Another 2,000 Speaker Question

I recently hear another Paradigm near but not at that price point driven by NAD electronics and a good (CAL CL-10)CD player. I felt that they imaged very well and had lots of detail, but maybe were a little "hi-fi ish". It was in a demo room with lots of other speakers and a TV monitor, so under better conditions, probably would have awesome imaging. As far as used goes, that's the beauty of this site; lots of good stuff and with a pretty efficent market. So far, have not yet had a problem with my many purchases here. Best of luck (and you probably could get a nice pair of Vandersteen 3a sigs in your budget range; lots of choices if you go with used, altho with big heavy speakers there's always the issue of physical condition and shipping.) Best of luck.

I have owned the Maggies 3.5Rs for two and 1/2 years now and have never regreted it. I listen to mostly acoustic jazz and jazz vocals and I have yet to hear any speakers in this price range sound as musical. I haven't heard the 1.6's to compare but they are probably not quite as bright as the 3.5s. You will need a reasonably large room to let these speakers breath. They have great soundstaging as long they are 3 or 4 feet away from the side and rear walls. If you listen to a lot of rock or electric blues, some recordings will make the 3.5s may sound a little bright. You would need to make sure your source components match up to your type of listening. Also, be prepared to spend many late nights for speaker placement (with all speakers of course but especially with the Maggies)but once you get them right, they sound beautiful! Since you are upgrading your electronics, before you purchase a new amp, you may want to check into biamping the Maggies, I have been biamping mine for a year now and it makes a big difference. Hope this helps and happy listening.

Thanks for the help, Sdzink and Swampwalker. The room is 15 by 20, and the speakers will go on the longer wall. Is this room big enough? On rock and electric blues, do you think that they will sound too bright, or can interconnects, source components, or amplification smooth this out?

I think the most important factors to consider are what your tastes are. You have already listed your musical tastes. Now it's time to consider the "type of sound" you enjoy. Perhaps make a list of the adjectives that you want to hear in your system. Warm, neutral, analytical. Aggressive, dynamic, laid back. Do your tastes lie in the bass and treble response of the speaker, or are you more interested in midrange presentation(the old "boom and sizzle" versus "Boston bland" argument). I do like the two speakers you mentioned, and was even a dealer for PSB. One thing I can tell you, the Gold i's are incredibly demanding loudspeakers. They require a monster amp to come alive. While that makes for dynamic sound, if you are more interested in music other than blues and rock, you may be better served by another choice. I am not sure if your next(or even the current McIntosh) will be tube or solid state, but that is a MAJOR consideration. If you will buy tube, you should definitely look at more easy to drive speakers. A short list for other brands you may want to consider include B&W, Coincident, Monitor, Triangle, and Vandersteen.

Thanks for the response, Trelja. It's very difficult for me to answer you, because your questions are so thought provoking (and I don't know if I know the language correctly), but I'll give it a shot. I think I would prefer the most neutral sound possible. For instance, when I put on Train a Comin and listen to Steve Earle play acoustic guitar, I want it to sound like an acoustic guitar, in real space (I am a guitar player, so I'm probably more of an expert on that instrument than others). I would guess that I prefer a good midrange than the bass/treble, since I prefer guitar and vocal tones over bass ones and trebly instruments (not that I'd want those muffled, obviously). I think I would rather have dynamic than laid back (if that means my recordings of Modern Jazz Quartet swing) and neutral rather than warm (if that means Robert Cray's guitar sounds like it did in the studio). I hope that helps. BTW the McIntosh is solid state.