[Saturn94]

Congrats!  I didn't mean to worry you about breakin.  They will get better with 75 hours.   Try different  positioning, even moving 1 or 2 inches.  Place tape on the floor so you can remember which positions sound good.  I found that mine sound better at about 7' apart.  If you integrate a sub, try running the Mags at full range.  Maggie bass is tight and musical.  However, YMMV.

By the way, the cherry trim is variable.  It could be light or dark.

Enjoy!

Larry

Thanks.

I’ve been playing around with positioning a bit today.  I settled on ~3ft from the front wall, 6ft apart, 7ft to the LP, tweeters to the outside, toed in a few inches (tweeters further from LP than the mid/bass driver per Magnepan instructions).  I haven’t tried further apart, or tweeters to the inside yet.  That’ll be another day.  Oh, and I do have tape handy.  I remembered that from when I had SMGs in the early 80s. 

[audiojem]

I went with the grey with cherry sides which is a darker cherry color than we are all used to.
If the white fabric is the same as they use on their later models it actually looks like light silver in my room which is pretty.
I was tired of black fabric.
As far as sound, its fantastic, the deal of the day in audio everyone should own a pair!
Plan on shipping time being longer than quoted unless they have ramped up production in the last month.
I run my with a Pass Labs 30.8

[Saturn94]

I ordered the end of July and delivery time ended up being 10 weeks.

As I mentioned, the cherry trim on mine is extremely dark; might as well be black.

[Doublej]

That is the darkest cherry I have ever seen. To my eye there is a distinct dark red to it that black would not have. Looks good but it's definitely not your typical cherry.

[mr_bill]

I went with the grey with cherry sides which is a darker cherry color than we are all used to.
If the white fabric is the same as they use on their later models it actually looks like light silver in my room which is pretty.
I was tired of black fabric.
As far as sound, its fantastic, the deal of the day in audio everyone should own a pair!
Plan on shipping time being longer than quoted unless they have ramped up production in the last month.
I run my with a Pass Labs 30.8

It will be fun to see pics - that is a neat color combination.  Grey/Cherry.  I'd also love to see the white 'light silver' looking color.

[Saturn94]

I emailed Magnepan about the trim.  He said that’s the cherry color they’ve been getting from their supplier, but that other customers have also commented that it is too dark, so they’ve asked their supplier to use a lighter shade.  He said they should be getting the lighter ones soon.  He suggested I contact the production dept to see if I can replace mine myself (I mentioned this issue isn’t worth returning the speakers) with lighter trim.  I’ll send them an email and see what they say.

Anyone ever replace the trim themselves?

[SteveFord]

It looks like just a couple of finishing nails punched into particle board, it shouldn't take much to pull out the old and tap in the new.

[Saturn94]

More listening impressions.....

These definitely thrive on well recorded material, and a beefy amp!  My Parasound amp seems a good match.

I’ve read that Maggies can somewhat lack dynamics.  I don’t think they give up much, if anything.  Granted, I’m crossing the LRS over to a sub at 70hz, but this small Maggie still impressed me with dynamic material.  I was very impressed how they handled the track “Death of Titanic” from the Titanic soundtrack.  Even cranked up the sound remained clean. 

Well recorded choral music?  Gorgeous!

Madonna’s “Immaculate Collection”, recorded in QSound, was a real treat.  The QSound effects were so much fun!

There are times when they seem a little hot on the top end, depending on the recording.  I might try installing a resistor to see what it does (several were included)  Anyone know how much each resistor attenuates the tweeter?

 

[I.Greyhound Fan]

More listening impressions.....

These definitely thrive on well recorded material, and a beefy amp!  My Parasound amp seems a good match.

I’ve read that Maggies can somewhat lack dynamics.  I don’t think they give up much, if anything.  Granted, I’m crossing the LRS over to a sub at 70hz, but this small Maggie still impressed me with dynamic material.  I was very impressed how they handled the track “Death of Titanic” from the Titanic soundtrack.  Even cranked up the sound remained clean. 

Well recorded choral music?  Gorgeous!

Madonna’s “Immaculate Collection”, recorded in QSound, was a real treat.  The QSound effects were so much fun!

There are times when they seem a little hot on the top end, depending on the recording.  I might try installing a resistor to see what it does (several were included)  Anyone know how much each resistor attenuates the tweeter?

I think the 1 ohm resistor attenuates about 3db but it should say in the manual.  Those resistors are crap.  Try a 1 or 1.2ohm Mills or Duelund Resistor.  I use  a Dueland 1.2 ohm.  The 1 ohm did not attenuate enough for my room.

https://www.partsconnexion.com/duelund-cast-graphite-resistors-carbon-w-silver-leads.html

But these Mills also sound great as I own both-

https://www.partsconnexion.com/MILLS-71901.html

The Mills is a little warmer.

[Saturn94]

I think the 1 ohm resistor attenuates about 3db but it should say in the manual.  Those resistors are crap.  Try a 1 or 1.2ohm Mills or Duelund Resistor.  I use  a Dueland 1.2 ohm.  The 1 ohm did not attenuate enough for my room.

https://www.partsconnexion.com/duelund-cast-graphite-resistors-carbon-w-silver-leads.html

But these Mills also sound great as I own both-

https://www.partsconnexion.com/MILLS-71901.html

The Mills is a little warmer.

Thanks for the tips and links.

They came with two 1ohm resistors and two 2ohm resistors.  The manual just says, “...These resistors will provide 1 to 4 dB of attenuation...”.   There’s no mention of which resistors to use to achieve what level of desired attenuation.  Are they saying the 1ohm resistor provides 1dB attenuation and the 2ohm resistor provides 4dB attenuation?

Is there a simple way to determine about how much attenuation is sufficient without having to resort to trial and error with a bunch of resistors (could get pricey)?  Maybe play with my pre/pro’s treble control to get a decent idea?

[dcbingaman]

Just got my pair.  Two points: they stunk my basement listening room with a lacquer smell - they must have just been painted before shipping.  Let these babies sit in a well ventilated room for a couple days !  2) This is the closest thing I've heard to a Quad ESL-57 in 40 years.  They are that special.  They are a little light on the bottom end, but work well with a subwoofer - just be sure to cross them ove at about 40-50 Hz.  Any higher screws up their bass which is really quite good.  Once you do this, they have good dynamics with the right amplifier - in my case an Pass Aleph 5.  They need an amp that can put a ton of current into a 3 ohm load.  The Alephs work well with them.

I would venture a guess that a pair of these with a distributed subwoofer system like Audiokinesis SWARM would make the Magnepan 30.7's really superfluous for most listeners in most regular size rooms.  These things provide most of the goodness of the big Maggies with none of the pitfalls, (adverse room interactions, supersize images, etc.).  Magnepan has a real winner with these - I'm keeping mine !

[Saturn94]

Mine have a bit of an odor as well.....fresh off the line! 

[I.Greyhound Fan]

DC, you are right about the subs.  I run dual non ported subs crossed over at about 46hz with my magnepan 1.6's.  I feel that if you crossover too high that you take away part of the sound of the Maggies.  Dual subs are a must if you have the room.

[Saturn94]

I’m finding with some recordings the tweeter level s fine, with others turning the treble down a few dB on the pre/pro does the trick.

So, since a good tweeter level seems to be recording dependent, I think I’ll leave off any resistors for now.

[I.Greyhound Fan]

Saturn, the higher the ohms on the resistor the higher the attenuation or more db.

[Saturn94]

Saturn, the higher the ohms on the resistor the higher the attenuation or more db.

Thanks.

[Saturn94]

I watched Star Trek Into Darkness last night and the LRS had no issues keeping up; sounded great!  They also blended well with my NHT center and surrounds.

[Elizabeth]

Just chiming in on resistors...
Yes the 1 ohm will attenuate less than the 2 ohm.
It is worth while to experiment, buying some Mundorf MOX ($1.80) in 1, 1.5 0.68 etc. to find the right level for you. Once you FIND the right level, if you really want to move up, go for that value in a Path Audio resistor. ($25)
Trying the resistors, they may not sound as good as can be, but you can get the idea of attenuation.
Plus it is expected to use a 1 ohm. The baseline in 1 ohm. With no resistor for 'dull' rooms, and 2 ohms for bright rooms.

[Saturn94]

Just chiming in on resistors...
Yes the 1 ohm will attenuate less than the 2 ohm.
It is worth while to experiment, buying some Mundorf MOX ($1.80) in 1, 1.5 0.68 etc. to find the right level for you. Once you FIND the right level, if you really want to move up, go for that value in a Path Audio resistor. ($25)
Trying the resistors, they may not sound as good as can be, but you can get the idea of attenuation.
Plus it is expected to use a 1 ohm. The baseline in 1 ohm. With no resistor for 'dull' rooms, and 2 ohms for bright rooms.

Thanks for the tips! 

[Saturn94]

Coming up on the first month with the LRS....I’m still amazed these things were only $650!