Leaving the SDA's behind???

nooshinjohn

I have been thinking recently about moving away from the SDA-SRS 2.3tl's and going to a set of Magnepan's. I already know I am crazy, but what I am hoping to learn is whether or not others that have compared Maggies to the big Polks prefer them over the SDA's.

leroyjr1

Can't say which is better but I had the pleasure of hearing a pair of Magnepans and was very impressed. It has a different sound and needs lower end help but I really enjoyed them. After hearing them I actually like them better than my 2.3tl's. Someday I'll own a pair.

nooshinjohn

do you remember which series you heard?

dorokusai

I heard or owned many Magnepan and with a nice, quick subwoofer....you'll never miss SDA.

leroyjr1

nooshinjohn wrote: »

do you remember which series you heard?

Yes, the MMG's. Can't even imagine how great the bigger 1.6's would sound.

bluecomet

Maggies seen like nice speakers but it seems everytime I hear someone talking about them, they are always replacing the ribbon tweets or sending it back to Magnapan to be rebuilt, especially the older models. Is it me or do they tend to need attention from time to time. I have heard them and they are nice but I still like the SRS 1.2tl's better. They do not have the bass of the SRS and with RDO 198's and some mods, I think you will be sorry to abandon the Polks. I would look for 1.2tl's before a maggie unless you are talking about the ten thousand dollar maggies. If you have the room why not have both the maggies and your 2.3tl Polks, then you'll have no regrets. Just a thought.

treitz3

2 things from what I understand. 3, actually...

1 - John likes it LOUD.
2 - Maggies have been known [read it too many times] to have reliability issues when played loud and "abused".
3 - Polks will take the abuse, eat it for dinner and want more.

In this case, I would advise to think before you act.

stubby

Maggies also require alot of real estate - into the room. You certainly can't just put them up against the wall, like a pair of SDA's, and expect much of a soundstage.

stubby

MANSKITO

If done proper and given everything they need, some of the bigger Magnepans sound more realistic then almost ANY cone driven speaker that i have heard.

I have heard the MMG (better speaker options out there too bass shy) the 3.6 and the 20.1. In the 3.6 and even more so the 20.1 they pretty much blow almost every other speaker away other then other ribbon/electrostatic speakers in terms of reproduction of sound. Really there only weakness is music with weighty bass. Meaning anything with weight, Kick drums, electric bass etc... The bigger magnepans do lows fine if not better then most cone speakers(think string bass) they just can not do any sound with weight behind it. In other words they would suck **** for Rock/hip-hop but melt your face off with jazz. Other then that They are leaps and bounds better then there cone driven counter parts.

If your choice is between the 3.6/20.1 and a Polk SDA the 3.6/20.1 is a better by speaker by a HUGE delta in almost every way and I would say buy it if you have the money if and ONLY if you can live with out sounds that convey weight. some would say you could solve that with a sub but IMO ribbon/electrostatic speakers make poor room m8s with a sub.

On a side note I have heard AC/DCs Back in black and Pink floyd's Dark side of the moon on all the maggies and some smaller SDAs. Just so you know where I am coming from.

dkg999

dorokusai wrote: »

I heard or owned many Magnepan and with a nice, quick subwoofer....you'll never miss SDA.

+1

Once you go flat you never come back

Ern Dog

Well, I spent some time with some MMG's in my rig. If you go that route, be prepared for Maggies needing a lot of power to get them to sound good. And as Manskito said above, they do sound weak in the bass. They just don't provide the Umph that big drivers provide. I had the MMG paired with a mediocre sub. It helped, but for it to sound really good you would need to excute the sub part well. You would need a nice musical sealed sub that is FAST and maybe a Velodyne SMS-1 to get it dialed in well.

The last thing I'll say about it is that I had never heard strings sound so realistic before as they did with the MMG's.

danger boy

I heard a beautiful pair of Maggies 1.6 today, I think they were anyways...

wow. such incredible sound from them. I'm a fan now that I've heard them in person.

Face

Judging by the pics of your setup, look elsewhere.

NotaSuv

dkg999 wrote: »

+1

Once you go flat you never come back

After recently picking up my first pair of panels I gotta agree

Hawkeye

Try this link. http://www.avguide.com/blog/magneplanar-17-first-listen-repost

I don't know what your opinion of avguide is but thought the review was interesting considering the gear he is using and he compared them to my next speakers, the ML CLX.

Gordon

cnh

Come on guys....there are a lot of high end speakers better than Magnepans! I never understood what the big deal was with those...yeah they sound fine. But really??

And Oh My GOD....JOHN 'abandoning' his SDAs. Is this 2012 instead of 2010 by any chance?

IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT!

cnh

concealer404

I heard Cerwin Vega makes some good speakers.

jz0h4d

The area where Maggies shine is acoustic music and voices.
It's about realism, the instruments just sound like instruments played in your room.
If you listen to rock or electronic music you might like something else better.

dorokusai

When paired with a good subwoofer they handle all genre just fine.

Conradicles

SDA's RULE!!!

dkg999

Cnh - I agree there are lots of high end speakers that may be better than Magnepans, although that's a pretty subjective set of criteria dependant on each individual. At the price point of Magnepans MMG or 1.6, it's a little harder to find higher SQ for the dollar, again individual tastes and values will differ. I agree that Magnepans do many genres of music very well. Hard rock such as Black Sabbath at low volume on my 1.6's with the way it fills the room with sound can be eerie!

nooshinjohn

dkg999 wrote: »

Hard rock such as Black Sabbath at low volume on my 1.6's with the way it fills the room with sound can be eerie!

Any chance of hearing them someday?

pitdogg2

concealer404 wrote: »

I heard Cerwin Vega makes some good speakers.

Cerwin Vega makes wonderful speakers ...but you must re-cap the X-overs:D

dorokusai

pitdogg2 wrote: »

Cerwin Vega makes wonderful speakers ...but you must re-cap the X-overs:D

And replace all the drivers. Great post Pitdogg LOL.

dorokusai

dkg999 wrote: »

Cnh - I agree there are lots of high end speakers that may be better than Magnepans, although that's a pretty subjective set of criteria dependant on each individual. At the price point of Magnepans MMG or 1.6, it's a little harder to find higher SQ for the dollar, again individual tastes and values will differ. I agree that Magnepans do many genres of music very well. Hard rock such as Black Sabbath at low volume on my 1.6's with the way it fills the room with sound can be eerie!

Doug is spot-on as I've rocked Tool thru Magnepan on many occasion and not had any of the issues that Treitz alluded to earlier. I guess he hangs out with cone lovers exclusively. That being said, the smaller Magnepan are not as capable as the larger...YMMV.

Abuse is abuse, regardless of loudspeaker choice Tom.

hangon

I picked up a pair of Klipsch FORTE I
I am disliking my 2.3tl's and enjoying what
the Klipsch's have to offer.
So much detail and bass...