Clarity, imaging, truthfulness

Volume restrictions, amp requirements, can never buy a box speaker again

Not much to say except repetition of previous reviews. This line of speakers WILL spoil you for anything else in the future. I A/B auditioned Dynaudios at home, and couldn't wait to get back to the Maggie sound.
Five stars if priced at $1,200 to $1,500. Four stars at $2,000. Priced at $500? Add your own.

Just got my new MMG pair; i have an Aragon 4004MkII and a Wadia 6. I had before a pair of Tannoy GRF (tremendous bass frequencies, but lots of sound colorations and aggressive tweeter). My concerns were the bass with these new speakers; i wanted to buy the 1.6, but not available here. And $500 for the MMG was a bargain.Fantastic definition and transparency, no coloration at all, very delicate sound. The best medium/treeble i heard. Bass is not a concern anymore: i have tested with Bosendorfer piano CDs, bass and cello, the result is simply beautiful; orchestral music is a pleasure to listen to, not speaking of human voices. Little short with the longest organ pipes, and some lack of impact with jazz accoustic bass. Not a problem, because the fun you get 99.9% of the time is worth a shortage with deep bass. The Aragon has a very delicate sound with these speakers and the lack of sensitivity is a "plus" because it allows me to have the output level higher with the wadia, so i am getting a better definition. The Aragon also gives a lot of weight to the sound; it is a perfect match. The speakers can play loudly without problem. I have not been able yet to get an holographic sound; will play with the positions. I have not added the resistors they provide on my MMG, but i have a very big room...
Five stars with Classical music, four stars with Jazz and a BIG five stars for the price.

I have had my MMGs for three months now. Prior to buying them I was fortunate enough to have a dealer nearby where I auditioned all the maggies including the much venerated 20. I have been an audiophile since 1970 and have had numerous systems along the way. I am extremely satisfied with my Carver C1 Holographic Preamp, M 200t Amplifier, and SD/A CD. My listening room is 21 feet long and provides the requisite room to pull the MMGs away from the wall. I placed the MMGs about 3 feet out and keyed in the Door's "Riders on the Storm," To make a long story short, I was blown away! There was Thunder, Lightning, and Rain all around me - the sound stage was incredulous, the speakers disappeared and I was left with sweet music. 'Dead can Dance' comes through so accurately that one can tell the difference between the various drums used in mastering the CD. I could hear music to the side and rear of my seating position! I attended many live concerts and can honestly say that the maggies are the most natural sounding drivers I've heard in 30 years. Classical music takes on a new dimension with these and I am still rediscovering my CD collection. I can now concentrate on buying music instead of equipment/mapingo discs/specialized cables/cd pens. . . It's true, they get better with age and as you have read, they take some minor set-up time and require a very good amplifier to excell
but after all we audiophiles revel in set-up and tweaking for maximum response. They sound just as good as the 1.6QRs and in my opinion are only bested by the 3.7s and 20s. If room shaking bass floats your boat add a subwoofer, I have not found the need for one yet. One thing I can say for sure - I will never return to box speakers after experiencing these. The Future? The 3.7s are as close to nirvana as you can possibly imagine. I enthusiastically recommend these planar drivers and wished I had bought them sooner. Truly Five Stars.

Crisp, accurate lifelike sound. These speakers will bring out the strengths and weaknesses in your electronic components.

Little bass below 60 Hz., bass is too quick for most subwoofers to match

If you are looking to spend $1000 or less on speakers DO NOT BUY ANYTHING BEFORE YOU TRY THESE. Do yourself a favor and order a pair for home trial at magnepan.com. Music sounds real through these speakers. While there is little bass below 60 Hz. what is there is tight, clean and accurate. A subwoofer would help if you can find one that can respond fast enough no to muddy the clear sound from the MMGs. The only speakers I have owned and would rather have then these are Carver's Amazing Loudspeaker which cost almost 4 times as much when new. If you want to spend more than $1000 get a larger Magnepan model. TRY THESE, YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY!

Similar Products Used:

Carver Amazing Loudspeaker, many box speakers

Sound, price, size and required power compared to bigger maggies

say what?

Used to have MG-12's in my 2 ch system and upgraded them to 1.6's. After combining my HT system to use my 2ch system as the front, I longed for more maggie to act as rear speakers, but was short on cash 'til I stumbled on a nice set of MMG trade-ins.

System = Yamaha RX-V995 acting as AV preamp and driving the MMGs, Pioneer Elite DV-37 DVD player, Yamaha CDP using the 995's DACs, Front pre-outs of 995 feed a Bryston BP20 preamp (cassette, MD and turntable connect through this)that drives an Odyssey Stratos power amp for the 1.6's

Sound is fabulous. While the 995 can't drive the 1.6's without graininess and lack of bass, especially while driving another set of speakers, it can handle the MMGs nicely, using only 2 of it's internal amps (I'm using phantom center), and manages to blend beautifully with the Stratos/1.6 combo I'm using for fronts. I could also be happy with these as my main speakers if I had a smaller room (mine is about 14x25).

Similar Products Used:

MG-12 and 1.6QR

Everything! These are 'instruments', not 'speakers'.

None I can readily hear. If I had to be picky, the sweet spot tends to be very located, but this is OK if you sit and listen, like many people do.

Every positive superlative that has been spoken of here regarding these magical MMG's are true true TRUE! I am a recent convert to the planar sound, and there is indeed something magical and very real about their sound. These are very involving speakers with good electronics. Even with mediocre or old hi-fi units (I initially even tried a classic Marantz receiver from the 70's hooked up to them), they sound sweet and revealing. But they truly come alive when you can run oodles of hi current into them. I had an older Harmon-Kardon Citation amp that has decent headroom and current capabilities, and the dynamics and palpability of the music increased with the higher current amp. You are not going to find a more revealing and accurate speaker at the $500 price point, and probably even the $1K price range as well. The MMG's are the hi-end audio STEAL of the centuries (last century and this one)!!!

Similar Products Used:

Mission, Sonus, Meadowlark, nOrh

Everything! This speaker, being my first planar, is a revelation to me.

For 500 bucks, none. If I had to be picky, it is that the sweet spot is small.

This is my first foray into the sound of planars, and I am all the richer for it! Finally, I feel as if I have gotten one major step closer to the ideal of what a speaker should sound like!! This speaker, properly set up (a bit of toe-in and correct distance apart and from a wall, with a slightly acoustically live room), is pure MAGIC!!! It's resolving power is uncanny, and it's timbral accuracy is astounding. My favorite jazz and voice recordings sound like they are supposed to, finally, and piano through these speakers, er, I mean instruments, sounds so 'you are there'. These are the most detailed, fast speakers you are going to find for the money, but to think only $500 gets you well into the world of true 'high end' audio is amazing! Bravo Magnepan!!!

Electronics:
Audio Research preamp
Onkyo M-510 Grand Integra amplifier
Denon DCM-370 CD player w/HDCD decoding
XLO interconnects and speaker cable

Similar Products Used:

Hales Design Group, nOrh, Dynaudio, Sonus Faber (my other fave 4 in addition to the Maggies)

I've been meaning to write about these MMG's since the day I got em but thought I'd wait & critically listen. This site is what turned me on to the maggies in the 1st place. I've had mine for 6 months & yes they do get better with age & I would also say yes there is a hugely noticable difference when you try different speaker wires & also you can move em an inch & change the sound by a mile.Hey,tweeks are half the fun...you cannot go wrong with these guys. I'll soon upgrade to bigger Maggies in the front & put these in the rear but I'll never own another box speaker. When you hit the sweet spot they sound as good as great headphones.

It's really a "no-brainer" to buy these speakers... at 500.00 dollars, I would argue that this is the best deal in high-end audio, period. At the price point, nothing even comes close. I bought these with the 60-day garuntee as speakers for my downstairs system. I was using the B&W CDM1SE's as my "real" speakers. Within a week, the maggies were my "real" speakers, in front of 7,000 dollars worth of tube electronics, and the B&W's were kicking out the jams downstairs in front of 1,500 dollars worth of solid state gear. The littlest Maggies are flat out magical. I still love the B&W's and I think they are a deal for 1100.00, but for quiet, critical listening, I like the maggies. I'm saving for Martin-logan Aerius i's... but, the Maggies are making the wait easier. I feel like I'm getting a lot of the same holographic, 3-d sound I love the Aerius's for... the presentation of acoustic music with voice is stunning. On Lyle Lovett's "I love everybody" the acoustic bass sounds incredibly realistic.
considering that speaker design, by its nature, is a science of compromise, it's really hard to fault a 500.00 speaker that does a lot right for anything... but, ultimate bass extension obviously leaves a lot to be desired and they just won't play very loud... you need to drive them pretty hard to hear everything. Room placement is a problem, and the effect dwindles as you wander from the sweet spot to a degree where they can even sound a little annoying... but, all things considered, they have convinced me to not spend anymore money on box speakers. My next pair of birds will either be electrostatics (the m-l's) or bigger maggies with true ribbon drivers... as I prepare to enter the next level of speakers, price wise (@3000-5000.00) I can't see going with standard speakers.

a very solid 4 stars

easily 5+ for the price... meaning that, if as of tomorrow all 1000.00 and up speakers ceased to exist, these little maggies would be the only game in town.

I just have this MMG for a few weeks. I drive MMG with Audiolab 8000S which is quite powerful eventhough it's rated at only 60 Watts/Ch. From my experience, this pair of speakers is very truthful in terms of sounding and imaging.Build quality is first-rated. Since I don't have a dedicated listening room,
the acoustic condition is still a big factor in considering the true performance of this speaker. Overall sound quality is decent with a lot of
fluid and airy atmosphere. Not to expect a big punch or shaking bass but it's still acceptable.

The only cons are very thin bass and very fragile, you could simply destroy
the speakers by just simply slap it. Another complain is the speaker stand which seems to be shaky and can't be fitted with spikes.