[Rclark]

 Having a nice session with MMG's, disc after disc all afternoon. Such a treat hearing only music, played with vigor, getting such clarity and speed and image size! And working so so well with my sub. I really think the hipassed amp is the key there. The MMG's aren't forced to play bass freqs. It works very well this way.

 And to hear just that Magnepan magic, down into the details of the recording, the jang jang jang of guitars as though they are across the room from you, or electric guitar solos without anything extraneous there, just precision of sound, the lack of any box colorations, or hearing the brushes touching the drum head to where you can count the bristles, it's fantastic. More than a week later and I am still giddy over them.

 I think I have the ultimate low cost stereo rig. Beginners take note:

Emotiva ERC-2
EMotiva XDA-1
Virtue Two.2 amp (ClarityCap mod, hipassed, preamp disabled)
Astron LS-10a linear supply
Magnepan MMG
10" ported KLH sub.

 total, under $2000. MMG's off audiogon, subwoofer was snatched secondhand $40 in perfect condition, talk about bang per buck, it certainly bangs.

 And it is knocking my socks off. I feel like if I never upgraded anything I'd be totally happy. That says a lot because before I got the Maggies, I was constantly pining over speakers.

 I will spend almost as much again getting these modded to the Peter Gunn spec, but I feel it will be worth it to take this speaker I already love and take it to the ultimate version of itself, performance wise.

 But I am definitely now a planar guy and Magnepan is where it's at! I love these things!


 EDIT: this morning I elevated them off the floor with some cardboard boxes, just to see, and the boxes haven't moved yet. It really makes a difference. I see why stands are such a popular mod.

[madog99]

I hear ya , love that sound and the price is right .

[SteveFord]

I'm with you guys, for $600 new I don't think that anything can touch the MMGs.  They're keepers.

[TONEPUB]

I thought the MMG's were excellent with the Emotiva gear.  Tough to beat on that budget.  Reminds me of about 30 years ago when I bought MG-1's with a Hafler amp and preamp.  I think that was about 1400 in 1981 money!  Still a great value.

[Letitroll98]

Yeah, and until you get them Gunned, try making your own stands to replace the, *ahem*, compromised factory jobies.  Elevation and vertical placement will make a world of difference alone and are nearly free to make.  Here's some nice tweak sites for Maggies:

http://www.integracoustics.com/MUG/MUG/
http://www.soundanchors.com/page44.html
http://db.audioasylum.com/mhtml/m.html?forum=mug&n=155318&highlight=Razor&search_url=%2Fcgi%2Fsearch.mpl%3Fforum%3Damp%26searchtext%3DAural%2BThrills%2B300B%2B
http://www.indiespinzone.com/magnestand.html
http://www.integracoustics.com/MUG/MUG/articles/speakers.html

[Goosepond]

Hi Rclark,

I'm interested in how you are "hipassing" in your system. I assume that means the lower frequencies are prevented from going to your MMG's. Of course they are handled by your sub.

I've got some MG12QR's that I am really enjoying (my first planars) and I also have a sub (not used it yet  ). I've used it before with some small monitors by sending speaker level signals to the sub and internally the sub xover sends mid and hi freqs to the monitors. But I was never comfortable sending those fully amplified signals to the sub. There just seems that there is a better way. And it appears that is what you're doing?

Thanks,

Gene

[Rclark]

Thanks for the links Letitroll98, my plan was to leave the boxes in place until I had guests. I just put them in today.

 Spent a good couple hours listening from my bed (it's my day off and my friends left to golf without me). The Maggies really do capture the emotion of music, I'd forgotten to mention that, but it's true. Anyway, the Gunn mod, for me will be a very large sum, around $1800 (with his high end crossovers) minus shipping, it will be the largest single purchase I've made, and if I try anything in the interim, I'll have to make it 

 To Goosepond, yes, my amplifier is permanently hipassed at 80hz. It was adjustable before, full range or 80hz, but now it's permanently fixed. My choice. It allowed for ClarityCaps to be used in the small chassis of the Virtue amp.

 I have ic's coming straight out of my dac(preamp) and y-split from there into my amp and into my sub. Works great. My dac has a lot of output power so splitting the signal seems to have no negative effect.

 

[Rclark]

 I just cleared a bunch of uneeded "stuff" from my room, including a massive, enormous all-steel desk, and having more space has indeed improved the performance further.

 I am listening to Charlie Parker right now, and it is just simply impossible that these speakers can be both this fantastic and yet relatively inexpensive. Simply the best sound I've ever heard. Charlie's sax sounds real, there is no other way to put it bluntly, it sounds real and in my room. Same goes for the piano and jazz drummer. And this is the just the "bottom" or "small room" model!

 I'm going to have to go audition some 1.7's and 3.7's if my local dealer has them up. Def Tech Seattle. I think they're probably going to be more interested in selling their own speakers though and might not have an optimal setup. I've driven past, however, and it is a large building, so maybe.

 I know I am just going on and on like some lunatic, but I am trying to put the biggest exclamation point possible on it, to anyone just looking into stereo's or someone looking for supreme fidelity on a budget, look no further than Magnepan MMG's. They will drop your jaw every time.

 Ok, I'm done gushing. For now.


 edit: I just spent an hour fiddling with placement, never realized what a huge difference this also makes. I thought I had them placed well, but now, they truly dissappear, something I've never quite experienced before, and the dynamics are much stronger now, especially the highs. I played my Emotiva demo disc, track three, and the trumpets nearly tore my head off.

 There should be a beating heart emoticon for how I feel about these just impossibly, utterly, hey-but-whats-the-catch? speakers.

[SteveFord]

The first time I ever got goosebumps listening to music was with my MMGs.  It was The Pretenders doing "My Favorite Samurai" - Chrissy's voice just hit this one note and that was it.
That's the moment I became a planar guy for life.

[madog99]

I had a buddy weld me up some steel stands with threaded spikes front and back and lifted them off the floor by about 2" , sounded better to my ears . Mine are the old SMGA's , next up is the external crossover .

[*Scotty*]

If you are going to stick with the passive cross-over I can't see a good reason to go to the expense of an outboard cross-over. There are only three parts in there,a cap,a resistor and an inductor.
I would simply replace the existing parts in situ with better sounding equivalent values.
 I would chose an Alpha Core Goertz coil and a non-inductive resistor. The capacitor could be the flavor of the month basically what ever you like as long as the value is the same as stock.
Scotty

[Letitroll98]

Thanks for the links Letitroll98, my plan was to leave the boxes in place until I had guests. I just put them in today.....................and if I try anything in the interim, I'll have to make it

Yeah, I made mine myself.  Used some oak 1x2's from Lowes (I have the oak side panels with off-white fabric), found some decorative white L-brackets that happened to have the same hole spacing as the Maggies, and knocked 'em up in an afternoon.  I used the MUG site to get ideas on how I wanted to do it.  Finished 'em off with some gold spikes from Parts Express, bet the whole thing for both speakers cost $30.

it's my day off and my friends left to golf without me.

Those aren't friends.   

[Rclark]

 They're excellent friends  I was just lazy that day.

 ... I'm just coming to grips with the tweeters. Wow! I think placing better and getting them off the floor has made things a lot better. I'm listening to "Xanadu" by RUSH, track 2 (A Farewell to Kings) and the way the twinkling chimes, forest sounds, synth, and oddly sounding drum hits hang in the air with a crystal etherealness (god, there I go, an audiophile). I'm not making this up, the other planar owners will agree with me, having three feet of tweeter per side, double sided.... it's something else isn't it? 

 I. Love. These. Speakers.    millions of these follow, millions >