[michaelkingdom]

My system:

I play FLAC files via USB into an Outlaw RR2150 which I use as a preamp which sends the signal to a Behringer EP4000 (650w). The amp is powerful enough to make the MMGs really come to life.

My question is, what are some popular ways to round out the MMG's sound? I love the transparency and imaging but I am having an issue:

-> Sometimes singing voices seems to "beem" at me from the razor sharp center. Even at normal volumes, the center image can have moments where it blasts at me / hurts my ears.

My room is 12x16, carpeted, not many flat surfaces. Speakers are about 7 feet apart, I sit in an equalateral triangle with them slightly toed in.

What are some popular ways to attenuate the tweeter? Is that what I need to do?

Michael

[tshifrin]

I think many would agree that the most common way to "cure" the MMG defects are called 1.7s.

Tom

[Rocket_Ronny]

I don't know what problem you are describing but perhaps it is a bright frequency response as I have heard on 1.6s. If so you could try e.q.ing by pulling down frequencies 3 khz and up to taste.

Rocket_Ronny

[rollo]

  Sorry but it may not be the speaker. It is what is being fed into it. The Maggie will expose all good and evil. I owned MMG and 3As[ still kicking ] for a while back in the day. Older maggies can be bright with some components. sounds like ya need a bit of warmth there in the chain.
  Try a friends CDP or a tubed Preor buffer and report back. Or a different amp. Synergy baby.


charles

[Rclark]

Your room is roughly the size of mine. What you're describing, I actually enjoyed. However they were indeed extremely beamy with a sweetspot. You could tap them a quarter inch and it would make a HUGE difference in the sound.

Having them now modded, those beamy, tight characteristics are gone. It's actually hard to make them sound bad. You get even more clarity than Before, meaning you can hear deeper into the music. With the new crossovers there's a slew of other characteristics as well, but for your topic, I would consider getting them into frames if you like them and want to keep them long term.

For the heck of it last night I took them from their normal cardas position and moved them near the wall and wider and they still sounded awesome, something the stock modelcoild never do in the same way.

[pardales]

  Sorry but it may not be the speaker. It is what is being fed into it. The Maggie will expose all good and evil. I owned MMG and 3As[ still kicking ] for a while back in the day. Older maggies can be bright with some components. sounds like ya need a bit of warmth there in the chain.
  Try a friends CDP or a tubed Preor buffer and report back. Or a different amp. Synergy baby.

charles

I agree. It may not be the speakers at all. Could very will be an upstream component but you won't know unless you try something different in the chain.

[JP78]

I don't want to make this an SS vs tube debate, but I agree with rollo that with planar / ribbon speakers tubes can do a great job of softening (for lack of a better word) the upper midrange / treble stridency without feeling like you're losing detail.

Maybe you can buy a reasonable priced tubed DAC with a solid return policy, or steal one from a friend for a bit? I've not owned MMG but I have owned Apogee Scintillas, ML CLSIIz, and VMPS RM2. In almost every case, adding an old tubed dac (in my case CAL Alpha) fixed 'er right up!

Best,

[Rclark]

There is also that supposed component finickiness as well. I don't know anything about it as I made very serendipitous choices in source gear.

[Davey]

What are some popular ways to attenuate the tweeter? Is that what I need to do?

Michael

You need to add a tweeter attenuator resistor.  1.5 ohms minimum.

If it sounds dull to you after this attenuation, leave it alone and let your ears adjust.  You'll soon realize there is better balance and the speaker was way too "bright" stock (without resistors.)

Cheers,

Dave.

[josh358]

What Davey said. Ribbon tweeters tend to be brighter than dome tweeters because they radiate more sound to the sides. This can make it hard to listen to commercial recordings, many of which are mixed to sound bright. The MMG comes with two sets of tweeter attenuators, try those and see what happens.

[SteveFord]

I would throw some tubes and vinyl at them and see what happens.

[berni]

First steps that doesn't cost you a thing.
Check and try out some other positions of speakers, always giving them as much space behind them as possible. I didn't believed it myself, that this can make wonders come true
You may also try other amps or preamps(let by friends), but only one change at the time, so you have the overview what is happening.

[Rclark]

 forgot to mention, the stock MMG sounded awesome in my room after I did applied the Cardas calculator for planars and toeing in from there.

 Also, are your tweeters outside or in? In my room, tweeters inboard is far better.

http://www.cardas.com/speaker_placement.php?type=dipole

[I.Greyhound Fan]

I agree with others that it maybe due to your preamp or DAC.  Maggies need careful equipment matching.  Tubes go great with Maggies and allow you to tube roll to tailor the sound to your liking.

Here's a couple of things to try.  First try small changes in placement of the speakers, even 1" front-back or side to side can make a difference.  Also try changing the toe in angle. 

Another thing you can try is swithch the left and right speakers so that the tweeter is on the inside of edge of the speaker.  Magnepan recommends that the tweeter be placed to the outside of the speaker but some people find sound better with the opposite.-(sorry, I see someone posted this as I was posting)

If that does not work try the tweeter attenuation resistors.  1.5ohm's may be too much. (I use the 1 ohm resistors in my 1.6's and 0.75 in my MMG's) Magnepan now has 1 ohm 25 watt wirewound NTE resistors that they would probably send you for free.  I recently called them up and got a pair.  You can try even lower value's like 0.5 or 0.75 ohms.  The lower values attenuate less.  Just subtle changes in tweeter attenuation can take away some High Frequency edginess. The are NTE wirewound resistors can be bought from several places.-

http://www.moyerelectronics.com/Departments/Products/NTE/NTE-Resistor/NTE-Power-Wirewound-Resistor/25-Watt-Cermet-Power-Wirewound.aspx

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/NTE-ELECTRONICS-25W1D0-/25W1D0

http://www.galco.com/scripts/cgiip.exe/wa/wcat/catalog.htm

http://www.onlinecomponents.com/parametricsearch/passive_resistors_through-hole-resistors.html?p=1

One last thing to try is tilting them forward a bit.  I found the sound to be better tilted forward and even raised off the ground a bit.  I will be making new stands for my MMG's this spring.

[Æ]

I agree with others that it maybe due to your preamp or DAC.  Maggies need careful equipment matching.  Tubes go great with Maggies and allow you to tube roll to tailor the sound to your liking.

Here's a couple of things to try.  First try small changes in placement of the speakers, even 1" front-back or side to side can make a difference.  Also try changing the toe in angle. 

Another thing you can try is swithch the left and right speakers so that the tweeter is on the inside of edge of the speaker.  Magnepan recommends that the tweeter be placed to the outside of the speaker but some people find sound better with the opposite.

If that does not work try the tweeter attenuation resistors.  1.5ohm's may be too much.  Magnepan now has 1 ohm 25 watt wirewound NTE resistors that they would probably send you for free.  I recently called them up and got a pair.  You can try even lower value's like 0.5 or 0.75 ohms.  The lower values attenuate less.  Just subtle changes in tweeter attenuation can take away some High Frequency edginess. The are NTE wirewound resistors can be bought from several places.-

http://www.moyerelectronics.com/Departments/Products/NTE/NTE-Resistor/NTE-Power-Wirewound-Resistor/25-Watt-Cermet-Power-Wirewound.aspx

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/NTE-ELECTRONICS-25W1D0-/25W1D0

http://www.galco.com/scripts/cgiip.exe/wa/wcat/catalog.htm

http://www.onlinecomponents.com/parametricsearch/passive_resistors_through-hole-resistors.html?p=1

No reason to buy them online when any (decent) local electronics parts store will have them too.
You can skew the crossover frequency if you add too much series resistance.

[I.Greyhound Fan]

I checked the NTE web site and there are not many companies that carry the NTE wirewound resistors.  But it is worth a try to find them locally.  Certainly you can try other brands and types.  Mundorf makes some nice one's at about $15 each, but you won't get any better sound using them.

http://www.madisound.com/about/resistors.php

[Æ]

I checked the NTE web site and there are not many companies that carry the NTE wirewound resistors.  But it is worth a try to find them locally.  Certainly you can try other brands and types.  Mundorf makes some nice one's at about $15 each, but you won't get any better sound using them.

http://www.madisound.com/about/resistors.php

PartsExpress sells some good audio/crossover grade Dayton and Mills resistors!

Fortunately for me I live in a big enough city, that has local suppliers. There use to be even more stores, but since the economy took a dive, several stores have closed their doors.

I'm mostly a fan of Vishay/Dale resistors.

[Crimson]

Stay away from attenuating resistors. They remove a lot of information.

Toe them out an inch.

Problem solved. 

[Æ]

Stay away from attenuating resistors. They remove a lot of information.

Toe them out an inch.

Problem solved. 

Toeing them out might do the trick, but it could also upset the soundstage.

What if though the tweeters are indeed 1 or 2dB hotter? Then attenuation should seriously be considered.
Has the OP actually determined if it is the tweeters that are actually too loud or just maybe his listening room is too lively?

[thunderbrick]

 I've had good luck with resistors taming a bright cartridge.

I didn't believe people, but moving the ribbon tweets to the inside helped a lot.

AFA room issues, can't help you there, but a tube pre is soooooo nice!