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Having owned Maggies in the past, a pair of lowly 2c's from the early eighties, I can say they are just damn fun speakers. I have Merlins now and while they spec out far better, I just don't love em. Maggie's always made me smile. However, Maggies while getting the sound of bass correct, do not have that gut punch that many rock fans want. Whether you can achieve this with a sub is beyond my knowledge. Theoretically yes, but will require right sub and some tweaking. Unless you are made of money, most things in audio are a compromise & for me the Magenepans just get 95% of it right. I will own another set someday. You will need good high current power amp(s) too.And yes, room treatment is important. I think Maggies are a little more forgiving actually than traditional speaker in this regard, but once you start throwing in subs, then you have to start thinking about bass traps.Don't want to derail thread on sound treatment, but I know it sounds crazy to 'trap' low frequencies when you want bass, but to get tight punch rock bass, you can't overload the room with a bunch of low frequency crap. And it's really easy to overload a small room. In other words, you want that initial impact wave from the speaker....and then you want it to go away. If not, you end up with a muddy mess.BTW; There are, of course many fine conventional speakers out there. Odyssey's Lorelli is fantastic and somewhat less expensive than the new Maggie 3.7i. I love ProAc and Harbeth, but they are really pricey.Best wishes.
You can't comment on my system till you hear it. Hopefully a couple of my AC member friends who have Maggies and heard my system will chime in.
Im with you re "out in then middle of the room" - the "best" is the enemy of "good enough". And Maggie's do so many things so well that they spoil you against anything else - especially anywhere near their price. Loads of power : another myth. All depends on how close and how loud you want to go. If you want to rock out at stadium levels, then yeah, a 200WPC+ amp is ideal. The 3.7s are not that much bigger than 1.7s. Most want 3.7s because of the supposed advantage of the "true ribbon" vs the VR one. I don't know in the end whether there's a huge advantage in getting more HF resolution / detail vs the cohesion advantage of going all VR with the 1.7s. For me : I'd put the savings into two good subs. Yeah - you need good fast sealed subs. I'd stick with JL Audio and REL - and in particular with JL as they are the best built and have the best after sales service and highest resale value if you decide to upgrade. I'd get minimum "e-sub" level with "fathom" being ideal. Enjoy - and remember & give thanks these holidays to your friend - sounds like he was a great one!- 1.7 owner 3 feet from back wall using 75WPC & 125WPC Conrad Johnson amps & REL T9.
Once the speakers are purchased what is your budget for the rest of the stuff?
3' out is room enough. Will they sound better at 5', yes, but they don't sound bad 3' from the back wall. I keep mine 3' from the back wall. But I am using 1.6's not the 3.7's. Moving them out further in my 17x17 room gives some improvement in sound but it is not a dramatic improvement. They still sound great. Of course, each room is different and user experience may vary.
I was also originally considering the Martin Logans. So many people steered me to the Maggie 3.7's though, and I really loved what I heard at the extended demo. Given the number of people who feel my room isn't big enough, however, perhaps I should seriously reconsider. The previous generation Martin Logan Montis (just now replaced) are available at a huge discount, brand new, from a couple authorized dealers. They are also Stereophile Class A in their newest rankings so they must be very good. I also believe I've heard they do rock better and was told by a dealer that my room was certainly large enough for them. The problem is that Martin Logan discontinued them close to a year ago, so there is no stock left to audition, and I would be buying blind. Not my preference.
Wow! ML's sound totally different than Maggies. If you like them, go for it. If you have the room to pull the 3.7's out from the wall, they could work in a near field set up.(just concerned that they could overpower the room) Just make sure that you have an amp and preamp that sound good at lower volumes. I had a Pass X1 preamp that sounded great at low volumes, much better than my BAT. But the BAT beat it at average and louder levels.AVA Synergy amps also sound great a low levels. You may want to consider a 600R or the much better sounding AVA 850 monoblocks.
