I must say that I'm fully pleased with these speakers. I currently drive them with a class a tubed amp producing only 12 watts! There are no signs that this little Audion amp should give any problems with bass control or the fact that the speakers are specified at 4 ohms. My theory is, that the planar magnetic design in itself is quite self-damping and therefore the damping factor in the amp is of less importance. I must say, that this combination is something to recommend! Of course, you cannot play extremely loud. But my opinion is, that if the quality of sound is at a very high level, why bother about the quantity of it? The dynamic expressions of this combo is even better than when I used them with a 60watts solid state...

I've had these speakers for nearly 5 years. They have excellent presence, but unfortunately, I will have to give them up. My listening room is pretty large, with an angular wall messing up the proper placement (which if you know maggies, you know about placement). Damn fireplace. Also, my amp hasn't been able to do them justice - a crappy Sony STR-D1020 with 75 "watts" (and I use the term loosely) in the front.
These are NOT for home theater.

My options at this point:

1. stick with the maggies and go higher-end on the components (get separates), drink the audio-geek Kool-Aid.

2. scrap the maggies and match up some new speakers with my Klipsch center channel, go for the mid-fi high-efficiency lifestyle.

In any case, I must either go audiophile or home-theater (audiophile home theater is not an option if I want to save my marriage). I am a sucker for disco-lights and digital thingies on my receivers, so the maggies have to go.
I still give them 5 stars for price/performance, but know what you are getting in to.

If I were still single, I would keep them just to impress the chicks, 'cause they really look cool. Best tune on Maggies: "Walk Between the Raindrops" Donald Fagan, "The Nightfly".

I have owned these speakers for over 5 years now and they still impress me every time I sit down to listen to them. I use them in a second system now driven by a NAD receiver and though they won't play quite as loudly as when I used seperates, they still sound wonderful. The top octave is rolled off a bit, and seems to end at about 15kHz. The midrange is spectacular, vocalists appear right before you. The bass is also very good too, with a suprising amount of it which extends to about 40Hz or so. Soundstaging is excellent as well, giving you a good sense of depth, height and width. Detail is superb, especially with strings and vocals. These speakers are not for everyone, though. They don't play to rock concert levels, they are definately "sitting down" speakers (when you stand the highs disappear), and they won't shake the house with bass. What they do have however, is everything else that is important and for me, that is what counts. Rating is for price/performance.

I have owned these speakers for nigh on eight years and have been pleased with them from the start. Originally had them hooked up to a stereo reciever (NAD 7000) and was not enough power. Eventually bought an amp (NAD 2400), and found the amp to help considerably. These speakers are power hungry and VERY sensitive to placement. However when everything is correct the listening enjoyment never gets tiring. Size of the room did not seem to matter as the speakers have very good sound stage. They play the highs and midrange capably but the bass never thumps. Overall these are good speakers; at the risk of being redundant, when everything is set up correctly one has the ability to really enjoy the music.

Magnaplanar SMGa: I first bought these maggies about a dozen years ago, when I wanted audiophile sound but lacked an audiophile budget. They were wonderful then, and for they remain even today quite special. Over the years I added some custom-built ribbon supertweeters, then a powered subwoofer, and upgraded my electronics. Now, I like my system better than some well-regarded $20,000 systems e.g., Meridian A6's). If you are starting toward an audiophile quality system, these are good speakers to start with. If you have a subwoofer and satellites, and want to replace the satellites with something more musical, these are superb. By themselves, to be sure, they lack the brightness and boom of many comparably priced boxes. But they have greater intimacy and transparency, and greater potential to remain central to your system as it grows.

I've owned a pair of SMGa's for many years and I think they're certainly terrific loudspeakers to introduce one into high-end audio. Although they've long been replaced as my main loudspeakers and now reside in my den, they still bring a smile to my face whenever I put on a great piece of music.
Before purchasing the baby maggies, I listened to more than a dozen loudspeakers in the $400-1000 price range and the maggies just sounded right. No, they're certainly not perfect, but very natural sounding. Much more so than every other loudspeaker I listened in its price range.

The points at which they excel are in producing a wide, deep, relatively uncolored and lifelike soundstage, with sufficient detail to sound convincing. The weaker points are the restricted highs, subdued dynamics and somewhat limited (but better than "bookshelfs" in the price range) low end. Although many true Magneplanar afficianados would shun the use of a subwoofer, when I added one, the sound seemed to really open up with better dynamics and of course, deeper bass. I still say the SMGa/b/c with a good, inexpensive sub will blow the doors off most loudspeakers in the $500-1200 range.

If you're looking for a truly musical, natural sounding loudspeaker which really puts most mini-monitors in their price range to shame, the SMGa is it. And they're a steal used for around $200-300!

I have had my 'little' maggies for something like 8 yrs now. A little boomy in the bass perhaps; but nice extension. Realistic reproduction of bass strings and excellent for all types of percussion. Highs are so smooth. Find they mate well with sub woofer.
Vocals very realistic - try Diana Krall. This shows their ability to reproduce piana well too with realsitic weight to the left hand.

I have used them with a Musical Fidelity B200 integrated amp (nice combination), a Kenwood KA 3020 SE (not so successful) and currently a pair of bridged Rotel RB 971's. This is a marriage made in heaven - try it and you won't be sad. Although the SMG a's don't need much power (I have used them with a 10 W per channel amp) they really do like to have a few Watts 'on tap'.

When listening to anything in Dolby surround the sound stage wraps around the room! Also - non hi-fi people always like the sound.

A final comment - massed vocals (eg Faure Requiem) stunning - you can hear each member of the choir's contribution.

Must be five stars. No doubt about it.

Love this little maggie. It's great for jazz and light classical music. Very detailed and the vocals are just unbelievable! A lot of my friends who are music major students were truly amazed by this speaker. It looks very cool and "hi-tech" too! A wonderful speaker!
Yes, the bass might be a bit boomy, but if you use it to listen to vocal or jazz music, man, this is the one! With such a price, you just can't find another better speaker. Highly highly recommended!!

Way to go Magneplanar!!! We love ya! Please give use more great speakers with great price. Thanks!

This baby maggie is truly a great value. If you are into jazz/vocal/classical/New Age music. This is THE speaker to get. It's NOT for loud music or heavy mental but it's really excellent for vocal/jazz music! Wonderful speaker! Must hear it to believe it. Looks very cool too. 6 stars!

SOUNDSTAGE, TRANSPARENCY, DEPTH

LOW END, PLACEMENT SENSITVITY

THE SMGA'S ARE AN OUTSTANDING SPEAKER FOR THE PRICE, ESPECIALLY IF YOU CAN FIND A PAIR IN GOOD CONDITION ON THE USED MARKET. I PAID $400 CANADIAN FOR MY PAIR. I HAVE LISTENED TO MANY SPEAKERS OVER THE YEARS, SOME WITHIN THE $1,500 - $2,000 PRICE RANGE - MANY DO NOT COMPARE. OCCASSIONALLY I CONTEMPLATE THE PURCHASE OF SMALLER
DYNAMIC SPEAKERS, BUT I ALWAYS GO BACK TO MY MAGS. I DRIVE THEM WITH A FIRST GENERATION CYRUS II INTEGRATED AMP, A REVOLVER TURNTABLE WITH A GOLDRING CARTRIDGE ($400 CARTRIDGE) AND STRAIGHTWIRE LASER 8 SPEAKER CABLE WITH GOLD BANANAS. WITH A GOOD SLAB OF VINYL ON THE PLATTER, IT IS INCREDIBLE! EARLY ORIGINAL JAZZ VINYL SUCH AS DAVE BRUBECK OR STAN GETZ IS WONDERFUL, BECAUSE THE MAGS REALLY SHINE IN THE MIDS AND HIGHS. THE LOWS CAN BE A LITTLE SLUGGISH AT TIMES, BUT GIVEN THE FACT THAT 80% OF FREQUENCY IS MID/HIGHS, I'DE RATHER HAVE OVERALL QUALITY OVER LOW END QUANTITY. I RECOMMEND HIGHLY THE PURCHASE OF A USED SET OF SMGA'S - IF YOU DON'T LIKE THEM IN YOUR SPACE FOR ANY REASON, NO LOSS - YOU WILL EASILY BE ABLE TO SELL THE SPEAKERS TO A MAGGIE FAN QUICKLY!