[medium jim]

Probably been asked here before, but I'm really curious why with all the speaker choices that you ended up with whatever Planar you own. 

Back in the early 1970's, I was a teenager who was getting into stereo and by the time I was 17, I had a real nice system, a pair of older A7's VOTT's, that were driven by a Phase Linear 700 and Phase Linear 2000 Pre and a Thorens TT with a nice Shure Cartridge.  To say the least nothing like what I own now.

The funny thing was that there was this encounter with a pair of Magnepan's that never left me. It was sometime in 1974 and I was at a friend of a friend's house and music was playing that sounded pretty amazing, but I didn't see any speakers.  I finally asked, where are the speakers and the guy said their right there, pointing at a pair of room dividers?  I thought he was pulling my leg!

Fast forward to 2008 when I got back into audiophile quality again and I ended up with a pair of 1.6qr's that sounded great with a pair of subs, but I was underpowered with my Jolida 50wpc tube integrated and I went into a different direction.

Several months ago I saw a pair of 2.5rt's that I bought for $400.00 that I replaced the ribbons and did some light delam repairs on and haven't looked back.  I know they're not the best speakers out there, but to me they are, maybe it is a bit of synergy with the rest of my system, or a little bit of divine intervention that brought them to me.

I've auditioned many a fine speaker in the 10K and over league and with great amps and still would keep the 2.5's.

Josh360 found a review of the 2.6's (identical to the 2.5's with a newer X/O design) wherein the reviewer noted a chance encounter with Jim Winey who told him that the 2.6 was probably the best speaker he ever built.  Who knows if that is true or not, but for some reason I believe it!

I wish now that I hadn't waited 34 years between my first encounter to ownership!

Jim

[josh358]

When I was a kid, I had a pair of Dynaco A-25's, and then, when those were stolen, a pair of AR-11's. Back then, I still believed the Julian Hirsch measurements mantra. Imagine my surprise when a friend scored an old pair of KLH-9's, and I got to hear speakers that created a real, three-dimensional image, and were far more detailed than anything I'd heard (except for the Quad 57's I'd heard at a store when I was younger, but those sounded terrible, hissy and tinny, for reasons that obviously had nothing to do with the Quads themselves). That sold me on planars, at a time when there really was nothing in a box that could compete. Not long afterwards, I discovered Stereophile, and then subscribed to The Absolute Sound when that appeared. That's where I learned about Maggies. I ended up buying a slightly-used pair of Tympani 1-D's from a guy in New Jersey for $700, and they blew me away. At that time, they were the only Maggies I'd ever heard! Later, when I had an opportunity to hear the smaller models at Lyric, I remember wondering where the bass had gone.

I still love the planar presentation. Dynamics have gotten much better over the years, but there are some things only a line source can do, and to get the kind of naturalism you get in a planar from dynamics you generally have to spend a lot more. And it's naturalism I'm after, since a natural-sounding speaker can do a good job with both acoustical music and studio pop -- sometimes, too good a job with the latter, since you hear all the artifacts on poor recordings. And home theater, Maggies are the best theater speakers I've ever heard -- in my experience, realism adds much more to the impact of a movie soundtrack than boom.

[I.Greyhound Fan]

I first heard a pair of Maggies back in the early 1980's and have been smitten since then.  I love the live presentation of vocals and acoustic music.  In addition, they are a lot of bang for the buck speaker.  I own a pair of 1.6's and MMG's and there is not much that can compete with them in their price ranges.  There are other speakers that I like- Salk HTR-3's, PSB Synchrony's and Theil 3.7's but those are $5K+ and they still can't give the same live sound as my Maggies.

[NIGHTFALL1970]

I bought a pair of Apogee Acoustics Centaurs in 1990 (at age 20) that I loved for 20+ years! One of the ribbons desintegrated and the cost to replace was more than the original cost ($1800)!
I had no speakers when I bought my house for a year! Then I remembered that a friend said that the closest thing to Apogee were a company called Magnepan.  I ordered the MMGs and loved them. After a year I sold them and upgraded to the 1.7s. They have a very revealing sound. I don't feel like I am listening to a box.

[Rclark]

Was inches away from building a highly regarded box speaker, was bored with box speakers, started reading about planars, got hooked on the possibility of ultimate sq. Found out about Magnestand, the improvements made a lot of sense, bought some MMG's, listened to them for several months, got used to them, got them Gunn'd, and was blown away by the upgrade. Upgrading their power to Ncore modules and upgrading the front end from here.

[jtwrace]

Was inches away from building a highly regarded box speaker

Care to share which one?

[Rclark]

N3's

[Rclark]

I might go a different direction next time and build some X-Otica's if they aren't stupid expensive.

[Davey]

There's another Circle for Danny Richie discussion.

Planar speakers do a lot of things correctly.....and their concept is robust enough that even if the implementation is butchered you can still get a decent result.  The drawbacks you can't do anything about, and the good aspects you can (sometimes) tweak in an improved direction.  It's a superior platform in many respects but ultimately...limited.

My first experience with planars was listening to a set of Tympani IV's back in the late seventies.  A wild experience that was really "out-of-the-box."    I listened to some other planar speakers through the years....KLH-9, Quads, some other Maggie models, but I didn't purchase a set until 1986 when I dropped some coin on Apogee Duetta's.....after listening to a pair Scintilla's.  Very nice speakers that I used/abused for a number of years.  (I still have them.)

MMG's came later....about ten years ago.  I've owned four set of MMG's since then.  A terrific speaker for the money that can be fiddled with extensively. 
I've listened to Tympani's, 3.6's, 1.6's, IIA's, and a few others I can't remember, but MMG's are the only ones I've actually owned.

Unfortunately, I have many other types of speakers around the house too. 

Cheers,

Dave.

[steve k]

I first heard some Magnepan Typmani's back in the late 70's at a local dealer. My first reaction was the sound was coming from the wall behind the folding screens. The source was a dbx encoded LP running through a nice vinyl rig and tube front end and tube power amps. I was mesmerized by the size of the soundstage and the depth of the image. I had never heard anything quite like it before.

Fast forward to the early 80's, when I got out of college I bought a pair of DCM Time Windows because of their large soundstage thinking I couldn't afford Maggies. (Still have them BTW). When I heard about the MMG factory offer, I jumped. I was amazed at the soundstage something this size could produce. I've been addicted ever since. I've used MMG's with a sub, MG-12's with modified crossovers and finally IIIA's which I've heavily  modded over the years. I'm still amazed at how well they reproduce the tone, attack and decay of acoustic instruments (I listen to mostly jazz and classical) and how much they disappear, leaving a solid image from speaker to speaker.

Yes they have their faults but I'm willing to overlook them for all the things they do so well at a fraction of the cost of comparably performing box speakers.

steve

[satie]

My first real audiophile experience was in my teens at my music teacher's and that was with a Quad original ESL with sub, and a Dahlquist DQ 10 powered by mac tubes.

Outside of the great Altec VOT and Klipschorn nothing else ever impressed me more than the planars and the time aligned speakers - though one bit short on imaging (height) and detail.

Magnepans were a good choice to upgrade from my disintegrating Vandersteen 2Cs as they had endless tweak potential and were much more affordable than the larger ESLs and Apogees. The Tympani cost half as much if not a third of what I found attractive in ESLs and Apogees. But since then, ESL prices dropped some and Tympani have retained their value (assuming performance has been maintained). But the magnepan service makes for a great help that is more difficult and costly to obtain for Acoustats, Soundlabs, MLs, and Apogees, and is the final clincher for me.

My first choice - given no practical or financial limitations - is an updated Apogee full range, Scintilla or Diva. Second would be an acoustat 4+4, or 3+3 or their spectra successors.

[medium jim]

Hi Satie!!!

I agree  about the Altec VOTT's, that was my speaker of choice back in the 70's, simply an amazing speaker that is timeless as are the KlipschHorns.  I've heard a pair of Diva's and they're top shelf as are the Dalquist DQ-10's.

I like the closing line of Steve's post

Yes they have their faults but I'm willing to overlook them for all the things they do so well at a fraction of the cost of comparably performing box speakers.

steve

Today I listened to Spirit (Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus), Neil Young (Harvest), and ended the session with Kenny Burrell (Midnight Blue) and it was rather hard to find a fault with them.  What still gets me to this day is how they (my 2.5's) just disappear and you are left with a wall of music.

The cost of Magnepan's new or used may be one of the best deals in high-end.

Thanks for those who have responded as I'm truly interested on how they became your speakers of choice.

Jim

[Rclark]

It is very hard to find faults, it's like dating a supermodel.

A wise man once said, "just get some planars and never look back."

[medium jim]

It is very hard to find faults, it's like dating a supermodel.

A wise man once said, "just get some planars and never look back."

  and some are tall too!

[SteveFord]

I'd heard some very early Magnepans at a neighbor's house when I was in High School and in college one of my buddies kept saying that I should get Magnepans instead of JBLs which I'd always considered to be the cream of the crop.  How I lusted after a set of L100s (I think that's the model) back in junior high school!
I got a job, saved up some money and bought some JBLs.
Fast forward about 10 years and I'd blown up my JBLs (and the rest of my stereo) one fateful night so it was time to upgrade everything.
I remembered the Magnepans from my old neighbor's house and my buddy's advice and the MMGs had just come out - for $550 and a return policy, why not.
The hook was soon set and many other Magnepans came and went over the years.
Wendell kept telling me to go hear the new 1.7s and while the demo was pretty lackluster at the dealership, I could hear that they were doing things my 1.6s didn't do. 
After a bit a pair of new 1.7s replaced my beloved 1.6s which ended up in storage while I tried to figure out where to use them.
Time went by and curiosity got the best of me.  I made the mistake of taking a ride to listen to the 3.7s. 
The 3.6s went to the dealer, the 1.6s went to Norway and the 3.7s went to my living room.
And the MMGs?  They're still here but are now up in the air on hinges mounted to some furniture cabinets.  I listened to them last night - they're not the last word in anything but they ARE keepers.
They always make me think of The Beatle's "Old Brown Shoe" - they're a comfortable fit for my ears.

[ptmconsulting]

Maggies do some things really nice, but unfortunately in my experience their flaws overwhelm their strengths, at least for the variety of music I listen to.

I came across a deal on a pair of original Apogee Calipers. I swapped out some parts in the crossover, did what I could to the foam and ribbons and repainted them. They sound truly amazing and have it all over any Magnapan I've heard (IMO of course). The trick is finding a pair that do not buzz, or paying the freight and costs to have them fully restored by one of the 2 guys in the USA who do this. Still, even at those costs I believe they blow away any competition at the same price point.

[medium jim]

Maggies do some things really nice, but unfortunately in my experience their flaws overwhelm their strengths, at least for the variety of music I listen to.

I came across a deal on a pair of original Apogee Calipers. I swapped out some parts in the crossover, did what I could to the foam and ribbons and repainted them. They sound truly amazing and have it all over any Magnapan I've heard (IMO of course). The trick is finding a pair that do not buzz, or paying the freight and costs to have them fully restored by one of the 2 guys in the USA who do this. Still, even at those costs I believe they blow away any competition at the same price point.

I guess we as hominid's of the human race have different tastes, how we experience the same things.  To me, a pair of Magnepan's that are properly positioned (with or without) subs, are what listening to music is about.  The flaws that most Maggie owner refers to is not about the sound they produce, but how they're so revealing or room sensitive.  Both are minor and are overcome with trial and error and finding better recording to playback.  When Maggie's are right, it is a beautiful thing!

Jim

[Davey]

Apogee's are really nice speakers but, unfortunately, they're dinosaurs at this point.....just not quite extinct yet.
No more being made (in any decent quantity) and the repairs are expensive and inconvenient.

This summer/fall (after I retire from my day job) I'm going to turn my attention to an Apogee "repair" procedure that might be attractive to a wide variety of Apogee owners.  A procedure that can be done locally, or possibly by the user himself.  My Duetta II's will be the trial-horses for this procedure.  Stay tuned.

Cheers,

Dave.

[jimdgoulding]

I owned Acoustat Three's for several years awhile back.  Love em.  They were so clear and natural sounding.  I won't tell you what happened to them.  Makes me wanna cry.

[medium jim]

I owned Acoustat Three's for several years awhile back.  Love em.  They were so clear and natural sounding.  I won't tell you what happened to them.  Makes me wanna cry.

Okay, give us a hint as to what happened to them!

Jim