Magnepan and Bryston!

Vipers · « **on:** 11 Jul 2013, 11:00 am »

Hi guys,

I know that this topic has been discussed before but I have just had my first experience of this combo and I am totally blown away and need to tell everyone.

Being based over in the UK Magneplanar speakers are not that common but I had read for years about guys that run Bryston systems with Maggies, it was actually on the Bryston page on AudioCircle that I actually first heard of Magnepan.

Anyway now that I run a HiFi Shop I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get in touch with the UK distributor to explore these mystical speakers a little more, they were very helpful and sent down a pair of MG 12's and MG 1.7,s, WOW, I can honestly say I have never experienced anything like a Maggie before when it comes to speakers.

I paired the MG 12's with the Bryston B135 SST2 and used the 1.7's on the 7B's, SP3, BDP-2/BDA-2 rig, both set ups just sound beautiful and even though in this country they cost more than in the US they really are an absolute bargain when you consider the level they perform at.

I love detail and clarity so the Maggies are perfect but it is their agility and soundstaging that really impressed and also the level of bass available as I had always thought that panels didn't do bass, how wrong that is.

Anyway, needless to say that I am now a Magnepan dealer, hopefully I can help spread the word on what a wonderful combination Bryston and Maggies make

The only problem is that now that I have heard the 12's and 1.7's I really want to experience the 3.7's and 20.7's, has anyone got either of these or heard them? I will be having an Maggie open day later in the year and have arranged to have the 3.7's here for that but I don't think that the 20.7's will actually fit in my building which is a shame, but I urge anyone who has not heard a Maggie speaker to pop in for a listen, I know you will be impressed.

Here are a couple of pics that I took of my new 12's and 1.7's

Magnepan MG12's

Magnepan MG 1.7's

Here are a couple of pics I found of the 20.7's, beautiful

wadiman · « **Reply #1 on:** 11 Jul 2013, 11:15 am »

Interesting post!

Over here in Aus I am just looking at whether to go for a pair of 1.7s but am wondering if my 9BST will be up for the task - any thoughts? 200w into 4ohms - will that cut it?

Vipers · « **Reply #2 on:** 11 Jul 2013, 12:03 pm »

MMMM, from my very limited experience I would say that would just about be ok, I have run the 1.7's with my 4B at 300wpc and that sounded excellent.

I'm sure there are others on here with far more experience than me though.

I can definitely recommend the 1.7's though

budcook · « **Reply #3 on:** 11 Jul 2013, 02:29 pm »

I had my 1.7's sitting on carpet so I ordered Mye stands for them. Meanwhile, I stuck some wooden shelves out of an old stereo cabinet under them and the improvement was dramatic.

Even with firm footing, the stock stands allow some movement. Stands with a mid-speaker brace and adjustable feet prevent that and allow the Maggies to really sing.

As for power, I think it depends on the type of music you listen to. I'm using a new 4B but I think in most situations, I could get along with even a 2BSST2. Where I'd probably notice the difference is in bass control and situations where an orchestra explodes going from piano to forte. As I told someone it can be startling with a powerful amp.

Maggies are great speakers right out of the box and the price is hard to beat. They do respond to tweaks like stands and Hi-Fi fuses. The point is that you can enjoy them with or without the tweaks.

Bud

NIGHTFALL1970 · « **Reply #4 on:** 11 Jul 2013, 04:09 pm »

Quote from: wadiman on 11 Jul 2013, 11:15 am

Interesting post!

Over here in Aus I am just looking at whether to go for a pair of 1.7s but am wondering if my 9BST will be up for the task - any thoughts? 200w into 4ohms - will that cut it?

Wadiman,
I think 200w is fine.

James Tanner · « **Reply #5 on:** 11 Jul 2013, 04:15 pm »

Magnepan uses a 9B in their demo room at their factory.

james

So There · « **Reply #6 on:** 11 Jul 2013, 04:17 pm »

Vipers, you may wish to check out this thread on the Maggie 20.7s from the illustrious Mr. T:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=115918.0

Cheerio,

Rich
______________
Foggy Napa Valley

Elizabeth · « **Reply #7 on:** 11 Jul 2013, 04:42 pm »

I planned on buying a pair of 3.6 magnepans. And the amplification most often suggested was Bryston. I gave a listen and bought the 4B-SST² with my new Maggies,.

Vipers · « **Reply #8 on:** 18 Jul 2013, 12:39 pm »

Quote from: So There on 11 Jul 2013, 04:17 pm

Vipers, you may wish to check out this thread on the Maggie 20.7s from the illustrious Mr. T:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=115918.0

Cheerio,

Rich
______________
Foggy Napa Valley

Thanks Rich, I missed that thread, I didn't realise James run 20.7's, I have just been listening to my 1.7's dreaming of hearing 3.7's, obviously I'd love to hear a 28B and 20.7 set-up but I actually don't think that the UK distributor has a pair of 20.7's I can borrow which is a real shame.

Definitely going to be getting the 3.7's in here shortly though.

Vipers · « **Reply #9 on:** 4 Sep 2013, 12:31 pm »

Hi Guys,

I have been really enjoying the Maggie 12's and 1.7's over the last few weeks, but one question kept bugging me, if the 12’s and 1.7’s are this good how good must their bigger brothers be? so after a quick phone call to the Maggie guys over here in the UK we now have the Magneplanar MG 3.7’s on demo, and the answer to that question is staggeringly good

I am in the process of organising a Maggie Open Day on October 5th, probably with the 12’s in our downstairs demo room and the 3.7’s upstairs, both with Bryston systems of course, so it will be a great opportunity to hear something quite different, more details to follow once I’ve got everything in place.

Obviously the next question is, if the 3.7's are this good how good must the 20.7's be? I'm afraid that is one question I may never be able to answer as I don't think there are any 20.7's in the UK, which really is a crying shame

Alpha10 · « **Reply #10 on:** 4 Sep 2013, 12:47 pm »

How long have you got the 3.7s for? I want to pop over and have a listen

cheers

mr_bill · « **Reply #11 on:** 4 Sep 2013, 03:50 pm »

I think the Maggie 3.7 is the best Maggie they've ever made and a huge bargain compared to all other high end speakers.
Love mine!

Try the aluminum/charcoal combo for colors!

Vipers · « **Reply #12 on:** 5 Sep 2013, 08:17 am »

Quote from: Alpha10 on 4 Sep 2013, 12:47 pm

How long have you got the 3.7s for? I want to pop over and have a listen

cheers

Hopefully for a while Alpha, I'll be holding a Maggie/Bryston open day on October 5th if you are around

Vipers · « **Reply #13 on:** 5 Sep 2013, 08:20 am »

Quote from: mr_bill on 4 Sep 2013, 03:50 pm

I think the Maggie 3.7 is the best Maggie they've ever made and a huge bargain compared to all other high end speakers.
Love mine!

Try the aluminum/charcoal combo for colors!

Being a Devils fan mr_bill I don't know if I should talk to you

Seriously though I can't argue with you, over here they are £6000 which I understand is quite a bit more than over in the US but even at that price there really isn't nothing that can compete with them for acoustic and vocal.

Saying that, I absolutely love the 12's, for a smaller system, they are quite something.

Vipers · « **Reply #14 on:** 25 Sep 2013, 09:42 am »

Magneplanar Open Day October 5th, Come And Experience Something a Little Different!

Hi Everyone,

Now that we have recovered from the National Audio show last weekend it is time to start planning our next open day, a Magneplanar Open Day on October 5th.

Ever since hearing the Maggies for the first time a few months ago I have been quite smitten with these speakers so I thought we would hold an open day for anyone else who has fallen under their spell or would like to experience Maggies for the first time.

We will be running the big Magneplanar 3.7’s upstairs on our Bryston rig with the smaller Magneplanar 12’s downstairs on the Bryston B135 SST2, We will also have the Magneplanar 1.7’s to hand if anyone would like to experience those also.

Last night I was playing around with the 1.7’s with a REL R-528 subwoofer which really did help to underpin them slightly and by using the Hi-Level connector on the REL there were no timing issues to worry about, just perfect integration, can’t wait to try that on the 3.7’s, should certainly be a pretty potent combination.

I know that Maggies are not the smallest or most living room friendly speaker but they really do offer something quite special with a very different presentation to a conventional box speaker that we are all so familiar with, so it will definitely be worth popping in for a listen if you have never experienced them before.

Look forward to seeing you on October 5th

Thanks,

Paul.

Vipers · « **Reply #15 on:** 4 Oct 2013, 08:24 am »

Hi all,

Just thought I’d update this with a quick reminder of our Maggie open day tomorrow, I had Chris in yesterday, the UK Maggie man, to check through everything to make sure we have the Maggies sounding their best, which to be honest isn’t too difficult as they sound great even before we started tweaking.

One thing that did make a difference though was the addition of the new Atlas Eos Modular mains block that I installed yesterday, well 2 of them actually, along with some new Atlas Eos Mains cables, this really did help bring everything together and just help to make the Maggies even more musical, basically these blocks work on a star earthing principle and you can spec whether to have filtered or un-filtered outputs, you can read more here about the Atlas blocks -

www.hifilounge.co.uk/atlas-eos-modular-power-distribution

So just to re-cap we will have the 12’s downstairs, I have decided to run them with the new Rega Elicit-R amp, as for £1595 it makes a great package with the 12’s for a very high end sound for not silly money, and we will have the 3.7’s upstairs on the Bryston rig, we can also get the Michell Orbe up and running so please feel free to bring some vinyl or any other music along to try on the Maggies.

As someone said to me yesterday, they are just impossible to not like, they really don’t have any vices, they just make music, couldn’t agree more

Hope to see you tomorrow.

Cheers,

Paul.

rpmartins · « **Reply #16 on:** 5 Oct 2013, 02:15 pm »

Enjoy!
I'm also having my magnepan-bryston afternoon with a little help from REL

predrag · « **Reply #17 on:** 6 Oct 2013, 07:27 pm »

Yepp, Last year I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to try a pair of new 3.7`s over the weekend and just as the first post hereabove says I was blown away!
Many compliments to be said abot them.
Coming from a PMC bass heavy side these were just the opposite.
Well configured with subwoofwers I don`t know what could beat them sonically.
Downside: not really wife friendly and require a SS amp of big caliber (Brystons are a perfect match for them)
They are probably my next pair of speakers.

rpmartins · « **Reply #18 on:** 6 Oct 2013, 07:47 pm »

Quote from: predrag on 6 Oct 2013, 07:27 pm

Downside: not really wife friendly and require a SS amp of big caliber (Brystons are a perfect match for them)

I´m lucky my wife liked them. off-white fabric like the paint on the walls

SteveFord · « **Reply #19 on:** 6 Oct 2013, 09:30 pm »

Let's be honest, most wives aren't all that friendly no matter what.
Did you have a good turnout for your event?