspeakers. After a few weeks playing music with the MMG, I noticed an increase in sweetness and more seamless integration between
lows and highs.

No bass? Listen to Copland's Third Symphony and tell me this baby doesn't kick ass. It does surprisingly well even with my 40W tube amp. And the bass it reproduces is nothing
ordinary, but high quality, close to real timpany texture.

How about its soundstage? With excelent recordings, it simply reveals more depth than anything I heard before, in different layers.

This is a no-brainer purchase I was lucky to make before they raise the price.