Forums - Picked up some Maggies!

Lonely Raven

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Picked up some Maggies!
12/02/16 at 16:53:44

So long story (as most of mine are) somewhat shorter. I saw these Magnepan MG2 posted for sale on a Facebook Garage Sale Group, and they mentioned it's in the same town as me - no price. I'm super broke, but was hoping to maybe to offer a trade (I refurb laptops and do side IT jobs).

Starting chatting with the guy, I mentioned that I'm concerned about delamination and the other issues these are known for, and he basically said "sounds like your an audio guy, I'd feel much better knowing these went to a good home.... they've not been setup and working for 15 years, and if I don't rehome them ASAP, the wife will have me put them out to the curb". So I'm like...wait, what you're saying is that if I take care of them, get them working, and give them a good home...I can just have them? I'll be right over!! The guy was only a few miles from me, I could have walked over to his place. We loaded them in my Scion and I brougt them home.

He swears they worked when his amp died 15 years ago, and they've been sitting all that time. They look great, even the fragile tweed "grill" is in tact.

Got them home, and couldn't fire them up - I thought the ZMA didn't have enough horsepower, as I know these are power hogs, and 100+ watts is recommended. Turns out the left speaker had input plug issues, and the right speaker has a fuse holder issue. Reconnected them to the ZMA after some cobbled repairs (just enough to see that they worked). Left speaker seems to sound OK, but right speaker has a little bit of a buzz which is typical of delamination issues. But, both these speakers seem a little loose in the stand, and the right speaker has a bit of a twist to it (you can see in the photo below). So hopefully tightening them up will fix that - I may have to perform some basic mods (new input jacks, fuse socket replacements, wire-resolder or replacement, frame stiffening).

Overall thoughts - these have a similar HUGE bass to what I heard at Decfest with Steve's Imperial SOs. Which is interesting because these aren't known for having deep bass, but it has large scale bass (hopefully that makes sense). No real high frequency extension (which was expected), and midrange sounds great; acoustic guitar sounded very "live". I swear the speakers sounded better as they warmed up, or maybe it was the ZMA that needed warming up and it was just more apparent with these speakers. Imaging wasn't as magical as I've heard, but I didn't really spend a lot of effort setting them up; so maybe there is still potential there. I'm actually eager to get home from work today and spend more time with these speakers!

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Dave1210

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Re: Picked up some Maggies!
Reply #1 - 12/03/16 at 11:43:12

Very cool find LR. I have always enjoyed Maggies. Our local audio shop carries them and typically powers them with high powered McIntosh SS. They have 3.7's in a smallish room, but the speakers are pulled a good 5 ft or so from the front wall. Very detailed, box free sound. I appreciate the open soundstage, and they generate very articulate bass (certainly enough to energize the smaller room they are in at our audio shop).

I'm not sure how accurate the meters on the McIntosh amps are, but for moderate listening we were hovering around 50watts, with peaks just over 100watts. That said, my buddy and I have had those speakers singing with the amps cranked, and it's pretty fun. Who says you can't party with panel speakers!

In my experience, they need moderate volume to sing, so they don't seem like they would be ideal for low level listening, but maybe that's the amp. I would think you could get reasonable listening volume with the ZMA, and they are more of a resistive load, so that should help a little too.

Have fun!

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Lonely Raven

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Re: Picked up some Maggies!
Reply #2 - 12/05/16 at 17:26:56

Yeah, ZMA just barely gets them going.

I have a 700 watt higher end power amp...it's more PA style....but I'm considering connecting it between the DirectStream and Maggies to see what it does. At least I know it won't run out of juice...I'll just have to be careful with how far I turn the knob.

The sound is certainly different than my MG944....the bass especially. A quick (phone) frequency measurement shows heavy rolloff below 60hz, but it just sounds HUGE.

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maddog07

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Re: Picked up some Maggies!
Reply #3 - 12/05/16 at 18:02:14

Maggie's are great. I've owned them in the past, and enjoyed every minute. I have a friend with a pair of 1.6's and another with 2.7's, and I enjoy tunes at their places every time I visit (as they do when they listen to my crossover-less OB's at my place).

The "big" sound is likely due at least in part to the Maggie's dipole radiation pattern. When I go from my box(bass reflex), single driver, high-efficiency, crossover-less, wide-banders to the same/similar drivers in my OB's - I get the same thing - "bigger" sound. IME, dipole's need to be out away from the wall behind them too, at least 3-4ft. in order for them to do "their magic". Having speakers way out in the room is a no-no for a lot of folks.....

The best amp I've ever heard on Maggie's, is the Class D Audio SDS-470c. I've heard this amp drive 1.x's, 2.x's and 3.x Maggies, and it just injects life into them like nothing else I've ever heard. It takes a hold of those panels and their PRAT goes up at least a couple orders of magnitude. Maggie's need lots of voltage to get it up. The new ones are better than the old ones, but they still have the general need for lots of voltage - more than most other speakers.

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Decware Torii MK3, Wyred4Sound DAC2, Theta Digital Miles, Emotiva XMC-1, Emotiva XPA-5, Aesthetix Calypso, Wyred STP-SE, Martin Logan Vista, Audio Nirvana 12" Alnico's, PS Audio PW P5, Goertz, Kimber, Nordost and DIY wires, PSA pwr cords, Cary SLI-80, DM945's.....

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Tripwr1964

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Posts: 435

Re: Picked up some Maggies!
Reply #4 - 12/05/16 at 18:54:16

congrates LR!
you'll like those, i restored a pair of mg2b's couple winters ago. if you have any questions don't hesitate.
i liked mine so much i got a pair of 1.6's. built my own external XO's, mye stands, and added a SVS sb2000 sub and love them. placement takes a bit of time.
at least 5ft from fron wall, 1.5-2ft from side, towed in a bit, and i like tweeters on inside. getting them off the front wall is the first step.

enjoy

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CSP3 25yr, CAD 120s MKII, Sunfire Signature600, Sota Star Sapphire, SME309, Hana SL, JC3+, Schiit bifrost multibit, CXC, MG1.6QR w/ ext xo & mye stands, OB Augies. herbies iso, VH audio flavor diy pwr cords, Beden 8402 & Dueland IC's,

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Lonely Raven

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Re: Picked up some Maggies!
Reply #5 - 12/06/16 at 07:19:44

I am currently about 5.5 feet from the front wall, and ~2 feet from the side walls.

I'm not sure how far I really want to take these....I might look at the crossover...but I'm not even sure the MG2 have a crossover, as I wasn't sure they had a separate tweeter like the later models.

I've been reading up at MUG, but there isn't as much information on the MG2 as there are on the 2a, 2c and newer. I've read about delaminating and making jigs to rewire the mylar and all that.

I'm really hoping I don't have to go that extent...I'm not sure the straight up MG2 is worth that much effort. I'd just like to fix the small issues, stiffen up the frame, and make sure they work well. Basically a learning experience, then maybe move them on to another home for some other learning experience.

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Lonely Raven

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Re: Picked up some Maggies!
Reply #6 - 12/06/16 at 07:24:18

Looks like they might be two way after all. Did some further Google-searching with different keywords and found this chart.

http://www.integracoustics.com/MUG/MUG/articles/speakers.html

MG-II
‛73
2-Way
Full-Range
Planar-Magnetic
(discontinued)

50Hz-16kHz ±4dB
6dB/octave @ 2.4kHz
40-200Wrms @8Ω
85dB/1½W/m @1kHz
6Ω
22″ × 71″ × 2″
35.lbs/ea

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beowulf Seasoned Member Posts: 1447	Re: Picked up some Maggies! Reply #7 - 12/07/16 at 07:49:29 They have a pair at one of the Hi-Fi stores here in San Diego, same as Dave ~ they are being used with some nice big Mac amps. I've also heard them with Niam gear as well, though not my favorite pairing (I like the Macs better), but they still sounded good on the Niam stuff.
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Lonely Raven

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Re: Picked up some Maggies!
Reply #8 - 12/07/16 at 20:08:48

I'm going to see about plugging them into some bigger horsepower when I get home tonight...I've got nothing going on, so I'm going to suss out a ground loop in my home video system, and figure out how to hook up this decent power amp between my DAC and the Maggies. I'll probably have to make another pair of speaker cables with Banana plugs (assuming I even have some) and use up a bunch of my big orange spool of 8AWG Zen Styx type wire. :)

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donovan Verified Member Posts: 48	Re: Picked up some Maggies! Reply #9 - 12/10/16 at 05:55:22 I tried the Maggie MMG's earlier this year and I eventually returned them. I just didn't like the sound regardless of amplification. I put as much as 600wpc at them...and nothing. Very hollow sounding midrange. Great customer service, however.
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