I have had my SMGa's for about 20 years. I bought them second-hand on eBay. They had - and continue to have! - a bit of a rattle in one speaker when the volume is cranked a bit too high. Something I've been meaning to fix for about as long as I've owned them. It's clearly not bad enough to destroy the listening experience in most cases if I've been able to put it off this long.

I just wanted to put my 2¢ in on these because they've been so satisfying to me for so many years. I drive mine with a vintage NAD 3150 integrated amp. My original intention had been been to use the 3150 with my 2150 power amp, each driving a single "side" in bridged mode (125W/ch). Due to an apparent component failure within the 3150 power amp section, this was not possible (never got it repaired!). But I had the 2150 there so I've just been using the 3150 preamp outputs into the 2150, and driving the SMGa's with the 50w / channel that that produces. It has been more than adequate.

My living room is about 12x20 ft, 8.5 ft ceiling height. The speakers are on the long wall, only about 2 ft away from that wall. It was the best I could do given the use of the room.

The realism of the sound is nothing short of remarkable. It always catches my dog off-guard; she's sure that there's someone behind that speaker! And that's the perception that humans have too. If you want something that can magically transport you to another place, listen to a well-made live recording with these. I'm sure the more high-end models provide even more "bang," but for the "buck," in a budget audiophile setup, you'd be hard pressed to do better than these.

Hi,

I'm going to demo a set of these that are listed for sale in working condition... seem to be a decent price too.

The person selling them no longer has them hooked up, I plan to install them in the basement using an old amp that I no longer use... Pioneer Sx6 old 80s receiver... I believe rated at 45w at 8 ohm.

I'm a bit of a noob here, would this amp have enough power to drive these speakers? I listen to pretty much all types of music at a decent volume at home...

Tks!

I have used the Magnapan SMG a speakers constantly for over 25 years, and I would never give them up.
Prefer classical music, especially opera, and they have delivered for over a quarter of a century.
Bravo!

If you have ever listen to any manapan they are one of the best speakers I have ever heard. I saw a review of these speakers that they lose their sound quality, I have had my speakers for 30yrs they sound great even today. The bass and highs sound so good, if you need more lows buy a subwoofer. When I first bought the mags the sound was good but after a year they started to sound great maybe it took break-in of the mylar plastic. They also pair great with other speakers. The best is they don't sound like a box speaker.

Picked up a pair of SMGa's off Craigslist (Love that site) last week for $50. the tweet wires were good, the mid-bass wires were coming loose at the ends, still sounded fantastic. Fixed the wires. Have them hooked to a re-capped Yamaha P2201, Onkyo P-3060RS preamp, moded Rega Planar 2 TT. Bottom line, Awesome sound. I like these better than my AR9 monster speakers. Wide sound stage, But the do have a sweet spot. They do sound fine on the low end, but I have a powered Velodyne sub to give them just a little more umph at the bottom. I you get a chance to listen to a pair or to buy them, do your self a favor and go for it. IMHO you will never go back to box speakers.

These Magnepan SMG-a's are truly outstanding dipole flatpanal loudspeakers which sound more spacious than closed-cabinetloudspeakers !!!!! In my 24m2 livingroom they produce a clean livelike sound that never gets boring or tiresome after hours of wellspended listening-sessions. (No more boom-boom bass / droning : what a huge relief) !!

Despite all the hefty widely spread rumours on the internet that "Maggies" would lack bass and that they would sound lean and dull : I must heavely complane / disagree and argue for
the better cause, because it is absolute undefinable rubbish !! With the right powerfull amp &
the right loudspeakercables you are actually in audio-nirvana : wonderfull musicmakers !!

These remarkable magneto's ;-) are in anyway value for money : you will have a hardtime finding a pair of loudspeakers for the same amount of money that will do the trick as good
as these sweet-sounding girls !! These lovely maids put a smile on my face over and over
again untill at last they will outlive me as I will grow old and finally die happy happy happy ;-)

Highly recommended !!

Kind regards, Quadrupp.

I found my SMGa's in the trash! Someone had laid them out to the curb with other stuff they were throwing away. My buddy who was driving slowed down when I alerted him, but quickly sped back up and said, ' Aw' you don't want those old office partitions.' I said, 'No! Those are Magnaplanars!' Luckiest find yet. I took them home that night 7 years ago and to my amazement they worked perfect. I had no reference to go by except my equally awesome pair of ADS L-500 I'd bought at a local thrift for $5 each. The first thing I discovered was that in my smallish room of 8'x 10' the SMGa's sounded as if it was like having the medium bookshelf size L-500's in a much larger room, placed back several more feet, and turned up to a nice full volume,but the intimacy of the SMGa's took my breath away. As a musician with a somewhat acute sense of hearing my ear always seeks out the subtleties. The SMG's delivered every nuance from the first listen.
That night I was so pleased I cranked them up and after about an hour of listening I decided to go out in the hall to see how much it disturbed others in the house. As I exited the door and shut it behind me I was shocked at how quiet it was outside of the room with the door shut. That's when it dawned on me that by design these speakers don't operate the same way as conventional speakers in that the larger area of the sound footprint on the SMG's is already in tact as it leaves the surface so in effect it doesn't have to have the same pressure level as a cone speaker with the same sound footprint when it arrives at the listener. This seems to go against the common agreement among users that Magnaplanars take more wattage to get as loud as conventional speakers. Actually this makes sense because by definition the word 'loud' is used to describe the physical intensity of a sound. Since the surface area of the speaker is larger it requires a larger amount of energy to deliver it, or accelerate it, to the ear. This is where it gets very interesting to the audiophile because although there are set scientific ways to describe sound, how it is perceived and ultimately appreciated is entirely in the ears of the beholder. I imagine there are tests that can be made to determine which types of music are more conducive to the pressure levels set forth by said speaker, but again it's subjective.
I play organ. There are as many types of organ music as there are speaker types, maybe even more. So when I listen to the organ on the Magnaplanars I am very pleased because whether it's a big church pipe organ, a theater pipe organ, a Hammond tone wheel organ ( like a B3 & Leslie speaker combination), a Wurlitzer electrostatic reed organ, or even the latest digitally sampled virtual pipe organ played directly through the SMGa's...they all sound great! I've also played my Wurlitzer 4410 electrostatic reed organ directly through the SMGa's and the organ sounds very sweet with every little key click and overtone. Now if I can just figure out how to build a Leslie out of one! LOL

Hi everbody! Sorry but I'm new of the field... A friend of mine finds Magneplanar SMG-a fantastic and he's going to buy a pair of them from a private seller. He needs help but he can't speak English. He can’t find any images of this model in the Internet which are the same as the loudspeakers he is supposed to buy. As he wonders if they could have been changed at least externally in an unsuitable way, he's looking for some photos of the original Magneplanar SMG-a model and would be pleased if you could kindly let me know your opinion and advise on the matter. I don't understand how to publish photos here, so I put some on facebook (Daniela Barbieri, icon orange flower, Marano, Italy)
I thank you very much indeed in advance for your precious help!!!
P.S don't consider product model year, 'cause I don't know it

Clarity and realism...hard to go back to "boxed" speakers

Good company support of an older line...will repair and return in a timely fashion

Network of modifications available (ie stands, tweeks and cross overs units) with a growing fan base

Needs a large amp to really sing, found solid state amps to work the best (ie adcom 545II)

Sweet spot is small need to play with speaker placement more so than other speakers i've owned also needs space to really breathe

Stands are a bit cheep and an after thought

Even before these speakers were refurbished by Magnepan (for less than $200) these SMGa's really sing...one word realism...everything sounds like they should, the kick drum,snares, guitar and bass all sound real and palpable. They really shine with jazz and vocals but holds up well even with head bangin rock n roll. I've tried many speakers in the past and nothing comes close at this price point. It is a wonderful and inexpensive way to get into true "Hi Fi".

Customer Service

excellent customer service

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detail great timbre and tightness to the bass good integration from range to range
if you can get far enough away soundstage is great

i want to like box speakers but will never go back; these are much better

some day i will hunt down some old appogees

voice is a bit recessed; god how i wish i could afford a couple hundred watts of tube power speaker connections suck alot the std legs are a joke

i doubt that these will be repairable if i blow the tweeters ( i have bypassed the fuse protecting them to great sonic advantage)

very clear and accurate speaker;best i have owned. not for a small or large room. best to be 12' away or more for the drivers to integrate best to have 4'away from rear wall or more. not for headbangers but plenty loud for me

a great bargain on the used market i trie a 70 w 4 ohm amp and it did not cut it
300 watts worked alot better; again, i am not a headbanger and seldomly exceed 85 dbaverage levels.

good for all types of music and upgradable with mods. mine did not buzz or rattle despite thier age

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