Review: Mye Sound speaker stands Magnepan- MG-20 Tweak


Category: Accessories

In hind sight I have no rational or sane reason why I did not purchase a pair of Mye Sound custom stands for my MG-20's, to replace their stock footers, along time ago. I had read on different websites scores of glowing reviews regarding how the Mye Sound stands dramaticly improved the sonic performance of any Magnepan model. I had never read or heard even one negative comment regarding these custom stands. Well, better late then never.

The Mye Sound stands are beautifully hand built by Grant VanderMye in Kelowna, B.C. Canada. Grant and his wife were a delight to work with and made the purchase a very easy and pleasant experience. If you can handle working with a total of 12 screws/bolts it's a breeze to install these stands on your Maggies. They replace the stock footers with a very heavy and extremely well built stand, which come with very high quality carpet piercing brass points, and a pair of struts which lock the speaker panels into an iron fisted triangle.

I have gone through many upgrades and tweaks over the years, haven't we all, but nothing prepared me for what took place when I placed my dearly loved MG-20's on these stands. The improvement was not subtle or slight but a significant transformational change that brought the already reference level attributes of the 20's to even a higher level. If I had to try to give this a percentage rating I would say at least 25%, which is quite remarkable considering the performance level of the MG-20's with the stock stands to begin with.

Here's the details of what took place sonicly with the Mye Sound stands:

1) I have always found the MG-20's to be sonicly "seamless" and speak with one voice in a very cohesive fashion. With the Mye Stands this quality was taken to even a higher level.

2) The level of transparency/clarity was vastly improved so microdetails and decay trails become more apparent in a very natural/organic way.

3) The location of each individual player became more precise in the soundstage, with greater air around them and a yet still blended in with the rest of the music very naturally.

4) Bass became much faster, more dynamic/powerful, and accurate and blended with the lower midrange in a much more realistic way.

5) Overall timbres became more lifelike in their harmonic structure and tonality.

6) The final change seems the most paradoxical to me. The Mye Stands totally energized and made the MG-20's come "alive" and at the same time made the experience of listening to music through them a more relaxing/emotional situation.

To say I'm enthralled with what the Mye Stands did for the performance of my MG-20's would be an under statement! All this for a total of $600.00. If you own any Maggies, regardless of the model, you really owe it to yourself to put them on Mye Sound stands. My experience now is that you really don't know what sonic performance Magnepans have to offer when used on those dinky stock footers, unless you cement them away from performance killing vibrations with Grant's custom stands!

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teajay
Everything is modulated from either it's own inneraction or from some outside source. Motion is endless, as is the modulated distortion that results. Try hanging a stationary hat on that. Tom
Theaudiotweak...What??? Perhaps "inneraction" means something. One minor problem with any speaker is that higher frequencies, say 200 Hz, are being launched from a cone or diaphram that is vibrating at, say, 80 Hz. That 80 Hz vibration is far and away more than any credible movement of the entire speaker system.
It is always interesting reading these posts.

I had various magnepans for years. The last one I had was the 3.6r. They brought great happiness too me.

For the money I think you get so far down the audiophile road, but at the same time they have so many weak areas where the ultimate performance is compromised.

The cross over has such average and low performing parts it is a must to replace them, let alone that fuse. Then there is the stand! The interaction of all that vibration between the floor and the rocking of the frame and the ribbons is destructive to the sound.

I seem to remember the literature for magnepan in the past used an illustration of the diaphram showing the sound pressure wave as arrows front and back. Remember it? Well imagine those waves wobbling slightly. I always felt there was a blurring to their sound and a lack of dynamic ability apart from the obvious planar restrictions. I guess its like a sprinter trying to get a good start, but slipping as he puts pressure down to accelerate. Much of this can be sorted out.

When I started messing around with stands for the magnepans I owned, I was struck by the image coherence and the bass improvements. They became more taught and cleaner. There was better defined space between the instruments, better leading edge dynamic, and deeper bass response.

IMHO all magnepans need the crossover replaced with better components simplification of the wiring (by passing extra soldering points) bypassing the fuse (if you have never blown it before!) a better stand and powerful amps.

Someone asked in an earlier post are these placebo effects? No. unless your are listening to the band Placebo!
The stock MG 3.6R's are amazing compared to ANY box speaker. The latest version has a new crossover that mounts parallel to the panel which creates a more stable situation...it is also larger (Hmmm, an upgrade perhaps?). My new pair does sound a bit better than the older demo pair I heard. I am hesitant to screw bolts into my Maggies anyway, under any circumstances:O) The feet seem to be beefier as well compared to the old ones.
Sorry Dave B, the stock feet are no beefier then they have been in Magnepan's history. You are also mistaken I believe in that you think you have to "screw bolts" into your 3.6's for the Mye Sound stands, the bolts go into the exact same position on the frame of the speaker as the stock stands and holes.