maggie mmgs w. subs or ml motion 12s ?

scottyboy76

Just saw on deals of the day here that some ml motion 12s are 600 plus ship.

The mmgs i had pretty much decided on with 2 of my subs are 628 shipped.

A little undecided for first time since hearing old very imperfect smgas that i loved.

Swayed by built in bass of mls, but they are folded material tweeter instead of planars like ml is known for.

Also, maggies are 60 day money back minus shipping both ways.

Any opinions are app.

falconcry72

Ideally you'd find a way to listen to both and see what sounds better to you.

I am not familiar with the Motions, but after a brief perusing, they don't appear to be one of Martin Logan's finest offerings.

One way that they are different is that the MMG's are made of all the same stuff as their big brothers: the MG-12's and 1.6's; there's just less of it. The Motions, on the other hand, appear to be made of completely different components than their bigger siblings.

It's hard to beat Magnepan's 60 day money back trial.

What kind of music do you listen to the most?

I'm a Magnepan fan, BTW, so I may be a tad biased.

hoosier21

of those choices, Magnepan

Tony M

After reading this review, it might be a 50/50 decision.

You won't go wrong either way. I've heard the folded horn in these new ML and they remind me of ESS's heil air motion transformers. The man I bought my sunfire amp from bought a pair of ML similar to these and they sounded GREAT. For him to have these newer ML says alot for ML. This man is very, very perticular and has a keen ear or two for fine music reproduction. He had replaced fuses, power cords, and outlets to get the most from his system also. I think he was partial to cone speakers though so take that into consideration too.

Read this review if you haven't already.

http://www.goodsound.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=161:martinlogan-motion-12-loudspeakers&catid=56:equipment-reviews&Itemid=37

polkfarmboy

I think you cant go wrong with either speaker the 12's are priced so low that if you dont like them you can sell them when the deal ends .Most best buys will be able to get you a listening session to try them out and make your own call .

For me I am in love with the flat panels for now until I have serious money for a set of wilsons or something like that so i would go with the maggies but the motion 12 dipole midrange really sets them apart from a conventional speaker and has a really airy sound that goes great with the folded motion tweeter so its a really tough call because I thought the bass was really good on the motion 12's .The maggies are hard to integrate a sub for seamless sound so you decide where ya go and have alot of fun

txcoastal1

Why don't you and your lady grab your favorite music and even a movie take a road trip and listen to some gear

maybe somewhere like this for the Maggies
http://www.yeswehaveawebsite.com/

The logans are more readily available

Good luck and enjoy

scottyboy76

Thanx for input guys.

Several things, I thought of the heil tweeters just from looking at ml tweets.

Mostly i listen to rock, but as i get better eqipment, and with age, i find myself listening to classical, newage type stuff, and TOM FREAKIN JONES,he and whitney are still the reigning king and queen, IMO.

I have spoken with the guys at audio alternatives, I think i will be buying a tt from there, seems like great place to listen and buy.

I think im gonna do what was suggested, maybe take some music, tom, laurie anderson o superman ep, and some zep, maybe beatles, to AA and spend some time.

nooshinjohn

Go Maggies and a nice sub. I heard the ML's tonight at Magnolia. They were nice, but the soundstage, transparency, imaging and detail the Maggies are capable of is hard to beat at this pricepoint, or even at three times the price. I have been very pleased with my set of MMG's. I would go so far as to say they rival my SDA's for the imaging and spacious presentation they produce. They do not have the ability to dig deep, but what bass they do is very accurate. I let a sub handle everything below 60htz. Enjoy!

dorokusai

I've heard a bunch of Martin Logan and they just don't do it for me. They have an edge over Magnepan in the bass department which is kinda of a no brainer, can sound very crisp and produce vocals with a lot of depth .....BUT they never sound well rounded to me. With Magnepan, I know one thing they can't do great, which can be easily tweaked.....the rest is damn near perfect. It's really the most positive adjective capable speaker I've ever heard extensively.

scottyboy76

Im convinced about maggies, reading praise and love from owners was impressive in past, and hearing the smgs, even in the shape they are in, i get it.

Hearing from you guys, most of whom have heard many speakers of wide price range clinches it.

Audio alternatives for rega starter tt, and these mmgs will allow me to sell off most of my cl and ebay speakers, even though i enjoy them, ready to settle down and upgrade preamp and tt cartridge, maybe cables, more tweaks than upheaval here on out.

BeefJerky

I just noticed this thread, and I agree with the general sentiment here. I heard a set of Magnepan 1.6's powered by some McIntosh gear recently at a very nice high-end audio store. I believe they are about as good as you can get for a 2 channel setup.

One of these days when I have the room (and money), I will put together a dedicated 2 channel setup, and I'm quite sure it will be using Magnepan speakers.

That being said, I don't think I'd use them for a HT setup. It's not that they wouldn't work well for that, I just think it would be extreme overkill. Not to mention the size of them, and the large amount of space they need between them and the wall(s) to work to their full potential. This could create a setup nightmare for a full 5 channel or 7 channel system. I'll likely stick with the LSi's for my combo HT/music setup.

nooshinjohn

Not entirely true about the MMG's and HT.. Mine ar ecurrently bing used with a Motion8 ML center. With a sub and in my small room, they do just fine. My wife was commenting tonight that the current setup sounds better than it ever has, and I had the 2.3TL's up front for two years.

falconcry72

BeefJerky wrote: »

I don't think I'd use them for a HT setup. It's not that they wouldn't work well for that, I just think it would be extreme overkill.

Nope. If anything, Maggies are "underkill" for HT, not "overkill".

It takes a lot of juice to get them to sing, and even with a couple hundred watts per channel, they're still not a particularly dynamic speaker compared to a lot of modern HT offerings.

My dad has a Maggie HT setup: 1.6's as fronts, dual mg-12's as center, and some Mirage surrounds. It sounds awesome... especially the 12 (or 12's) as a center... talk about clear dialogue. Magnepan's conventional center (the mmgc) sounds like crap. An MG-12, or even an MMG, makes a MUCH better center.

Canonshooter

As a former Magenpan owner (1.4s and MMGs), I can say they are an acquired taste but once you do, nothing else compares. The single most critical aspect of Maggies is placement - they typically sound best with at least 3 feet of space behind them. Once you have found the sweet spot for speaker placement and your listening postion, they will send chills down you back with the clarity and openess of the sound stage.

Unfortunately, optimum placement for sound can also be 100% in the way of normal activities in the room. At the end of the day, if you can set them up optimally and not have to move them "out of the way" at the end of the listening session, you will probably be quite pleased. Yes, the MMGs benefit from a subwoofer, but select one that has clear, defined tight bass. Muddy-bass subs with Maggies is not a pleasing combo.

FWIW, I ended up selling my MMGs after we moved and the room I had for 2-channel music appreciation was smaller than before. Between the size, odd shape and soft accoustics, I could not get the MMGs sounding quite right and I was back to having to "move them out of the way" at the end of every listening session. This gets old in a hurry.

Believe it not, I ended up with a pair of Tsi400s, purchased "sound unheard" based on smaller size and the less-critical placement. I was also resigned to the fact that I would never have the same quality of sound as I had previously and would accept that in exchange for not having to do battle with the wife and moving speakers around every time I wanted to listen. I figured I would just make the best of them and accept whatever I ended up with in terms of sound quality.

Long story short, the Tsi400s have been a very pleasant suprise. Mated with a SVS 20-39PC Plus subwoofer, and after spending plenty of time finding optimal speaker placement, adjusting the sub, and finding the listening sweet spot, I dare say the current system sounds mighty fine. Sure, it could be better but every once in a while I get chills down my back, like the good old days - and I don't have to move speakers any more.

Maggies are awesome, just be prepared to do what it takes to make 'em sound that way.

dorokusai

The REL T series, especially the better priced used ones from 2 years ago, are perfect mates.

BeefJerky

nooshinjohn wrote: »

Not entirely true about the MMG's and HT.. Mine ar ecurrently bing used with a Motion8 ML center. With a sub and in my small room, they do just fine. My wife was commenting tonight that the current setup sounds better than it ever has, and I had the 2.3TL's up front for two years.

Hmmm, now this surprises me. I've always heard and read that Maggie's need to be pulled out from the wall, otherwise it will kill your soundstage and make them sound lifeless. However, you post makes it seem otherwise.

falconcry72 wrote: »

Nope. If anything, Maggies are "underkill" for HT, not "overkill".

It takes a lot of juice to get them to sing, and even with a couple hundred watts per channel, they're still not a particularly dynamic speaker compared to a lot of modern HT offerings.

My dad has a Maggie HT setup: 1.6's as fronts, dual mg-12's as center, and some Mirage surrounds. It sounds awesome... especially the 12 (or 12's) as a center... talk about clear dialogue. Magnepan's conventional center (the mmgc) sounds like crap. An MG-12, or even an MMG, makes a MUCH better center.

Well, as for dynamics, the 1.6's that I heard had plenty of dynamics. Mind you they were also powered by a high current McIntosh amp which was either 300 or 350w/ch into 8 ohms, so likely even more with the 4 ohm 1.6's.

In terms of my reservations for HT, it had more to do with getting a proper setup. If I were only doing the front stage with Maggies, I guess it wouldn't be so bad. However, I would still need a decent size room to keep the fronts and center out from the wall properly. If I wanted to use Maggies for surrounds as well (which I probably would), that is where it would become more a "setup nightmare" as I said before. However, correct me if I'm wrong, and give me some more information.

nooshinjohn

BeefJerky wrote: »

Hmmm, now this surprises me. I've always heard and read that Maggie's need to be pulled out from the wall, otherwise it will kill your soundstage and make them sound lifeless. However, you post makes it seem otherwise.


.

My MMG's are toe'd in to the sweet spot, and about 18 inches from the wall on the inside edge, 22" on the outside edge, flanking my gear rack. I will try and post a pic in the morning. Moving the MMG is not at all a problem at all, as they barely weight 15 pounds apiece. My setup is far from optimum, but for the next several months, it will have to do.