[KenJr]

There's a lot of information in the various forums on Maggi 3.6 setup.  There's a lot of variation in those recommendations.  I bought mine 9 days ago and finally, today, realized that I'd have been wise, starting the very first day, to place these speakers about 5 to 8 feet apart in the center of the room (least coloration), setting the baseline, and then starting from there. 

Being an obsessive sort and demanding of the best possible sound, I've put hours upon hours upon hours on trying different configurations with these speakers in this 16 X 24 room with a 13 foot ceiling.  Each time a change is made, all furniture must be moved accordingly.  I'm sore and worn out.  For what it's worth, I've spent this past 21 years with various Maggis and a set of Apogee Caliper Signature IIs.  I've never had such a hard time setting up speakers as I have with these.  I just couldn't get it right.  Either the sound was too hard edged, too muddy, too feeling as if more power was needed, and on and on.  What's amazing though, each configuration yielded a different overall effect.  By the way, in no case were these speakers less than three feet from any wall.

The reason I mention this is because I came very close to giving up and going out and buying a Krell FPB-200 on ebay.  But with my current 7' tweeter to tweeter spacing and having my room basically separated in two on the long axis, these speakers sound absolutely stunning.  The clarity of each instrument is magnificent, the stage is wide and deep, and even with broad dynamic range there's no feeling of even the most fragile sounding instruments becoming overwhelmed by the whole .. and .. there's no sense of need for more power.   

So .. I joined this forum simply to suggest to you potential Maggi 3.6 purchasers, once you take delivery, start experimenting with placement.  What's funny is, I suspect just about any set of ears, with enough experimentation with various room layouts, will ultimately find what's perfect for that individual.

[max190]

KenJr

I have to ask...have you added any acoustical treatments to your room - especially the frontwall?

[Emil]

Agree with the placement issue.
I thought I had my 1.6s placed for best sound until my daughter had a birthday party with friends in my...er....our media room
After telling her a million times to NEVER touch the speakers....she touched them. Actually she MOVED them from where they were and removed the thumb tacks from the carpet that were used  as placement markers 

So, out came the measuring tape and began to place them roughly where they were before. WOW, what a difference and they were placed only inches from where they were originally.

Now I need to warn my daughter for the million & one time to NOT to touch the speakers

[KenJr]

KenJr

I have to ask...have you added any acoustical treatments to your room - especially the frontwall?

Interesting you should ask.  Over this past nine days there have been four different front walls with various surfaces, drapes, hard walls, sheetrock, etc.  The current configuration looks onto a wall where much of it is open to other large spaces including a large passthrough into the kitchen.  In essence these openings act as a form of wall treatment (One can surmise that a similar effect would have been experienced with sound absorbent panels as opposed to large wall openings to other areas).  Your question on wall treatment, especially front wall treatment appears to be very sound.

[max190]

KenJr
If the Maggie's you bought 9 days ago were new, they are only going to get better...

Here is an excellent review on your 3.6's by the V/P of Bryston.
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=50648.0

[KenJr]

KenJr
If the Maggie's you bought 9 days ago were new, they are only going to get better...

Here is an excellent review on your 3.6's by the V/P of Bryston.
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=50648.0

Thanks for your inputs max190.  Yes, I had read James Tanner, the Brytson VP’s postings.  His input was very much instrumental in my decision to buy these Maggis in the first place.

Yesterday a friend and his wife came over to humor me in my excitement.  By the time they were ready to leave, the questions asked were, to paraphrase, “How do I go about selling those hugely expensive monsters in my living room so that I might justify purchase of a set of these?” 

My excitement still hasn’t left me, and won’t, I suspect, for a good long time.  I’m re-listening to every single SACD in my collection and am hearing instruments and phrasing that I was never able to hear before.  Last night, unfortunately well beyond bedtime, I listened to the 5th movement of Mahler's second symphony three times.  I just couldn’t get over having full chorus with soloists standing there and singing just for me, and then, the coup de grace, having the San Francisco Symphony orchestra taking up the whole other half of my living room.

Please excuse my exuberance, but I’ve been trying for 50 years to get the results I was finally privileged to hear for the first time in my life just two days ago.

And now you’re telling me it’s just going to get better?  That's is definitely hard to imagine.

P.S.  I'm using multi-channel SACD (Denon 5900) with a four speaker setup.  My old Maggi 2.5s stand proudly in the music hall ambience positions.

[KenJr]

Agree with the placement issue.
I thought I had my 1.6s placed for best sound until my daughter had a birthday party with friends in my...er....our media room
After telling her a million times to NEVER touch the speakers....she touched them. Actually she MOVED them from where they were and removed the thumb tacks from the carpet that were used  as placement markers 

So, out came the measuring tape and began to place them roughly where they were before. WOW, what a difference and they were placed only inches from where they were originally.

Now I need to warn my daughter for the million & one time to NOT to touch the speakers

Emil, in phone conversation with my brother a little while ago I told him your story.  He got as big a chuckle out of it as I did.

[max190]

And now you’re telling me it’s just going to get better?  That's is definitely hard to imagine

According to Mr. Tanner's conversation with Jim Whiney - the designer of Magnepan -  The Mylar membrane that is used in all the Maggies is 'stretched' when the speaker is manufactured.  It takes about 6 months for this stretch to 'relax' and as it does the lower end of each drivers response improves. Also the transient attack and integration improves.
 
So the moral of the story is to not be to quick to judge the speaker in the first few months of use as things will change for the better as it matures.

[trout2]

My room is roughly the same size as yours, but with 9' ceilings. I follow the Cardas method for my 3.6R's. They sound great.  Yes I've tried other positions but keep coming back to the Cardas measurements. Also, I've treated the room to kill the slap echo which really cleaned up the whole soundstage.