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Magnepan Owners - Need Your Thoughts Please

Spent some time recently auditioning the Magenpan 12's and 1.6's; I was very impressed with the sound, especially when you consider their modest cost.

I've always had highly sensitive horn speakers so a Magnepan is a totally new direction for me. I will keep my Khorns and consider adding the Magnepans for even more fun! Here are some questions that I need help with. Of course, I will bring them home for a personal in-house listen before I buy but any thoughts that you Maggie owners could add will be greatly appreciated! Questions:

(1)Will a pair of 125 watt VTL monoblocks (EL-34's) be enough juice to drive the Magnepans to reasonable listening levels in my large room (17.5w x 26L x 9h). By reasonable levels I mean 85db - 90db (at the most). I don't want to 'blow-up' the VTL's! They are rated at 130 watts in Tetrode mode into 4 ohms.

(2)I assume that the larger panels of the 1.6's would be harder to drive overall than the smaller 12's?

(3) Setup advice: where do I start on placement? How far from the front wall and how far from the sidewalls? How far apart? Also, are Magnepans designed to be faced straight-ahead or with some toe-in? And, what about the ribbons, placed on the outside or inside?

(4) What are the appropriate listening distances? How far do you sit back from the panels?

Would love to hear Magnepan owners' comments and advice on these questions or any other Maggie issues that I am not thinking about. Thanks!
stickman451
sogood51
2,157 posts
 
Use amps that are musical for long term enjoyment. The speakers only need to play, as loud as you like to listen...and 100's of watts won't be required in your case.

(you have the horns for head banging SPL's).

Dave
gawdbless's avatar
gawdbless
1,165 posts
 
I personally find the Magnepan very 'open' sound is impressive initially to the ears and brain, but the novelty soon wear off, they sound very impressive in the mid-range,
but after awhile and one gets used to the sound it sounds to my ears that the sound is ready to be mixed
more cohesively on the sound engineers mixing desk, these are obviously my personal findings, not wishing to upset those that have them, use them, and positively love their sound.
If your horns are good (I use Oris 150 horns) then buying Magnepans would be possibly a retrograde step IM(very)HO, rather than an onward, forward onto greater musical satisfaction.
At least they are easy to shift if you bought a pair and did not get on with them.
Good luck and happy listening!
Ps- if you buy a pair please keep us informed on how you are getting along with them.
bmckenney
91 posts
 
That's a big room. Don't you need to make sure you demo the 3.6s, not the 1.6s? Use the Cardas dipole calculator for speaker placement. 5.5 feet from the front wall, 1.4 feet from the side walls is what I get with the calculator. That is from center of speaker.
stickman451 OP
529 posts
 
My goal with the Magnepans is to have fun and try something that is a little different; not really on a mission to find something "better". Not sure if 1.6's can fill my room. Going to give it a try and see. 5.5 from the front wall sounds reasonable; 1.4 from the side walls sounds rather close to me.
philjolet's avatar
philjolet
2,262 posts
 
fwiw my 1.6s were fine in my 13 x 22 x 8 room and I really liked the cardas method to which I followed to the letter and did not move them after. I aimed them at my shoulders and it was nice.

I think your room may be a bit big for them but (on the other hand) the size of your room could cut down on high frequency reflections and you may get better low end response than I did so you may be quite happy.

good luck
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