Maggie versus Magico

I don't know about the older Maggies, but my new 3.6R's with vertical crossovers are more dynamic and play loud and huge. In fact, they compare favorably to even my previous W/P 6's, Sophias and Dynausio C4's. They simply need an amp that doubles down from 8 to 4 to 2ohms. I use Cardas jumpers, MIT cables and HiFi Tuning fuses for maximum splendiferousness:O)

Hi Dave,
I had the 3.6r as well as older maggies. Lovely they were too. But you have to bare in mind the 3.6 is 85db/watt sensitivity. Even with huge doubling into 4 ohm type amps they are incapable of true dynamic swings. They are great with smaller swings and intricate timbre changes, but loud big bangs like bass drums get "contained" or softened. You will never jump out of your skin with a maggie. I got used to it and soon forgot that side of things because it did everything else extremely well. I felt the full range Apogees had the legs on the maggie by quite a margin. Though they were a little more zingy and less woody sounding.

I was surprised by the Magicos dynamics. I think it was about 93 or 94 db/watt. The bass was very full and controlled. Not sure if it had the quality the 3.6r can have down there, but easily as deep. The cabinet seemed to be silent. No hint of joining in with the music. But again look at the price! In a contest I think I would lean towards the maggie, but I would doff my cap to the magico with the extra 20k in my wallet. I would love to hear the really big Magicos...

Chadeffect, that is what I expected as well. For the life of me I cannot understand why I am getting BETTER dynamic swing , presence and slam aka punch that is equal to or better than most of the box speakers I've owned which included Wilson W/P6's, Sophias, Dynaudio C4's etc.. Now I'm not talking sub 25hz slam, which is mostly artifactual and not what you hear in the hall (except on pipe organs), but real world mid bass/bass dynamics that go almost unnoticed by most conventional box speakers. For the lowest lows I have 2 subs which go down to 18hz:O)

Hi Dave,
I know what you mean. I had similar with mine. You get the impression that the Maggie is free and full. Some recordings were vibrant and amazing to listen to.

At the time I had some very strange dynamic issues where sometimes they were alive and at other times they would seem to be withdrawn or distant. It was very annoying, as I knew how good they could be. It turned out to be more about the amp and electricity quality I was getting. So I did all the filtering and separate mains for the system which helped and kept performance more uniform. Then I got into the internal cabling and replacing the original crossover with Alphacore inductors and many types of capacitors, bypassing the fuse over the TWT. All this transformed the Maggie (and Apogee).

A good sub does help underpin and fill the room. I used Audio physics Minos subs at the time. They were great and were the only subs fast enough to blend with both the Magnepan and the Apogees.

In the end I went to the AG Trio with its 110db/watt sensitivity. Which to be honest can do all that the Magnepan 3.6r and updated Apogee divas can do plus complete dynamic freedom. They are less fussy about placement too.

To keep to the thread though, I think the magico is a very impressive speaker and a modern sounding box speaker. It is clean, extended and uncolored. I have always loved planars, so a part of me will always be biased towards them. But if you do not have the space for an 3.6r or 20.1 and have the extra money, then a Magico is no slouch. But look at the speakers available at that sort of price. Many serious ones.

Loved and lived with the MG20.1 for 3yrs, maximized them with appropriate ancillaries best I could. Driven them with ARC REF3 partnered with the ARC REF600mkIII / Jadis JA200 to try extract the maximum dynamics they can dish out. But as Chadeffect puts it quite accurately, they at times with certain music materials (Hugh Masakela-Burmeister Test Disc, Sheffield Drum Tracks) felt slightly withdrawn and distant, rather boring (less jump factor) compared to the better designed modern dynamic speakers. Thus, in some ways not as involving or live sounding.

Hence, my 3yr stint with the Strads and ending up with the Mini2 mid last year ('08). To these ears, the Magico's had that freed-up boxless sound, coherency and musicality one yearns from a full range planar or stats. As well, their neutrally balanced tonality, startling speed, excellent dynamic swings (that often belies their size), transparency and imaging capabilities completes the package beautifully. Imo, putting price factor aside, they are truly one strong candidate for the best speakers out there today for the smaller to medium sized rooms.