Question for Ex-Maggie Owners

I listened to Accoustats,Martin Logans and wanted to listen to the Eminients before choosing the Maggie 1.4's.I was living in a Big Historical house and had a great big room for them.I moved into a smaller house and was forced to buy boxed speaker's and only took them out for serious listening.

I added a subwoofer and was quite happy with them until I heard NEAR's.The Near's gave you the same transparency in a box.More so even.They are not a weird load to drive which make them easier to use with amps.I now have 2 sets of NEAR's which are modified and could not be happier.

Have been retooling my system since getting the NEAR's a year ago with better equiptment.

Maggies are really difficult because they lack Bass and are room dependent in my opinion.Although if you have the $$ and the room they are my second choice in speakers.I would choose them over B&W's and Vandies I have heard lately for the same price.Would like to hear Wilsons and VMPS's to see what they can do also.

If small speakers in a small room are the only alternative you have I would not get maggies.People that like them sometimes buy them and put them in rooms I cannot imagine them being used in.

Happy hunting!

Hello,

I had Maggie 3.3s for 3+ years and enjoyed them immensely. But I always ran out of power with the tube amps, ARC VT130 and CL150s, that I had during the time. All the talk to use Bryston amps just did not do it for me as the Maggie magic was so awesome with the tube amps that the Brystons simply could not achieve. I could not afford much more expensive tube amps so I sold off the Maggies and went with the much more efficient and dynamic Talon Khorus.

The Talons resolved all the Maggie weaknesses and gave me lower level resolution as well. But now 6 months later, I miss the Maggie midrange and 3D magic immensely. As wonderful as the Talons are in some respects, the simply do not match the Maggies for these strengths. I have heard no other speaker fill the space (10-12') between speakers as incredibly as the Maggies.

I am looking to move the Talons up to my HT system and once again be on the market for Maggie series 3 speakers. I should have just boxed up the 3.3s and put them under the bed until I had the appropriate amp! I am now hoping that my updated Counterpoint NPS400 could be the match that I was lacking with the ARC tube amps. One other option now to try with solid states is with the Plinius amps, perhaps a pair of the SA100's on the used market, as this is quite the great value. Seems universal that these have quite the magic but not the hassle of tubes.

As for Maggies requiring the user to be at one very specific listening position, I did not find this to be the case at all. And I am not sure what is meant by room dependent. They sounded excellent in the large rectangular room at the dealer and so very good in my more square-like basement room with not so high ceilings. I kept them about 2' from the side walls and 3' or so into the room from the back wall; they were up on 4" amp stands. And harsh high frequencies? NOT! Sounds like a problem further up in the chain. The incredible top end extension of these will only show the brightness caused by other components. They do not at all have the forward fatiguing brightness that often occurs with speakers like Thiels or ProAcs driven by lesser quality amps.

John

Thanks to all of you for your replies.
I have heard it before and now again about Maggie owners leaving only to return later. I gotta get a pair myself now.
The only thing thats worries me is shipping these things. ( I hope to purchase a 2nd hand pair). Many sellers are reluctant to ship I guess due to size but possible shipping
damage. Is this really a concern? Magnepan must ship hundreds of boxes from the factory UPS.

Just to reiterate what has been said...Maggies are very room dependent and visually non-obtrusive...they are anything but "space-savers"...I also think they get a bum rap when it comes to the bass dept...they do have very musical and accurate bass (1.6)...but not deep, boom-box bass...I also believe their power requirements have been overstated...although they are a 4 ohm load...it is a very stable, linear one...a quality 60w amp such as a Bryston intergrated are just fine...ofcourse you can always add more later...I also feel conventional, dynamic box speakers have greatly improved over they years as well...especially in the transparency department...and for this reason...I currently have reference monitors that are very dynamic, detailed, and transparent...they have a much more "live" sound than Maggies...Maggies do create a very large vertical image...but they are very dependent on musical taste as well...rock,electronica,etc. are not their bag...I feel dynamic speakers have improved greatly...and really have no blaring weaknesses...however...Maggies are very intoxicating in the right enviroment...since I recently moved and have the space...I may return...

I did not even think about the sweetspot problem with them.I often lost the sense of getting all the music when listening with another person besides me.

The room dependency and power to run them are another matter to be taken into context,but there are low cost amps that drive them with ease.B&K's modified is what I used and Rotel do nicely with them.

They do fairly well integrating with Subs.Better than other panels.Innersounds are probably the best for having Panels with good dynamics of what I had just read.So thats my opinion.

Review:
Bass Dynamics
Sweetspot
Amps to drive them
Room dependency
Are all negatives
Brightness-with some amps

Positives are they are some of the best for transparency I have ever encounted.They melt into the soundstage.

Good luck!