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

Similar Products Used:

none

great soundstage. even frequency response low cost upgradable with mods

flimsy frame complete crap terminals

these are the best speakrers i have owned i have not heard a box speaker that will match them i find they get plenty loud enough but i am not a headbager
i half expected problems of the coils separating from the mylar but they seem to be in good shape after all these years and what i am sure was a rough jouney here. i am so glad fedex did not harm these speakers more than the little cosmrtic damage they inflicted. the sound is open and pure. detail is good. mostly i like the accuracy and timbre of the bass.

The tone and the texture these present still leaves me listening long into the night.
With modifications maggies do rock.

power hungry, I think they need at least 200wpc into 8ohms to play open and detailed about 95db. The transients really need power to sound clean.

I purchased these on a whim, while I was waiting for some cabinets to be made for my diy line arrays. I found MUG(magnepan users group) and the lists of mods for these amazing speakers. Fuse removal is the first thing I did, just bypassing the fuse enhanced the upper registers. I then replaced the crossover components with sonicaps and a 12ga aircore inductor. The magic really started to pour out of these speakers. Next I sent my speakers to Peter Gunn, http://www.indiespinzone.com/other/smga.html, he built new frames and crossover boxes in addition to reworking the internal wiring. His work is top notch and these speakers just came back and the new frames make the stereo imaging most amazing. The lower octaves are also much reinforced by the use of PG's frames. This speaker become a true world class audiophile element after the modifications, for my near field listening and condominium(neighbors) I don't think there is a better choice.
If you see a set come up used they are repairable and tweakable.
These speakers changed the course of my audio journey 180 degrees.

Similar Products Used:

mapletree ultra se4 preamp
conrad johnson mf200 modded by musictechknowledgy
olive music server
luxman tuner
B&O TT

imaging, mid-range; works well with all types of music; price

bass is a sacrifice as is some treble. Cannot play too loud without problems Room placement

what can I say that can possibly add to all the positive reviews prior.....just that we are now finally upgrading from our 1990 Maggie's and we are finding other excellent speakers that do about the same, but with more bass response, can play louder and have more placement ease yet for significantly more money. Simply put, one cannot find better speaker value than this.

Similar Products Used:

Linn, Vandersteen 2ce, Revel m20

Realism, detail, musical, sweetness, holographic imaging, ease of placement, BASS!

None.

I'm sitting here with my laptop, listening to my 12 year old sMGas, enjoying them as much if not more as the day I bought them. As I read the various reviews on this site, I agree with most of what has already been said about these remarkable speakers, except for the most often repeated weaknesses. Bass and placement. I went through my obsessive purest audiophile stage years ago and finally realized it was hindering my enjoyment of the music itself. Back to the point, placement has never been a problem, what with these speakers being so light in weight that a 5 year old can easily pick them up and move them. When not being used for serious sweet spot listening they are against the wall, taking up far less room than any other speaker I can think of, since most would have to be carefully placed and left in their sweet spot. Face it, 99% of the speakers out there sound their best placed right where you're going to pull your maggies out to any way. Now, if one can set aside his silly audiophilanoia and employ just a touch of that unthinkable equalization....I know, it's hard to even say it. Just a touch of bass boost will not degrade the sMGa's sound one bit and you'll be amazed at how low these speakers can and will go. I listened to a pair of 1.6qrs a few days ago and could find no way to justify paying more than three times what I bought these little maggies for to "step up" to them. I can easily drive the sMGas to unsafe sound pressure levels with the little Adcom 535 amp that's two years older than the speakers. I get that 'oh so slight' bass boost from the bass adjustment on an Adcom GTP 400 tuner preamp. The Armor All, Rain-X and green paint markers are out in the garage with the cars, where they belong.

Similar Products Used:

I can't afford anything similar.

Detail, Detail, Detail. Near perfect mids and tight bass. Think this design may be better than newer small models.

Need room to breath. Get them off the walls! Look like giant scratching posts to cats. Bigger Maggies have more presence.

Let me start by stating that these are the first set of speakers I've purchased in years. In my early twenties I had a sony/bose digital only system that I sold for moving money, and have been listening to an awia bookshelf system since then. Well, at 33 I got tired of envying other peoples systems and started to audition everything I could. After seven months of 7.1 systems with DVD-audio players, I came to my senses and decided to go low tech. 2-ch system. Old school. (aka budget). After listening to B&W 603 S3, Totem Mites and Canton Ergo 22s, I stopped by a Maggie dealer. Fell in love. While I was trying to save money for a pair of floor model SM1s (hang on the wall) I friend showed me this 19 year old pair of SMGas. For a steal of a price, I bought them without even listening to them. Got home tonight, hooked them up to my 1979 sansui AU-517 integrated and my 1978 Denon DP2500 turntable and .....Oh my God!!!! These are phenominal. I'm using some Ratshack 16 gauge speaker wire with banana plugs hand screwed onto the speaker end. I'm almost scared to connect my CD player and upgrade my cable. The mids and highs are to die for and the bass was a really pleasent suprise. After reading reviews for the last few months I was convinced I would need a subwoofer, but I really don't feel like it's mandatory. I think I just lucked out with my rooms accoustics. I listen to a lot of 50s and 60s jazz, some classical and some rock. Stevie Wonder's Innervisions was beautiful. And Joe Jackson's Night and Day (Target and Steppin' Out in particular) gave me the bass suprise. I have hit that MOMENTARY musical nirvana, and didn't break my daughter's college fund to do it. SACD player next month.

Similar Products Used:

MG1s, MG12, 1.6 all auditioned at length.

Reproduction of piano, violine and voice

lack of bass, slightly lack of hights over about 18.000 Hz, placing

Small Maggie is great! Usually I built my loudspeakers myself. But after listening to the small Maggie I decided to buy them. I bought them use very cheaply and modified them. (If anybody likes to have an idea of modification, please cantact me, for free of course!) They are very plastic in a small room. They seem to be 9 years old but there is anything that is damages anyway. Best buy in my opinion.

Similar Products Used:

Sonab, IQ Level 5, Zombetzki Electrostatic Loudspeakers

Reproduction of human voice. long twangy things (guitar and violin strings, piano strings), and cool little percussion instruments

Very sensitive to placement, small 'sweet spot'
Need a large room to really sing If

I've had these circa 1990 SMGa's for nearly a year now. Bought them on eBay for $350 and I defy you to show me a better speaker near that price point! I did a lot of listening to speakers in the $800-$1,300 price range and have yet to hear anything that justifies coughing up the extra bucks.

I recently spent a long weekend with my brother's new 1.6 QRs, and while they were even more lush, expansive, and detailed, I didn't feel compelled to run out and plunk down another grand (and waiting 6 months) to get a pair.

I'm driving the SMGa's with a Bryston 3b, and I can get as loud and go as low as I need to. People who tell you Maggies don't have bass have not heard them properly stationed in the room. If you want to listen to techno at rave levels, look elsewhere, but for day to day kick drum, acoustic and electronic bass, these babies deliver.

You need to run some juice through the SMGas to really hear what they're capable of, and once they're singing, you need to be able to get at least 12'-15' away, with some room behind you to get the full effect. Not recommended for small apartments and cramped dens!

Recommended listening:
Reggie Workman "Cerebral Caverns"
Cassandra Wilson "Travelling Miles"
Bela Fleck "The Bluegrass Sessions"
Alan Parsons "On Air"
Anything by the Tallis Scholars on Gimell
Future Sound of London "ISDN"

Clearly a great value. Not the final word in sonic reproduction, but you have to spend buckets of money to find something distinctly better.

Similar Products Used:

Magnepan 1.6 QR

Musical, snappy, soundstage that goes beyond the listening room walls, very transparent, midrange to-die-for, inexpensive too

Lacks bass, binding posts could be better (minor)

I've had my Maggies for more than 10 years. These are one of the best values in audio. I'm a die hard fan of the Maggie sound. Once you've heard these sing in a properly set-up listening room, you'll never forget it. You'll find yourself listening to music for hours. It has a non-fatiguing sound that just puts you in a deep state of relaxation. And for all you detail freaks, these babies won't let you down.

When I put on Dusty Springfield's "The Look of Love", if I close my eyes, I swear she was singing right in front of me. Her curves, her supple lips -- it's not hard to imagine with the Magnepans. Whether it's vocals, jazz, classical or blues, these speakers will deliver that midrange magic that is the Magnepan signature.

My modest system: Arcam Alpha 5+ CD Player, QED custom dual-mono passive preamp (all Cardas wiring and RCAs), DB Systems crossover, Morel kit push-pull stereo subs (crossed over at 200 Hz), Hafler amp (subs), Quicksilver M60 amp (Maggies). Not all that "high-end", but my system will kick some serious butt (if you're into that stuff)! Analog gear is in the works.

For all you Maggie fans playing digital, experiment with passive preamps. Sound becomes bigger, deeper, wider, faster, and more sparkle. You'll be surprised at how much bass they can dish out.

I've heard the Von Schweikerts, Eminent Technology, Duntechs, top-of-the-line Infinities, and other monsters. None had the midrange purity of the SMGas. Maybe those salespeople didn't know how to set up those LOUDspeakers, but they all sounded unimpressive. (Can't say it was the electronics driving them--Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, Krell.)

No box speaker can come close to the sound of these planar wonders, unless you've got the bucks. Even then, you're better off buying its much bigger brother, the MG-3.6R or better yet, the MG-20.

Similar Products Used:

Acoustat (forgot the model), Dalquist DQ10

Very detailed. Excellent imaging. Perfect match for my vintage Stereo 70. Use a good, robust speaker wire for best detail and bass (I'm using 10-base-T computer network wire set up with 24 conductors per channel per speaker -- work's real nicely and is real cheap). You will forget you're listening to a stereo.

Sensitive to placement. If you're not willing to put the effort into properly setting them up, you'll miss all their wonderful attributes.

I love 'em. They're different and sound great. My musical tastes are jazz, classical, Bela Fleck, bluegrass, folk, Cajun, Zydeco, New Age, Celtic, some rock. They work great for all, but they're not for the person who wants thumping bass.