Well I just installed the last binding post yesterday on the new outboard crossovers for my Maggies. It's been a long strange trip but with the help of AndyR from down under, Mike D, Scott, Sturg, Alex, and the God of Mod, John Hillig, the project is complete (for now)
The journey began with Alex, MIke and my decision to rebuild the external crossovers to our Maggie IIIA's (in Mike's case) and the internal ones in Alex and my case. Mike spent (literally) a weekend on the internet researching the best cap and inductor combinations for the sound we agreed we wanted (a hand for his poor wife Josie here)
The consensus seemed to be a Multicap/Auricap combination on the tweeters, an Auricap/Blackgate combo on the mids and a Blackgate VK on Mike's bass and Alpha-Core and Solen foil inductors and Ohmite resistors on the ribbons. The improvements with just these changes included: a more refined sound, better bass control and less "veiling" in the mids that the IIIA's are known for.
To kick things up a notch, I pulled the socks off the Maggies, reglued some panel wires that were beginning to come lose (but surprisingly hadn't effected the sound much before), and rewired all the leads to the drivers. Since all the panel wires are various gauges of magnet wire, it seemed logical to use magnet wire wherever I could in the internal rewiring. So I used 20ga. magnet wire to the ribbons, disconnected the internal crossovers, and wired each driver to it's own binding post so the speakers could be tri-amped if I ever get the itch. I left the fuses on the tweeters and midrange but ditched the tweeter attenuator binding post for the new treble post and replaced all the crappy Maggie connectors with Connex binding posts. They all fit on the rear plate so it made for a nice clean transition.
The outboard crossovers are mounted on Martha "It's a Good Thing" Stewart cutting boards with spiked feet from Madisound and custom smoked plex box covers with Connex binding posts. Martha in stilettos I call them.
In the middle of all this a VTL ST-85 power amp came up on Agon at an unreal price so I knew this was a sign from heaven that it had my name on it.
The seller was dumping a second system to pay for an engagement ring. His loss was my gain. That was another piece to the puzzle--it drives the highs/mids and my monoblocks drive the bass panels now. With the help of Alex in lending me his vintage Pioneer active crossover, the puzzle was complete. I'm using all 12 ga. magnet wire jumpers between the amps/crossovers and drivers and the Zero Autoformers between the monos and the bass panels. Who needs cable lifters with 12 ga magnet wire? It just sits there in the air!!
The Sound: All the parts are still breaking in but the difference all this has made in the sound is awesome. The biggest change I've noticed is the instruments are all more articulate now-their individual nuances and timbres are much more minutely resolved and presented. The soundstage is rock solid from left to right. Where I used to hear "holes" in the soundstage, or hear the individual drivers working, now it's a solid, continuous slab of sound that sounds like it's all coming from one source, the stage. The drivers are much better integrated now and the speakers disappear so much better.
I've also opened the room up a bit, moving the couches back further and I spread the maggies apart so the soundstage is much wider now yet with no real gaps or holes in the image.
I may still rewire the external crossovers with 20ga. magnet wire after things break in a bit more and I need to come up with a permanent active crossover solution but right now I'm just soaking up the sounds. Thanks again to the design team, in particular AndyR whom I call "Dr. Magnepan" now. If there is anything that's ever been thought of to mod a pair of IIIA's before, Andy has probably tried it already.
steve k
Link to pics:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=235
