Apogee Duetta vs Mangnepan 3.6r

Agree with Dave. I owned both Caliper and Duetta.

The 3.6 are outgunned by both.

No contest.

IMO

Hello Coxhaus,

I own Apogees (three pairs and a center) and have owned Maggies in the past. I have heard the Magnapan 3.6R's and think that they have potential. Read the North East Wisconsin Audio Society review of the 3.6R for potential upgrades, (newaudiosociety dot com) and then keep in mind that the author sold his modded 3.6's not long after writing the article.

I have heard my friend George's system (previous poster Thesoundhouse) numerous times which included stock Apogee Duetta Signatures, a Sota Star Nova and Pass Labs electronics, and have been drawn in by the Duetta's transparency and detail. The Maggies tend to lack both those qualities unless you perform some serious upgrades to the stands and the crossovers.

Apogees require a good bit of clean power to make them sing, so don't expect to get by with low power or low quality amplification.

There are a Richard Murry restored pair on Audiogon today if you have about $7900 to spend on your drug habit (I meant audio system). I heard a Richard Murry restored pair three years ago at RMAF and it was the best sounding system at the show.

Regarding the "North East Wisconsin Audio Society review of the 3.6"...I remember him from several forums, and he did post here very often....(Rooze).

He tried very hard to get the Maggies to surpass his Apogee Calipers (the Apogee were bright yellow!)...he sold the Maggies and kept the Caliper. He did like the Maggies for the most part though.

I'm pretty sure that he moved on to some BIG HORN type speakers after a while (but still has the yellow Calipers).

Dave

I'll be the dissenting view. I LOVE Apogees (at least, the Stage, Diva, and most of all the Scintilla) but have never warmed up to any iteration of the Duetta. If someone would give me either pair, I'd take Maggie 3.6s over Apogee Duettas any day of the week.

I do not think Dschultz never really got hear a set of Duetta signatures the way I have. A close friend owns a local audio store in Albuquerque, and sells Magnepans and we have tried very hard to make a pair of 3.6 sound better than my old Duetta signatures. The Bass on the 3.6 is tubby at best with no dynamics. We tried many different amp set-ups and we could not get the 3.6 to match the Duetta Signatures wide open, deep sound stage. The Magnepans tonal balance was not even close to the D's. The bass on the D's is tight deep and fast, the midrange is smooth and 3 dimensional, The highs are fast, smooth, and extended. I tried for days to get the Magnepans to sound as good or better but I could not do it. I wanted to buy a new set of 3.6 because I wanted to support my friend's store, and a warranty would also be nice, but the Apogee Duetta Signatures just simply sounded significantly better.