If not Magnepan, what?

maxward

I’ve owned Magnepan speakers for forty years. Now that I’m nearing 70, I am thinking about downsizing. One reason is that I don’t think my sons will have the interest or the room to take them over when that time comes. There are a few others, but we recently upgraded our kitchen system with a Marantz PM7000N (integrated with streamer) and a pair of KLH Albany speakers (thanks, @mantis). Since this room is open to the family room, I have found that I have less interest in listening to the big system alone. So I might eventually get a pair of standmounts or floorstanders to replace the Maggies. Looking for places to start. What brands of speakers do you think would make a Maggie lover happy?
I’m over an hour from the nearest high end dealers, and they carry some brands of interest: Dynaudio, Harbeth, ATC, Linn, PSB, among others. I’m curious about Zu, but have no idea if I’d like their house sound. Thanks for any suggestions. Budget? Let’s say 2-5k as a ballpark range.

spongebobsquarepants

Polk SDA?

maxward

I’d like to hear a pair. Not sure if they can work with my amps.

Ricardo

I would start with Dynaudio. They make some of the best bookshelf speakers I've heard. Funny enough, I dumped my Dynaudio Contour 1.3 Mk ii for a Magnepan; I modded an MMG with Peter Gunn's mods (Google Peter Gunn Magnepan), and the sound coming out of that was to die for. The wood frame made a huge different in bass (Yes, Maggies can deliver decent bass) and control.

You can also google reviews etc. But I don't think you can go wrong with Dynaudio.

nooshinjohn

Usher Mini Dancer 2's all day long and twice on Sunday.

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649599075-usher-mini-dancer-2/

maxward

Okay, Thanks. Dynaudio is pretty near the top of the list. And yes, I have looked into the Peter Gunn mods, but I think I owned a model he didn’t care for, MG 2B.

maxward

The Mini Dancers are beautiful! And about the right size.

marvda1

I would put these up on your list.
https://www.audiothesis.com/product-page/rosso-fiorentino-elba

and I would dig deep to get these.
https://www.audiothesis.com/product-page/rosso-fiorentino-fiesole

nooshinjohn

maxward wrote: »

The Mini Dancers are beautiful! And about the right size.

And you could do the swap without taking a dime out of pocket if you sell the Maggies. The Ushers respond well to better gear upstream just like the SDA's do. The Diamond tweet has an almost ribbon-like quality to it.

maxward

Thanks. Yes, I plan to talk to Skip at some point. Very few places to hear these around here. But I’d sure like to.

ZLTFUL

maxward wrote: »

Thanks. Yes, I plan to talk to Skip at some point. Very few places to hear these around here. But I’d sure like to.

I got a pair of Elbas from Skip and it is something I have never regretted or second guessed for a minute. The second generation Elbas punch very high above their price point and I have heard them in both my small-ish room and a couple of much larger spaces. They do very well in either.

The Fiesole is another danged fine speaker and well worth the price of admission but I have a basement to finish and my wife would have killed me.

mhardy6647

@maxward -- what in particular do you like about your Magneplanars?
I think that's the important thing, since they do both sound and "present" rather differently than monkey coffin loudspeakers. Is it the scale/scope they provide, or is it the lack of box coloration, or something else?

Full disclosure -- I have always liked them since my initial exposure in the mid 1970s (and specifically the Tympanis, which were, and are, very impressive), but they have never made it the top of my list, so I am probably not going to be of much help That said, I do think it's important to know thyself in terms of what's important to you if you're gonna replace loudspeakers -- especially loudspeakers with a lot of character.

maxward

Well, I went and played them last night and they gave me a severe dressing down, “How dare you think about selling us!” They are very coherent, even though the 3.6R has been criticized for being less so than other models. The ribbon tweeter is, to my ears, very hard to beat. But they place a lot of demand on their owners. You need to buy me a better amplifier. You need to rearrange your living room. You need to get some room treatments. And so on, but I suppose these demands are par for the course with many other speakers. They are a good fit for my tastes in music and my preference of tonal balance. I’m sure that if I were to replace them, they’d be missed for some of these qualities, but I am getting a little concerned about the need to downsize at some point. I’d hate to think of them sitting out on the curb with a “FREE” sign taped to them.

audioluvr

Road trip to the Gorge some weekend and I'll let you demo my 1C's

nooshinjohn

Where are you located Max?

maxward

I’m in Salem, OR.

audioluvr

Bring your amps

nooshinjohn

If the 3.6 need a new home, let me know. I am in L.A.

audioluvr

Good point John. Hey Max, when you come over to demo my SDA' s, you should bring your amps and the Maggie's. I could use them in my barn...

TroyD

Once you get used to a planar....man, it's tough to go back to a dynamic speaker. I've owned Quads for years. Every so often, I'll think I'm missing something and I'll go back to a dynamic speaker but eventually, I circle back to the Quads.

My advice, keep your speakers. Listen to them, love them.......when the time comes, let it be someone else's issue.

BDT

maxward

Very good point, @TroyD . I always wanted to eventually own a pair of Quads. It might still happen... Thanks for your input.

marvda1

I always thought these sound better than maggies.
https://www.dagogo.com/eminent-technology-lft-8b-floorstanding-speaker-review/

maxward

I have never seen a pair. I have read a couple of glowing reviews, but that’s it.

audioluvr

TroyD wrote: »

Once you get used to a planar....man, it's tough to go back to a dynamic speaker. I've owned Quads for years. Every so often, I'll think I'm missing something and I'll go back to a dynamic speaker but eventually, I circle back to the Quads.

My advice, keep your speakers. Listen to them, love them.......when the time comes, let it be someone else's issue.

BDT

Don't listen to him. He's crazy! I'm still trying to figure out he posts with that straight jacket on 😂

maxward

Crazy people don’t usually own Quads, but there might be some exceptions.

aiconn

maxward wrote: »

Crazy people don’t usually own Quads, but there might be some exceptions.

Right here is one! They're not ESLs, but I love them.

TroyD

Oh, I'm certifiably insane. I'm gearing up to host my 5th Polkfest. That's about all you need to know.

I've owned Quads for, oh, better than 15 years. The transparency and total lack of coloration is SOOO seductive. They don't play super loud, they don't have tremendous dynamics, they aren't super reliable.......but, if you can't chloroform Diana Krall, bring her to your place and have her sing in your living room, this is the closest you can get to it.

BDT

mhardy6647

maxward wrote: »

Crazy people don’t usually own Quads, but there might be some exceptions.

oh, I don't know -- at least if we're talkin' about ESL-57s. They're very demanding mistresses, so to speak. I think a certain amount of, if not insanity, then at least masochism is required to own vintage Quad ESLs. Low sensitivity, low power handling, difficult load for amplifiers (basically a large capacitor), extremely limited vertical treble dispersion -- coupled with some of the most lifelike and real sound ever reproduced.

Yeah, I gotta pair. Yeah, I'm crazy.

Paramours and Quads 112413 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

EDIT: Now -- you wanna talk crazy? Some folks own heritage Klipsch loudspeakers... even if they have a choice in the matter. Now those folks -- nutso. Certifiable.

Yeah, I used to own a pair of Cornwalls, too.

mhardy6647

Oh, an afterthought occasioned by this thread* and somewhat more on topic:
The thing one gives up in planar loudspeakers -- FWIW -- relative to really good dynamic loudspeakers is... umm...dynamics. That would keep me from living with a pair of any planar loudspeakers I've heard as my only or primary loudspeakers. I like impact. My philosophy is to use the loudpeakers as the primary tools to deliver that impact.

Note that the planars have lots of benefits, and I'll never knock 'em -- but whipcrack dynamics isn't one of the things they bring to the table.

_________________
* And, remember, I've already self-identified as nuts when it comes to loudspeakers.

maxward

Thanks, @mhardy6647 and everyone for the great comments and suggestions. I agree about the relative lack of dynamics. In addition, or perhaps part of the same issue, is that they tend to squash low-level details. My first pair of Maggies did this to a much greater extent than my current pair. You had to play them a little loud to get past that, but you were just fooling yourself if you believed that the problem went away if you gave them enough juice. After hearing the original Quads for the first time, I became hooked on planar speakers. Quads were always a little out of reach, but I have passed up on some good deals on used pairs on the past 10 or more years.
I would like to be able to hear several of the speakers that were suggested. The Elba 2 is certainly one of them, but Dynaudio and Usher are brands that I can find at dealers without too much of a drive. Right now, I’m not sure if showrooms are even open, so maybe when that’s possible, I’ll start to look around.

TroyD

Man, if you were closer, I'd GIVE you a pair of 988's (the catch is that they need some new panels...).

The one thing I that I liked about the 988's over the 63's and improved with later iterations of the Quad is that they low level detail was outstanding. It just didn't have the weight that you get from a good dynamic speaker. (Thiel 3.6, big SDA's, AR9's).....but I never found the low level detail lacking at all with the Quads.

Just my .02