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Maggies on my mind.

Category: Speakers

There I was, minding my own business, when I innocently went into my favorite audio shop to just chat and look at the goodies. I sat down in the listening room and heard a used (albeit sold) pair of Maggie 1.5s. Oh, SH*T! WHAT a sound! It was addicting. Wide soundstage, no boxiness ... I felt like I was right on the bandstand. Holy moly! My friend suggested that I listen to the 1.6s since the 1.5 was discontinued. The 1.6s were heard through a Levinson integrated and Rega Planet 2000. They sounded nothing like the 1.5s ... collapsed soundstage, thin, uninvolving, boring and very directional. Maybe it was the electronics, I dunno (you'd figure a Levinson integrated would do a great job, n'est ce pas?). The 1.5s (heard through a Musical Fidelity rig) were simply intoxicating ... I WANTED to O.D. on 'em. I went home to listen to my B&W N804s and heard "the box" for the first time. I am now sorely depressed. Those 1.5s were just magical (albeit way big for my room). Sigh!
rlb61
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
America...You are going to love the Carver ZR1600, and your Maggies will love you for it. No speaker responds more to amplifier brute force like Maggies. I have run my set of three MG1.6 with amps ranging from 100 watts to the Carver at 600, and every increase in power rating has made obvious improvement.

And to the original poster, R1b61, yes it was probably the associated electronics, and perhaps the room. The MG1.6 are much better than earlier models (which were pretty good) and some folk (I am an example) actually prefer the sound to the ribbon tweeter that comes with the higher cost MG3.6.
cwlondon
1,198 posts
 
Scubadaddy, Ranakabir and others

I bought my first pair of Maggies in high school, circa 1978 a pair of MG-1Bs with proceeds from my paper route. I can still remember staying up until the wee hours, mesmerized by them. The black wooden bases, the oak strips, vintage Monster cable, -- those were the good old days.

Since then, I have had MG-IIBs, MG-IIIa's, and recently restored a pair of Tympani IVa's. There are few other speakers I can even imagine owning.

I was interested to hear your opinions on tubes and SS amps, as after Hafler amps in my lean allowance days, I have evolved to that configuration, first an ARC SP-9 with an Adcom 555 and now a ARC SP-11 and a Levinson 23.5.

Advice given to me by a Maggie guru at their factory "off the record" said the ML 23.5 was the "best amp ever" with the Tympanis.

However, I am still finding my system a bit flat and bright with other Maggie diehards swearing that it's all about tubes, pre AND power.

Have any Maggie die hards done some serious comparisons with high end tubes vs. high current, high end SS for the power amp?

In any case, classic wonderful speakers.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Cwlondon...You mention the heavy oak "U" shaped moldings on those old Maggies. Well, when I scrapped my original MG2 I salvaged the oak, and cut it down to "L" shape. Since I had three speakers, I ended up with an awful lot of really nice oak molding that would have cost a bundle if I bought it in the lumber yard. To this day, it adorns the edges of shelves around my house. Maggies never die.
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