hoosier21
11-11-2003, 10:44 AM
I really am not that good at doing reviews, but here is my best stab at it. Oh, and I am not sure how welcome a MAgnepan review is here at Polk, but it is audio, and we are all interested in that, right?
Anyone not familiar with the internet only deal Magnepan offers for their MMG speakers go to this link www.magnepan.com and click “The offer we hope you can’t resist”, basically you order the MMG’s for 550.00 delivered, have 60 days to play with them, return them for full credit or within a year trade them in at a local dealer for “up to full credit” (I am sure that would mean you get the full credit if you buy the more expensive models, and less for the lower models.)
Out of the box
Unpacking these was quick and easy, shipping weight is only 40lbs. total, and a small compact package at that. All you need to do is attach the supplied legs. These are easy to move around and place, they are only 20 lbs each, and measure 14.5” wide, 48” tall and ONLY 1.25” deep.
Connections
An amplifier rated for 4 ohms is a must, and a good quality one is needed as these are rather power hungry. Magnepan speakers have a flat impedance curve, so even though they are 4ohms, they do not dip down or rise up, and this is good news for your amp. Magnepan uses a unique connection, that takes either bananas or bare wire, there is an adapter you can buy from Magnepan that allows you to use lugs. Single wire connector only.
Placement
By nature of their design the MMG’s are dipolar (sound radiates from the front and rear, the rear being out of phase to the front) and need to be placed away from the rear wall. Place them too close and the sounds brightens and becomes too forward, as you move them away from the rear wall the bass starts to soften, so far that has been an endless adjustment. Three feet is a good starting point, spacing is up to you and your room.
These are mirror imaged pairs, as the quasi-ribbon tweeter is along one side, this allows you to place the tweeter either on the inside or outside by swapping the L and R speakers. The sound of the MMG’s change with EVERY move you make, spacing between them, distance from the wall, your distance from the speakers, degree of toe-in, tweeters inside/outside, it is very neat and at the same time kind of tiring wondering if they are placed “how they should be”.
Break-in
I have bought more than my share of speakers, and 95% of them have been used, so for me to have brand new speakers that need broke in is a new challenge for me. Patiently waiting for these to loosen up is not in my nature, and Magnepan states full break-in is achieved after six weeks. First night - first few CD’s, well there is sound coming from these, but no bass and the treble in not really extended, the soundstage is rather shallow and narrow. Second day/night - played them all day, medium volume, played everything through them, CD’s DVD’s and kids cartoons, anything to keep them playing. By evening when I could sit down and listen, I really heard a lot of improvement, but there is still limited bass and a little bit of edge in the highs, getting closer. Third day/night – Again had them on all day, low-medium-high volume. They are getting smoother and the bass is coming in more and more. I sat down and had the longest listening session so far, very good results, but I am sure there is more improvement to be had with more break in.
Now after 4-5 days and nights of working these little gems, I have bass that is as good as any bookshelf speaker, may not impress some of you that a floor standing speaker has bass on par with a small speaker, but Magnepan is known for their lack of bass, it comes with the territory. I will say this, what bass is there is VERY good, not deep maybe lower 50’s, but it is very nicely done, and should improve over time with more break in. The treble is light and airy, but I still hear a “tiny bit of bite” to the uppermost frequencies, again more break in should smooth out that last tiny bit (might be my CD player and/or interconnects?). The midrange, the shinning star of these speakers, even now with limited break in, the midrange is magnificent, better than any speaker I have had in here (except for the Magnepan 3.5R’s I had for a week) vocals, guitars, drums hell you name it, all sound life like and real.
Soundstaging and imaging
Off the charts here, these are in another class than what I have ever had. They create a very convincing 3 dimensional soundstage, placing images correctly left, right, and dead center. The most noticeable distinction is front to back placement of instruments or singers. I not only know that the background vocals are “back there”, you hear how far back they are.
Ramblings
First off, these are planar ribbon speakers, and are very different animals than ANY speakers you may have heard before. Again go to the Magnepan site for details on the construction and design. The sound you get from these is VERY revealing of your equipment and your software, the old garbage in garbage out is in full force here.
The ribbon/planar drivers sound wonderful, no shrill of harsh tweeters, very smooth and airy, acoustic guitars vocals all sound lifelike, bass is another story. Even though the bass these produce is tight and accurate, it is not very deep. I want a subwoofer. Switching from the ASL tube amp to the McCormack improved the bass greatly, but I still want more.
Well I am sure you can tell I am nothing short of thrilled with these speakers. With the right material and equipment the MMG’s will blow your pants off, they are so good you will wonder how they do it for 550.00 delivered, you will also wonder if it can be worth the upgrade to Magnepan’s more expensive models.
Listening material:
Shawn Mullins, Angie Aparo, Peter Gabrial, Dave Mathews, Tool (yes Tool sounded great on these), tons of other stuff.
I will ad any post break-in improvements when that time arrives.
Equipment used:
Pre-amps
Musical Fidelity A3.2cr and NAD 1700
Power Amps
Antique Sound Lab AQ-1002DT and McCormack DNA-125
CD player
Denon 5 disk changer with HDCD ( DMC-370??) all I had folks
Cables
Signal cable, MIT interconnects, Signal Cable and Monster Cable speaker cables
If you have any questions and want to know more, ask away I will do my best to answer.
Anyone not familiar with the internet only deal Magnepan offers for their MMG speakers go to this link www.magnepan.com and click “The offer we hope you can’t resist”, basically you order the MMG’s for 550.00 delivered, have 60 days to play with them, return them for full credit or within a year trade them in at a local dealer for “up to full credit” (I am sure that would mean you get the full credit if you buy the more expensive models, and less for the lower models.)
Out of the box
Unpacking these was quick and easy, shipping weight is only 40lbs. total, and a small compact package at that. All you need to do is attach the supplied legs. These are easy to move around and place, they are only 20 lbs each, and measure 14.5” wide, 48” tall and ONLY 1.25” deep.
Connections
An amplifier rated for 4 ohms is a must, and a good quality one is needed as these are rather power hungry. Magnepan speakers have a flat impedance curve, so even though they are 4ohms, they do not dip down or rise up, and this is good news for your amp. Magnepan uses a unique connection, that takes either bananas or bare wire, there is an adapter you can buy from Magnepan that allows you to use lugs. Single wire connector only.
Placement
By nature of their design the MMG’s are dipolar (sound radiates from the front and rear, the rear being out of phase to the front) and need to be placed away from the rear wall. Place them too close and the sounds brightens and becomes too forward, as you move them away from the rear wall the bass starts to soften, so far that has been an endless adjustment. Three feet is a good starting point, spacing is up to you and your room.
These are mirror imaged pairs, as the quasi-ribbon tweeter is along one side, this allows you to place the tweeter either on the inside or outside by swapping the L and R speakers. The sound of the MMG’s change with EVERY move you make, spacing between them, distance from the wall, your distance from the speakers, degree of toe-in, tweeters inside/outside, it is very neat and at the same time kind of tiring wondering if they are placed “how they should be”.
Break-in
I have bought more than my share of speakers, and 95% of them have been used, so for me to have brand new speakers that need broke in is a new challenge for me. Patiently waiting for these to loosen up is not in my nature, and Magnepan states full break-in is achieved after six weeks. First night - first few CD’s, well there is sound coming from these, but no bass and the treble in not really extended, the soundstage is rather shallow and narrow. Second day/night - played them all day, medium volume, played everything through them, CD’s DVD’s and kids cartoons, anything to keep them playing. By evening when I could sit down and listen, I really heard a lot of improvement, but there is still limited bass and a little bit of edge in the highs, getting closer. Third day/night – Again had them on all day, low-medium-high volume. They are getting smoother and the bass is coming in more and more. I sat down and had the longest listening session so far, very good results, but I am sure there is more improvement to be had with more break in.
Now after 4-5 days and nights of working these little gems, I have bass that is as good as any bookshelf speaker, may not impress some of you that a floor standing speaker has bass on par with a small speaker, but Magnepan is known for their lack of bass, it comes with the territory. I will say this, what bass is there is VERY good, not deep maybe lower 50’s, but it is very nicely done, and should improve over time with more break in. The treble is light and airy, but I still hear a “tiny bit of bite” to the uppermost frequencies, again more break in should smooth out that last tiny bit (might be my CD player and/or interconnects?). The midrange, the shinning star of these speakers, even now with limited break in, the midrange is magnificent, better than any speaker I have had in here (except for the Magnepan 3.5R’s I had for a week) vocals, guitars, drums hell you name it, all sound life like and real.
Soundstaging and imaging
Off the charts here, these are in another class than what I have ever had. They create a very convincing 3 dimensional soundstage, placing images correctly left, right, and dead center. The most noticeable distinction is front to back placement of instruments or singers. I not only know that the background vocals are “back there”, you hear how far back they are.
Ramblings
First off, these are planar ribbon speakers, and are very different animals than ANY speakers you may have heard before. Again go to the Magnepan site for details on the construction and design. The sound you get from these is VERY revealing of your equipment and your software, the old garbage in garbage out is in full force here.
The ribbon/planar drivers sound wonderful, no shrill of harsh tweeters, very smooth and airy, acoustic guitars vocals all sound lifelike, bass is another story. Even though the bass these produce is tight and accurate, it is not very deep. I want a subwoofer. Switching from the ASL tube amp to the McCormack improved the bass greatly, but I still want more.
Well I am sure you can tell I am nothing short of thrilled with these speakers. With the right material and equipment the MMG’s will blow your pants off, they are so good you will wonder how they do it for 550.00 delivered, you will also wonder if it can be worth the upgrade to Magnepan’s more expensive models.
Listening material:
Shawn Mullins, Angie Aparo, Peter Gabrial, Dave Mathews, Tool (yes Tool sounded great on these), tons of other stuff.
I will ad any post break-in improvements when that time arrives.
Equipment used:
Pre-amps
Musical Fidelity A3.2cr and NAD 1700
Power Amps
Antique Sound Lab AQ-1002DT and McCormack DNA-125
CD player
Denon 5 disk changer with HDCD ( DMC-370??) all I had folks
Cables
Signal cable, MIT interconnects, Signal Cable and Monster Cable speaker cables
If you have any questions and want to know more, ask away I will do my best to answer.