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Its the Magnepan MMG or me

yohansen

yohansen

Audiophile
Hello

I just received my magnepan MMG today and hooked them up
First impressions
1. No bass I dont except too much bass anyway
2. Too high mids and highs

I use a monster XP monster cable for speakers and I was wondering maybe its the wire since that one doesnt give inaff bass and emphasizes the highs.

Please help. I know these speakers are nice according to the reviews and opinions. What am I missing

My system consists of:


Turntable Thorens TD 166 MK VI

DVD Rotel RDV 1045
Tuner Rotel RT 1080Pre Amp Rotel RC 1082
Power Amp Rotel RB 1080
Power Conditioner Rotel RLC 1040
Magnepan MMG
HDTV Panasonic TH-42PZ77U
Monster Cable Interconnects
Monster Speaker Cable XP
 
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Give 'em some time, man.:yes:

Maggies notoriously require a lengthy break-in period. You may also want to play with placement.

FWIW, I'd have to have a subwoofer with the MMG to satisfy my ears.
 
Ill quote another member that hounded me ruthlessly... try something besides the monster cables.
 
Maggy's need 20 to 30 hours of loud music to break in. Face them towards each other and reverse the connections on one speaker. Turn them on fairly loud. The pair working out of phase should greatly reduce the overall levels. Go to work or somewhere for 8 hours. You can break them in at a low volume with normal listening and correct wiring but it will take twice as long.
Urizen has it right about placement. Start at 3Ft. from the wall. Listening distance around 8Ft. Toe them in so the center line crosses about a foot behind your head. If popular music is your thing you most likely will want a good sub. A good sub becuse Maggy's are so good a cheap sub will be inadaquate.

After the break-in although you may still want a sub. The need won't seem so urgent.
 
Its the Magnepan or me...

Thats what my wife told me when I brought mine home.:D
She softened up for awhile when she heard them.

To me they were very accurate and detailed for acoustic music and vocal.
Nirvana grunge and Hendrix Electric Lady Land were notably NOT as good as other speakers on the magnepan.

Miles Davis Bitches Brew was very very nice...

These were the first speakers that clearly defined where the mike set up was and how the stage was set up on some of the live bootleg recordings I have.
The music soundstage was startelingly real with some of the acoustic bootlegs.

Positioning were a big deal. My room was 14 by 20 and they sat on the 14' side about 2-3 feet from the wall.

I set them closer to the wall when not in use.

I had same pre-amp as you or maybe a generation older version.
The power amp was aBryston 3B ST...

I had some High end blah blah blah cables that were supposed to augment the transmission of all frequencies. Monster cable sounded good too.

THEY NEEDED A SUB WOOFER!!!

Not that I am into thumping bass - they just needed a bit more oomphf for the low end.

I say give them a week - get them positioned and borrow a sub woofer to see if that rounds out the sound.

They are on my list of favorite for accuracy and decent price.
 
First of all, it isn't the speaker wire. It almost never is.

With those speakers, you should be careful about placement, paying attention to what Magnepan says about this. Listen to them for a while, with recordings with which you are familiar.

As you have already said, you did not expect deep bass. That is good, because they don't produce really deep bass.

What speakers did you use before? If your previous speakers were old, it is possible that the capacitors in the crossovers slowly went bad over time, gradually diminishing sound from your tweeters and midranges (if you had midranges). If one were used to such speakers, then a speaker that does not have that defect would sound like it had excessive treble.

My advice is to listen to them for a while, and if after a couple of weeks, you still don't like them, return them before that is no longer possible. I do, however, recommend that you listen to them for a while, at least a couple of weeks, before coming to that decision.

One of my brothers has a pair of them, and he is happy with them. I like them, too. However, I did not hear them when they were brand new, only after he had them a while and had figured out where they should be in his room.
 
240sx4u said:
Ill quote another member that hounded me ruthlessly... try something besides the monster cables.
Click to expand...

I'll second this. My own personal experience with my system, I found that Audioquest solid core copper cables had much better bass weight, definition, and extension and were much smoother and cleaner in the treble than Monster XP multi-stranded cables. Look for some older used AQ cables, like Type 6, Indigo, or Bedrock, which can be had for much cheaper than new.
 
Man........different cables ain't going to make the bass magically appear in MMGs. Room placement is your best bet and an 8" or 10" subwoofer is most likely in order.
 
Give them about 40-50 hours of break in time to mellow out. A sub is pretty much required.

The sound field is narrow, but the midrange is to die for with tube gear.

I have had good luck with Zu cables, zip cord, and some old Diskwasher "smog lifter" cables. Anyone remember the DW cables?
 
Urizen said:
Give 'em some time, man.:yes:

Maggies notoriously require a lengthy break-in period. You may also want to play with placement.

FWIW, I'd have to have a subwoofer with the MMG to satisfy my ears.
Click to expand...

Dead right in my opinion..except for the subwoofer. Unless you're willing to fork over the bucks necessary to buy a sub that can keep up with Maggies (and that's about twice the price of the Maggies, trust me I've owned Maggies and just about every well respected sub there is) then you are better off without one and instead work with room placement. The good folks at Magnepan used to be upfront with folks and tell 'em that you need a high current amp...their line was "the amp needs to be able to double it's power into 4 ohms" and they aren't lying. The better the amp the more the Maggies sing. I had Rotel power and Maggies....not so much. Try Bryston or Mac. This is why I don't own Maggies anymore it's a slippery slope to get the best from them.
 
billyunderhi said:
Its the Magnepan or me...

Thats what my wife told me when I brought mine home.:D
She softened up for awhile when she heard them.

To me they were very accurate and detailed for acoustic music and vocal.
Nirvana grunge and Hendrix Electric Lady Land were notably NOT as good as other speakers on the magnepan.

Miles Davis Bitches Brew was very very nice...

These were the first speakers that clearly defined where the mike set up was and how the stage was set up on some of the live bootleg recordings I have.
The music soundstage was startelingly real with some of the acoustic bootlegs.

Positioning were a big deal. My room was 14 by 20 and they sat on the 14' side about 2-3 feet from the wall.

I set them closer to the wall when not in use.

I had same pre-amp as you or maybe a generation older version.
The power amp was aBryston 3B ST...

I had some High end blah blah blah cables that were supposed to augment the transmission of all frequencies. Monster cable sounded good too.

THEY NEEDED A SUB WOOFER!!!

Not that I am into thumping bass - they just needed a bit more oomphf for the low end.

I say give them a week - get them positioned and borrow a sub woofer to see if that rounds out the sound.

They are on my list of favorite for accuracy and decent price.
Click to expand...


That was a good one
I think I will experiment with placement and I will go to higher maggies later on. In the meantime I am waiting for the break in time to see where they can go.
Mids and highs are grate

John
 
I never said speaker wire would change the fact that they are lacking in bass..

I have to think the breakin thing is real with maggies though. I never had a brand new pair so I never had to subject myself to that.

Evan
 
MMG`s are somewhat bass lacking. That being said, if you have a good amp with lots of power and you let them break-in. Then you start to play with room placement. Placement is about 70% of the battle with Maggies and yes I know you need the right amp. I have run mine with a Phase 400B, a Carver M400, A Spec2, A kenny 700 and finally my (new to me) MC-2200 mac. So far the Mac even though it has a lower power output (200+) than some of the others is Much better! I changed position many many times and finally came up with the correct position in my strange shaped room. With a few acoustic treatment tweaks these babys are singing as I remember when I first heard them some 30 years ago. Keep moving them and work with placement after you get them broken in and you will find the spot where they sound the best!
 
No one has mentioned Phasing. At the very least, be sure they are phased correctly, and a sub is a must. It changes everything, for the better.
 
One tweak that worked for my old MMG's was to get the tilt out, in other words get them straight up and down like the higher end Maggie's, they sound much fuller this way. I achieved this by simply bending the bottom "L stands" until they were 90 degrees and then I went to Lowe's and picked up some oak strips of wood the same width as the L bracket and about 18" long and glued them to the bottom of the L brackets so that roughly 6" sticks out the front of the speaker so that they won't tip forward. I stained and poly'd the oak to match the side rails of the Maggie's and they looked like they came that way. There are some pricey aftermarket stands for all Maggie's but this inexpensive tweak will help nicely to make your Maggie's sound a little fuller but low bass will still be MIA and I agree with whats been said about break-in they need a couple of weeks to loosen up.
 
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billyunderhi said:
To me they were very accurate and detailed for acoustic music and vocal. Nirvana grunge and Hendrix Electric Lady Land were notably NOT as good as other speakers on the magnepan.

Miles Davis Bitches Brew was very very nice...

These were the first speakers that clearly defined where the mike set up was and how the stage was set up on some of the live bootleg recordings I have.
The music soundstage was startelingly real with some of the acoustic bootlegs.
Click to expand...

This echoes my experiences with the MMGs - maddeningly inconsistent results dependent on source material. Acoustic jazz sounds great, but rock falls apart.

I've never been a big fan of speakers that "sound good on x kind of music". I think they should sound good no matter what you throw at them, or they aren't really good speakers.

I regret that I never tried them with a sub, but I don't regret unloading them.
 
I agree with the other posters about placement and obviously the better the power, the better they will sound. However, Magnepan lists the -3db point for the MMG's as 50hz. To me that would indicate the use of a sub. I own SMGa's and use an 8" sealed M&K sub that works quite well for me. That being said, many sealed box speakers do a better job with Rock than the smaller Maggies. I can say that having tried many amps with mine. I can also say that despite that, I will never part with my Maggies.:no:
 
winters860 said:
I've never been a big fan of speakers that "sound good on x kind of music". I think they should sound good no matter what you throw at them, or they aren't really good spekers.
Click to expand...

I would like one pair of speakers that did everything well and I'm sure that they exist but I haven't found them yet, at least not in my price range.
Maybe if the economy turns around and I win the lottery I'll get myself a pair of Wilsons.:D
 
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