spacious sound, satisfying bass, and very realistic sound on some music.

The amount of room required to set them up properly.

I bought a used pair of SMGb's and set them up eight feet apart slightly towed in, three & one half feet out into my 16' X 17' X8' heavily furnished & carpeted living room. Other equipment included a NAD 350 integrated amp ,a Marantz CD5001 CD Player, inexpensive 14 gauge stranded speaker wire, and inexpensive Radioshack connector cables. The sound was spacious and had plenty of bass, but after listening to them for two days I added an Audiosource 10" downward firing subwoofer crossed over at 60 cycles and experienced a slightly deeper bass. A subwoofer would not be needed with the SMG's unless you are an organ enthusiast. I listen primarily to traditional 30's & 40's pop, some classical, easy jazz and folk music. All of the above sounded quite good, with or without the subwoofer. However, the size of these speakers just took up too much space in my room. Additionally, I wanted speakers that have a more palpable sound, so I sold the SMG's and bought a pair of Totem Arros. I want to buy on the cheap, but concluded after hearing the Arros at The 2006 High End Show in Los Angeles, that I'd have to spend the extra dollars to get the more palpable sound I prefer. In conclusion, for $300 or so, the SMGb's will provide lots of happy listening if you've got a room big enough to accomodate them.

Similar Products Used:

since 1955 I have used: Altec, Electrovoice, University, Ar3a, Original Advents,
Bose, NHT Super Zero, Sound Dynamics RTS-3, JBL HLS 610, Audiosource SW10, Dana Sub1, and others.

Musical, Fast

None that matter except those damn awful binding posts that require an allen wrench. Get with the Program guys! A lot of us prefer buying our cables pre-terminated

A friend of mine moved from his house to a condo so had to break up and sell his secondary and tertiary systems. I had listened to his SMGc's and to be honest found them wanting. Maggies and most other true dipole speakers planar or dynamic, can be a bit disconcerting to most of us weaned on the usual designs. Perhaps because they have a way of energizing a room by moving so much air at any given point in time. I found the Maggies to be "Hyper-Real". center fill was rock solid but the "air" of the recordings, the ambient information sounded like it was out of a Skywalker Sound engineered movie soundtrack. It didn't help that improper setup can cause phase anomalies so intense that you almost feel you're wearing headphones with one channel running reverse polarity. Okay, I'm exagerating. Call it artistic licence. As other reviewers here have noted, they have little bass, can't play loud, have trouble with complex musical material and require a hell of a lot of power reserves because of its impedance characteristics. Why then did I buy them? For all of the above reasons ofcourse! You wouldn't buy a Ferrari F50 to pull your boat to the jetty and I didn't buy the SMGc's to play Mr.Audiophile. If I wanted a rock concert at home I'd go get Meyer Sound speakers and Crest Power amps, etc. I bought them for my bedroom, to play soft, soothing music to help me feel rested and (too much information coming up) occasionally get the missus in the mood. (Hey, call it the guy version of that scented candle bit they love to pull on us). Because when these speakers are asked to play WITHIN their limitations, they will perform. That hyper real thing? Fantastic while playing ambient house, or nature sounds while getting a massage! Can't play loud? So what, unless you grew up in Chicago living under the EL. Complex Material? Thermal Compression? Square waves from amp clipping? NOT relevant. As I said, they may not be transparent, uncolored, or dynamic BUT they can help you enjoy the MUSIC. If more of us so called enthusiasts and Audiophiles built our systems based on equipment characteristics in context with the intended utility in mind, a lot more of us would be happier people. The SMGc's paired with an ARCAM FMJ integrated and ARCAm CD92 do their job and therefore gets a 5 from this jaded dude.

Similar Products Used:

HT: Revel Performa F30, C30 Proceed AVP2 Levinson 23.5 Proceed BPA3 Energy Bipoles and Encore Sub Transparent Music Wave Cabling throughout. Music: Dynaudio Contour 5.4 Levinson No.332 ARC LS16 mk.II Arcam CD92 MIT Terminator 2 throughout Portable: Apple iPod 20Gig Acoustic Energy AEG02 Monster Cable iPod interconnect

Hey...to those that think Mags need to be far away from side walls...the most important area is behind the speaker...these are dipoles...meaning they are out of phase in regard to front and back dispersion...thus they emit very little sound FROM THE SIDE!...they need to be a good 4 ft from the back wall to get the depth you paid for...

This report holds for the SMGb as well as the later SMGc: they have much in common, the SMGc having a more rigid frame. The old SMGa has
a different tweeter and is bound to sound totally different.

Magnepan's SMGb is a small planar-magnetic loudspeaker panel, with
a planar woofer and Magnepan's proprietary Quasi-Ribbon tweeter.
Cost is $700 in the USA and $1700 in Europe. Europe default gets
a version with higher-spec passive components, the SMGb/SE.

In general, these little panels are musical and a joy to listen to.
Technicallyy they are inferior to $1000 dynamic speakers. I once
AB'ed them against the Magnat M-4 (for a magazine test): the M-4 was
more dynamic, had deeper bass, sounded cleaner, more 3D, less
coloured, easier to drive, and went much louder. But in the end,
the Maggies made more music. Simple.

Positioning is very critical. Start with at least 60cm from the (damped!)
back wall, aim at the listener, experiment with tweeter-in or tweeter-out,
and put them on short stands.

Totally contrary to Magnepan's sayings, they are difficult to drive.
A few experiences:

Cyrus One (30W UK integrated):
mushy, dirty, compressed, yet acceptably musical

Technics SU-4A (70W old Japanese integrated):
flat, liveless

LFD Zero LE (70W minimalist UK integrated):
musical, sweet, slightly soft-focus, spaceous, bass a bit wooly

NAD 214 (80W UK-Japanese high-current power amp):
dynamic, tight bass, 3D-imaging, treble a bit dry

Quad 405.2 (old 100W UK power amp):
soft, blurred, warm, 2D, lack of detail

My advice for an amp, depending on your tastes: something like the
LFD, the new NAD 317 (an integrated based on the 214), and perhaps
the Onkyo 9711 integrated.

In Europe these Maggies are competent, if only because they are
the cheapest panels available. In the USA they are a steal -
WHEN PROPERLY USED.

To all SMGc owners, welcome me to the club. My equipments are the following:
Amp: Exposure 4 / NAD 2600A
Pre: Carver CT-6 ( I know this suck! but I love BOB CARVER! )
CD: 5-Disc Yamaha CDC745 (everybody tells me to trash this too )
DAC: Esoteric (everybody would kill for this thing )
Tape: TEAC V3000 ( CD quality sound w/ ceramic tape )
Cables: Monster M1000 / M350 / Straight Wire / AudioStream Timeline

I love the speakers imaging, soundstaging and their clarity. Although
I will be better off with a slightly dead room. Ever since I met my future
wife, I turned my back against my beloved Maggies, I don't have the time for
serious listening anymore, but still these are good speakers for my taste.
One last note, I couldn't live w/o her so I have to push the maggies to
the background of my life. I may come back strong for AUDIO again after we get married this August. Pls. co-SMGc owners, PRAY for me!!!

I bought used SMGa speakers in 95 after hearing a,let´s they,typically demonstration at a dealers showroom:speakers close to the listener and at least 1,5 m from the wall. At home i was really dissapointed about
everything : lack of bass , no midrange , treble not open. It took a year,to solve everything and now it´s amazing
how clear , smooth and (surprise,surpise) dynamically they sound.What was wrong ?
1) crossover electronics : it´s only a LC ,by putting an Resistor of 1/2 Ohm between L and C everything get´s better
why ? it decouples the two foils a little bit and stetches the bandwith (but you loose warranty).
2)a major problem is the location : the speaker are now in th mid of the room .The staging is now perfect,especially
Jazzmusic with a few players is perfectly staged.
2)i added an sub
In my opinion these speakers are a bargain , but it depends on you to make them sound.

Hi there,
I have been listening to different Maggies for 20 years now. My wife always hated the big ones, so the SMGcs are a good compromise.
There placement seems not to be very critical. Keep them 3-4 feet away from the back wall , but avoid side walls. They make them sound hard.
Good amplifiers according to my experience are from NAD and Naim. Best results with Audio Research tube gear.
You can angle them inwards (tweeter on the inside), but placing them parallel to the back wall like the old Magnepans is sometimes better.
All in all they are an amazing value for money. High End indeed!

I have lived with box speakers up till 1997 (Acoustic Energy, Signet, B&W) but once I have positioned and identified the sweet spot for the SMGb, there is no looking back. My reference will have to be planar speaker.
I loved music and I have over 1,000 titles of vinyl and CD (maximum CD quantity is less than 200) and my vinyl collection (800 plus) dated as far back as 1959 (inherited from my father). I am a music lover, audio enthusiast and an audiophile (not judging from the equipment that I have) but as an interest.

Yes, the bass never goes below 50Hz but for sheer musical ecstacy especially if you like classical, acoustic jazz, vocals (James Taylor, Carole King, Suzanne Vega, etc) the Maggie is a dream. As mentioned earlier the positioning is very critical. Placed them at least 3 feet from the wall (if possible damped) and at least 6 feet apart. Depending on your room size I found the tweeter-in position to be the more desirable. Each speaker should be tilted slightly inward with both tweeters directly focus towards you. When Magnepan specify a minimum of 40W power handling they may be dead right. I have used the Tandberg 3008/Perreaux 1750, Musical Fidelity A1 and Creek 4040S2 but the best results I had was through the Fisher X-100A Integrated tubed amplifier.

I maybe wrong but something tells me that vinyl and Maggies are the perfect combination. The vinyl front-end is a Thorens 321/SME Series II 3009R/Elac Moving Coil or Goldring 1042 Moving Magnet. I seldom play CD and I could be biased. I am using the Denon DCD 695 and am planning to invest in a Studer. My favourite vinyl is Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays "As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls" LP (ECM-1 1190)(Side 2, Track 3, It's You). There are only 4 instruments on this piece, guitar (acoustic), percussion, bass and keyboards (piano and synthesizer). The bass is tight and midrange and treble is simply excellent.

The Maggies is an acquired taste. It is not something that you will like the first time around unless you are in a hi-fi salon. This is where your room is very important. Never, never be influenced by what you hear at the hi-fi salon with its specially acoustic treatment walls, and the near perfect environment. Your room should be the main driver of your speaker systems. It just happen that the Maggies fit it the current room that I have.

That's all.

SO STRANGE!I have been listening to SMGc very critical, when i found the best placement in my room. This is very important for Maggies, more than classical "boxes".

My Equipements:
AMP. : Cairn 4807, Dudek DPA 386 (Czech made power amps - Accuphase quality level)
CD player: DENON DCD 3000
Compare with: for example - Monitor Audio M3, Seas and Beyma top models in hand-made boxes, SONUS FABER GrandPiano, NAIM Intro and others..

And result? So simply.
MID/TWEETER range: YES, this is a touch of HighEnd....better than "boxes"in the same prize category. Except AUDAX HD3P tweeter.
BASS range: Ooough, there is some problem.....hmmm, something wrong, no money, no music. Range 50-100Hz: terrible experience. Excuse me, this is acoustical bass, violin, synthesizer or el. bass? I don't know, the sound is uniform.

OVERALL: With high resolution, excellent at high/mid frequencies, very good space and player illusions. Clear and true "musical" sound. Unfortunately, the bass sounds like from low-prized microsystems with an substitute system of bass.

(STRONGLY) RECOMMENDED FOR: GUITAR MUSIC, JAZZ

Hmmm, 3 or 4 stars ? What say my heart?

certainly the listening postition is critical, but rewards experimentation.mide band and vocals are superb. bass is a bit light on but suffices unless one likes to feel the music. speed of response and rythym is terrific. tonal quality very neutral. i auditioned them against mission 753 and 751, spendors, smaller duntech , and a couple of australian made speakers . present amplifier is a copland csa8, very seet sounds. previous music fidelity synthesis also good but a bit under powered