Summary: (Price is Canadian) there has not been a review of these for almost a year, so I will add another. Well fresh off another critic claiming these as a product of the year for2008. (Steve Guttenberg-article at Cnet) A product that has been around unchanged for almost a decade, and still receiving product of the year? tell me another product that has happened with.
I do not need a critic to tell me how good these sound. I have owned them for a year now; so no new excitement here. They are the most satisfying speaker I have heard under ten grand, and they cost half that. And yes, I have heard speakers that cost twice that that I would not trade for them. And no, I have not
heard everything, and new speakers are always coming to market.
There are many tweaks one can do to improve upon these, such as aftermarker stands to stiffen them, and biamping going with an active crossover to even improve upon their accurate, tranparent sound, that is what I will do next.
And most negative reviews are due to setup problems, underamplication (maybe not in watts, but quality), or other issues such as room size;( they need plenty of space behind them) they are definitely an audiophile speaker, and lack of a serious setup will result in a much decreased enjoyment; they are not speakers to stick in living room and crank while you do housework!
After one year the thought of these doesnt even cross my mind. What better testimonial is there? Is there any reason to give less than 5 stars?
Strengths: Realistic; Natural; especially with acoustic music where they are world class and compete with any speaker at ANY price.
Weaknesses: Rap? If you like subwoofer type music or drive a Honda Civic with 18 inch woofers you will miss the unatural "Push of Air" I enjoy this with movies, but not music
Similar Products Used: using with Mcintosh pre/power, Linn source
Have considered on my short list Wilson, Sonus Faber, Linn, PMC
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Summary: These speakers would be great for those that prefer a soft, diffuse, laid back sound. The music sounds as if one were in the back of a symphony hall. The imaging is superior with a great dispersal of sound and absolutely no void in the center position. The bass is a different story. I found the entire spectrum of bass entirely lacking impact. Drums were weak or barely noticeable. A good analogy would be like listening to water fall off a roof into the gutter as opposed to listening to water gushing from the downspout. Both involve the same amount of water, but which is more stimulating to the ears? To me the bass was too weak to enjoy. While a subwoofer would help with the lower end of the bass, nothing would help with the upper bass range. Overlapping the subwoofer with frequencies of the main speaker would create a loud undesireable booming sensation.
Strengths: The imaging was superior, almost three dimensional, or like being at a live performance. The price makes it a good bargin at half the price of other similar flat pannel speakers.
Weaknesses: The bass is weak and sloppy with no impact.
Summary: I am writing this review to let people know that mega solid state amps are not crucial to enjoying these excellent speakers. To be cliche', if you are reading this review, you know about these speakers, they sound wonderful.
In the beginning, I used 2 McIntosh 400 watt solid state power amps, mono blocked, one per channel. Sure, I had plenty of power to drive us out of the house, but something was missing from the sound. After a time, I started dabbling with vintage Fisher amplifiers and components. To make a long story short, I am now using two Fisher SA 300 tube amps, one per channel. These amps are conservatively rated @ app 35 watts per channel. I am using one per channel, which is giving me about 70 watts per channel, with lots of current due to the large transformers. The sound has vastly improved to a sweet sound that both my wife and I love. This is also greatly helped by using The Fisher 400CX-2 preamp, which made a huge difference over my McIntosh C 29. The volume now goes "loud enough".
Strengths: Sweet tube sound, very clear with no listener fatigue. You just know that it is right. Perfect for jazz and classical, good for rock, but not as good as jazz and classical.
Weaknesses: Will not go to deafening sound levels, possible lack of power on high volume heavy bass passages, but I don't need it to be very loud.
Similar Products Used: Only used box speakers and solid state amps. Panel speakers and tubes are the way to go, in my opinion.
Summary: I have used MANY different systems.... usually of world class components.
Recently I decided to just use an HT system. I chose the Halcro Pre/pro and amp combo.
I also tried many dynamic speakers... ranging in cost from 4k for the mains to 18k. Filling in the center/sub and surrounds from the same company.
Fed up with the holes in the sound stage using HT, I went with the Maggie setup, including the 3.6r as the Mains... CC3, MC1 for surrounds and JM Lab Sub Utopia BE for the .1 channel.
I am convinced this is not only a great system for music, but unbeatable for HT.
The opening scene in Passion of the Christ has to be heard to be believed. No other system envelops you as the Maggies do. The sound is magical.
My pre/pro is on the way back from getting upgraded to TrueHD and DTS-MA capable. I can't wait to hear my Blu-Ray movies on the Maggies in the lossless formats.
If you have space for these and want the best HT experience... this is a no brainer!!!
Strengths: You are THERE.... right in the middle of the scene.
No holes in the HT soundstage.
Huge wall of sound.
Purity.
Weaknesses: You must get the tweaks from Dedicated Audio to get the sound right. Which adds only a couple hundred to the cost of the 3.6s.
Similar Products Used: Too may to list!
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Summary: Short and to the point! A wonderful speaker, the best I have owned to date. There are probably better out there but I am not looking for them at this time. Power amps do make a difference. Audio Research Corp. D 400 MKII is great... an ARC VT200 will make them sing, sing, sing. Don't short change yourself with infearior electronics. Get the best you can buy. Lager image and more delicate than the 1.6's.
Strengths: A wall of music, Detail galore, image layering, dynamic, smooth, comes close to live with acoustic insturment music. Correct timber. Great for Jazz , classical, and well recorded rock.
Weaknesses: large, they need the room to breath, low end not real strong, inefficient, tweeter can be a harsh with the wrong electronics or poor recordings, small sweet spot.
Not for everybody.