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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
stickman451 OP
529 posts
 
Okay, been listening to the 1'6's since last evening; overall I like them quite a bit. However, it is very apparent that my 125 watt VTL mono-blocks are not quite up to the task of driving them to fill my larger room (17.5 x 26 x 9)... They can handle 75db-80db but that is about all... I can definitely tell however that a good-size muscle amp would be far better in my room...

Great sound stage depth front to back with plenty of well-defined layers; vocals are great, real-sized and in-the-room real... Only in the bass do they falter a bit; they don't have the 'grunt' or 'weight' of the KHorns (really didn't expect them too)... On the other hand, a good bit more power might go a longs ways towards solving that.

Now what; i have to buy a new muscle amp too??? It never ends...
philjolet's avatar
philjolet
2,262 posts
 
Stickman

sorry to hear you need more power, I feel your pain (or used to anyway). I often look back fondly on the pair I owned. So darn good for the money.

I think most owners would be better off with a big SS amp like the Innersound ESL. You would not believe how those speakers can rock with 1,000 watts!

keep on truckin and happy holidays...

fin1bxn
140 posts
 
You will never get that Bass/mid bass Impact from the Magnepans that you get from the k-horns, no matter what amps you use.

You will get better sound than what you have now with at least 500 watts at 4ohms high current amp.

I have had both Klipsh and Magnepans and speak from experience...

You can find a pr of Odyssey mono amps at a reasonable price. I drove mine with them and then upgraded to a PASS x250 with made them sing

Good luck and enjoy
bmckenney
91 posts
 
Bass response is also going to be a about where you placed them in the room. Big time. I would think that big tube amp should give you pretty good bass response even with the Maggies. Where did you place the speakers in the room exactly, from front wall and side wall to the middle of the panel?
bmckenney
91 posts
 
The other thing you might want to consider is finding a dealer close by that has Eminent Tech LFT 8 speakers. Planar's too, but with a hybrid design cone bass driver. Many former Maggie 1.6 owners actually prefer this speaker. One of the reasons is the bass response is better but loses none of the planar sound that the Maggies have. Ans your amp should be more than fine too.
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