Magnepan MG-IIb, Any thoughts on these?

Terrax

Hey all,

I might have a chance at a set of these, and wanted to hear from you guys what your thoughts might be. Does anyone hear (pun intended) have experience with these speakers? Owned? Heard?

Thanks,
-Terry

George Grand

Maggies require separate power amps that can drive some load. Receivers don't quite cut it for them. You may want to consider that before spending money on a pair. You WILL NOT be getting anywhere near what they are capable of using your present listed amplification.

Oops, didn't see that Parasound hidden in there. That's what it'll take.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grands)

tonyv1

Just help my friend's son troubleshoot a pair of MGIIbs that he got. The left speaker sounded muffled with no highs. The problem turned out to be an open tweeter meaning the tweeter wire was broken somewhere. So before you even listen to them take a DVM and check across the tweeter and bass for continuity at the back plate. Also check the fuses for the same. Magnepan does sell repair kits and will completely rebuild the pair for $350.
I've owned Maggies for 3 years and used a Parasound HCA-1500A for my first amp. Maggies love high current amps. There's lots more info on the MUG site. If they're OK, then you'll be treated to some of that Maggie magic.

Terrax

Drove two hours this morn to pick these up. Listened to a few cd's while I was there, check them out a good as I could without dismantleing them. Bases where scratched up pretty bad, but the wood and frabric was in very good shape. No picks or runs in the cloth socks. Boxed them up and started home. Stopped by Lowes on the way, and picked up some black gloss emanel spray and sand paper. Once home, lugged these big, heavy mommy's in, unpacked them and reinspected. Got the bases and started sanding away. Few hours later, I attached the newly painted bases, and replaced my 150's with these in my main system. Turned everything on, loaded up Enigma in the denon, and was duely impressed.

For a pair of twenty plus year old speakers, the soundstage was huge. A wide open spaceous sound was presented to me like I hadn't heard in a long time. With depth, width, and height that was very fullfilling. The only thing left was trying to get the placement right, as to make them disappear. So far, I'm close, but not there yet. I think it may be due to the fact I don't have enough open space to the sides as I should have, due to the size of the room, but oh well... not like I'm gonna knock the walls down....... wait.... hm........... the wife wont be home for a little while.... maybe I could... nah..... better not.:D

Terry

tonyv1

Welcome to the world of Maggies.
Like I said before checkout the MUG site for info. Maggies are very tweakable without breaking the bank. One cheap tweak is to replace the jumper bars with speaker wire using banana plugs. To help with the back wave diffusion, I use a fake ficus tree to break up the sound. Anyway enjoy!

Terrax

Thank you Tony, for the tweak suggestions and the link to Mug.

F1nut

Are you going to experience 19,000 rpm on the Maggies?

Terrax

Doubtful, they start dropping off around 16k.

F1nut

Roger that!