[Chuckdog2005]

Let me preface this with the fact that I only have digital sources. I've not made the leap back to vinyl.

I struggled with the harshness that's very prevalent on several of my recordings. Resistor changes just seemed to muffle the sound of everything for me through my 1.7's.

I use a Marantz cd player with Cirrus decoding, and a Logitech SBT for streaming audio and to access flac files on a computer.

The Marantz does a very competent job with most cds, but some are near unlistenable at any level. The SBT playing my flac files would only exacerbate the original shrillness of the cds.

For me, the best solution so far has been an ESS Sabre based dac. I have a Peachtree Audio DaciT, connected to the SBT using the coax input, and the Marantz is using the toslink in. No resistor, just the factory steel, or whatever it is jumper?

I've been running this system for a few weeks now, and it's been an ear saver! Peachtree's claims of taming digititis seems to hold up for me.
I tried the Sabre based dac due to a recommendation from another thread.

I thought I would post this here for other newcomers to the wonderful world of Magnepans.

Finally a word of Thanks' to this forum, and the great information available for us! CD.

[SteveFord]

Thanks for posting this one.
I tried those resistors and didn't care for them, either.

[Letitroll98]

I'd have to agree as well.  I've never understood the need for resisters in Maggies, if anything I measure the treble as a bit reticent in my modified MMGs, and have noticed the same response in all of the quasi-ribbon Maggies I've heard. 

There is some complaint about a metallic sound that comes on around 5-7kHz, and you can measure a peak there in some rooms, but resisters aren't going to fix that without crushing the high treble overtones.  Just exactly the effect noted by the OP.  Get back to vinyl, upgrade your DAC, and treat your room acoustics, but I don't like the resister option.

[Chuckdog2005]

You nailed it. I have to admit that I do love the convenience of flac, but I don't mind trading it for the pleasure of vinyl.

My wife and I hope to be moving in the near future, and I'm holding off till then before going back to vinyl. My current environments floor just isn't solid enough for healthy light tracking of vinyl disk. (Been there, done that, back in the 70's.)

The dac has made a huge difference in my enjoyment of the Maggies, my system overall.

To me, adding the dac makes more sense than spending a lot of money tweaking speakers when they aren't the problem.

They simply faithfully reproduce and reveal every aspect (good & bad) of their source material.

[rollo]

  Our Maggies as well as many others have greatly improved by removing the steel "U" pin and inserting a piece of speaker wire. Helped a great deal taming the ribbons. Any good copper based wire or the same as your speaker cables. Nirvana jumpers worked wonders for us. Our Maggie 3As have 3.6 ribbons installed. Oh my !!
 Give it a try. Nice to know about the Peactree DAC thanks.

charles
SMA

[Robin Hood]

Do all Maggies have this steel "U" pin? It would seem that steel is a strange choice of material for something in the signal path of an audiophile product. Does any know why steel?

[Letitroll98]

  Our Maggies as well as many others have greatly improved by removing the steel "U" pin and inserting a piece of speaker wire. Helped a great deal taming the ribbons. Any good copper based wire or the same as your speaker cables. Nirvana jumpers worked wonders for us. Our Maggie 3As have 3.6 ribbons installed. Oh my !!
 Give it a try. Nice to know about the Peactree DAC thanks.

charles
SMA

Or just eliminate the jumpers altogether along with that nasty fuse.  Takes about 3 minutes to pull off the panel and rewire (Okay, the first one is 10 minutes, but the second one is 3 minutes after you know what you're doing).  Sounds even better than using a good jumper material.     

[rollo]

Do all Maggies have this steel "U" pin? It would seem that steel is a strange choice of material for something in the signal path of an audiophile product. Does any know why steel?

     Or nickel or ? Not 100% certain. However speaker improved the sound.


charles
SMA

[rollo]

Or just eliminate the jumpers altogether along with that nasty fuse.  Takes about 3 minutes to pull off the panel and rewire (Okay, the first one is 10 minutes, but the second one is 3 minutes after you know what you're doing).  Sounds even better than using a good jumper material.   

   Agree 100% best bet if capable.

charles
SMA

[pelliott321]

I agree with all of the above.  I know you have new speakers and probably do not want to void the warranty, but bypassing the jumpers and fuse will give you much improvement.
I rebuilt some Maggy III's a couple of years ago not have had a fuse in line for either the mid-range or ribbon tweeter and there has been no problem.
You can serach over a AA's planer forum and see that the general consensus is no fuses or no jumpers.   

[pelliott321]

As far as your DAC is concerned yes the ESS Sabre chip is a great chip and is slowly being adapted in many very high in dacs, its the audio section that you are really hearing.  All modern day dac chips are very good now but how the company deals with the power supply for the audio section and the design for the audio section is what really matters.  I do not have any experience with Peach Tree stuff. I know it gets good reviews. 
I built the Twisted Pear Buffalo II dac which uses ESS chips.  They presently have two different audio boards and many different PS's for one to build a system that fits the system that is going into.  I think it is pretty good stuff, sounds very sweet with signals from either my CD transport or my SB Touch.

[Ron D]

Would rewiring for negating the fuse also negate the need for jumpers simultaneously or are these 2 different procedures?

TIA

[Chuckdog2005]

I replaced the jumpers with a short piece of speaker wire this past weekend.

I crimped two gold banana plugs on, and snugged the set screws.

We'll listen for a while, to see what difference there may be.

Seems like those big jumpers and banana sized connections would better suited for something more?

I know they use what parts they have on hand. Oh well, who am I to second guess the manufacture?

[Chuckdog2005]

As far as your DAC is concerned yes the ESS Sabre chip is a great chip and is slowly being adapted in many very high in dacs, its the audio section that you are really hearing.  All modern day dac chips are very good now but how the company deals with the power supply for the audio section and the design for the audio section is what really matters.  I do not have any experience with Peach Tree stuff. I know it gets good reviews. 
I built the Twisted Pear Buffalo II dac which uses ESS chips.  They presently have two different audio boards and many different PS's for one to build a system that fits the system that is going into.  I think it is pretty good stuff, sounds very sweet with signals from either my CD transport or my SB Touch.

This dac does a much better job than the on board Cirrus of the Marantz, or any other that I've owned. It simply has a different presentation of the same material.

The upper mids are produced much smoother, cymbals sound more natural, and the bass is better defined. At first listen it sounded a bit subdued, but it really sounds better to my ears, especially over an extended period.

To my ears most all speakers reproduce a similar harshness from digital sources, not just the Maggies. I know the resistors didn't do anything positive for my ears. I want a more natural translation of the 1's and 0's.

The DaciT ain't perfect, but it does address my biggest complaint better than anything else I've tried to date.