Are these maggies a good deal?

dane_peterson

I'm craigslisting while out of town and found these. Good deal?

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/ele/1231918285.html

nguyendot

Yes.

I just saw a pair go for $100 in LA, Ca. That was unrealistic. These generally go for 350 or so.

Ricardo

Yes; that is a good deal. The problem with old maggies is that the glue they used in the panels aged, and then there can be delamination.

http://www.indiespinzone.com/mag/mag6.html

dorokusai

I wouldn't buy them.

StephenEC

dane_peterson ,

I would not pay that much for them . More than likely , these spwakers are de-laminating , or the tweeter wire is corroded . . . this a common problem with Maggies this old .

If you could talk the seller down to lets say , a $100.00 , then I would say , You have a deal , but not $200.00 . . . as they (the maggies ) will need money thrown at them to make them sing .

Plus , You better have a High Current amp to Drive them .

Hope this Helps , Stephen

nooshinjohn

I would just get them. It is a great speaker. I used to build the Maggies at the factory in Maplewood back in the 80's. I know they still support them and if you need their assitance they can always go to them. seeing as you are local the cost will be much less as shipping would not be a factor. Of course negotiate a better price!

Kex

nguyendot wrote: »

Yes.

I just saw a pair go for $100 in LA, Ca. That was unrealistic. These generally go for 350 or so.

Was that the pair on CL recently, down in Venice Beach, or Santa Monica, or somewhere down there? If so, I thought they looked really crappy in the photos, which is why I didn't even point them out to anyone here.

dorokusai wrote: »

I wouldn't buy them.

Is it just me being paranoid, drunk or both, or does the photo looked altered? It seems to me a picture of clean looking speakers was pasted into that outside decor. If so, this would not be a good sign IMO. The pics may not even be of the actual speakers for sale.

Just some food for thought.

ViperZ

Dane,
I own MG-II, which are a few models up in terms of age (MG-I, Ib, Ic, then mine).

Regarding physical condition. At this age, the tweeter wires are gone, whether previous owner used these speakers or not (late 60s, early 70s manufacturing date). You will need to get the rewire kit from Magnepan (very helpful staff, $50 kit, plus you buy your own 3M glue).

I paid less for mine than the price listed in this CL ad (known that the tweeters were gone). Rewired the tweeters, changed crossover capacitors (put Solen polypropylene caps), refinished frames and made new socks (black grill cloth material).

I was not able to drive these speakers with Carver TFM-24 (350W/ch into 4 Ohm beast). I was still at low level, but the volume was up and there was no dimension, seemed that Carver needed more push to linearize, but I was afraid to blow the panels.

I switched to Dynaco ST-70 (35W/ch) tubes, and the difference is amazing. The bass is clean (yes, with panels), the mids and voices are super nice. You won't get very crisp highs with these panels, but Maggies will give you the most natural sound and amazing wide and deep sound stage. (I do like the highs that I get from CDs, very smooth and clean, but with "cone" speakers highs would definitely sound sharper).

Like I said, I drive them with Dynaco ST-70, use Carver C-1 preamp, Cambridge Audio 640P phono pre, Dual 1228 TT, Toshiba HD-A20 CD. I really love these speakers. Eventually, I did add restored Velodyne ULD-15 for deeper bass, but that's for my taste.

Mine looked exactly like the ones in CL ad when I got them. I hated the frame and grill colors.

Now they look like this:

Ender

Wow. I like that look. It's sexy. Good job on the refurbishing job.

dane_peterson

Great work on your Maggies. I elected not to go with these... Heading back home right now. It would have been a tight fit in the G6 in any case.

Thanks everyone for the input. Someday I hope to try planars!

Kex

dane_peterson wrote: »

... I elected not to go with these... Heading back home right now. ...

Just out of curiousity: did you actually meet with the guy and see the speakers? Did the technical considerations described above seem valid? I'm just wondering if somebody else might want them, if you had already removed some of the uncertainty surrounding the validity of the deal.

dane_peterson

I never heard from the seller. I did email him... Just no response. Had he messaged me back, I would have gone to take a look regardless, for the reasons you mention.

michaeljhsda2

"I used to build the Maggies at the factory in Maplewood back in the 80's"

Was that in Maplewood Missouri?

I'm gonna check out the speakers F/S and post more info.

nooshinjohn

no... Maplewood Minnesota.