clear reproduction of sound, they just sound great!

none for the dollar

I have had Cerwin vega 312 lots of loud, But the MMG's are a pleaseur to listen to. A friend has a set of the MGII and got me hooked.

Sound is detailed & lifelike- what else do we need?

Bass dies at 50 Hz so use a sub crossed in at 55 to 65 Hz.

Excellent. Sound is detailed & lifelike with a Musical Fidelity A2 class SS integrated SS amp. Have not tried with a tube amp.

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Large system is Futterman monoblocks & Ampzilla biamping Magneplanar Tympani, plus Velodynes.

Great looking, Small,Great midrange and high end. unbeatable imagining, great open sound not boxey or muffled sounding, acoustic instruments sound like you are right there, and voices, well I've never realized voices could sound so natural and real.

Although you can't expect a small speaker to give you deep bass which the MMG's do not do, what you get is enough bass that is quit accurate. I whish there was a system to suspend the speakers from the ceiling, it seems that the only good position is the sitting position, they need to be higher up. Limited sweet spot.

I have a set of old MgII magnaplanners and decided it was time to see how the technology of the maggies had changed over the years. So as not to freak out my wife I eased her in on my purchase of $550 MMG's. I set them up in the living room and was quite impressed. What eventually happened is I ended up buying a set of 1.6's and use the MMg's in my finished basement. The MMG's are the most impressive small speaker I have ever experienced in my life. I beleive the low ceiling about 6 1/2' has helped create the best soundstageing,depth,and lifelike experience one could ever get out of a cd. This is a very inexpensive system,in fact I'm using the preamp out of an old Matantz receiver and an old SAE power amp (120 watts @8ohm)an a best buy cd player. No kidding you can have a kick butt system for a small room at a very afforadable price. If you love to listen to music, you will appreciate the the unboxed sound, the impact you feel as musical passages make you say wow! I can't beleive what I'm hearing.

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I use the 1.6's as my main system and as rears for my surround I use my old MGII's as my rears. My center channel is a MGCC1. One day I will upgrade my system with 3.6's or better and retire my MGII's

make the music sound the way they are supposed to

none at this price

Just got them a week ago. Not yet broken in, but the sound is incredible - natural, hair-raisingly real, never fatiquing. My wife sat with me for one hour just to listen, something she has never done before. Even my visiting non-audiophile mother-in-law noticed the difference immediately and wanted to go out and buy a pair for herself! One bothersome problem: I found the sensitivity of the two speakers to be wildly different. I need to boost up the gain on the left channel by 9 db to match the right channel. I don't have a spl meter, but my guess is that the left speaker's sensitivity is way below the 86 spec, the right's is much higher. Has anyone else encountered the same problem? I have a Marantz 100w receiver (soon to be upgraded to some Rotel or Adcom or Bryston power amps - any recommendations?) driving them - could that be the problem, the receiving siphoning off current from one channel to the other, unused to the low impediance of the speakers?

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Dynaudio, NHT

For acoustic music, jazz etc. {Real music} these will be all you ever need. (Unless you happen to own Constitution Hall in Washington, DC) As you can tell. maybe, rap etc have no place in my world.

None. Unless you regard musical accuracy as a defect. These do need a strong amp to perform properly.

pangi, just what sort of ears do you have installed ? Are those the latest cloth model? Or is it the cerebral functioning that is impaired? Don't get me wrong, I am the King of cheap & used gear. But these MMG's would be a steal at twice the price. Only problem, you need a stout & robust amp to do 'em justice. Wish I had the $$ to go McIntosh, I'll bet that would be killer. Refer to my recent review of Yamaha AX-596 integrated amp, what I settled for. But in fact, listen -- as an old audio head, sound man, pro installer, etc. I can tell you for a fact you cannot do better than to get on the web & order a pair of these TODAY. [And no, I hold no stock in Magnepan Corp.] It's that simple. Just be ready to upgrade everything else you've got, particularly amplification, because that is what you will want to do. And quit drooling over mirror-polished $20,000 speakers. You just don't need 'em.

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Unusual look may impresses novices.

The sound.

It is difficult to rate an entry-level product when I have owned so many other higher end speakers. The MMG could be eye-popping at 1st hearing - if you haven't hear any real thing at all. But it's tiny sweetspot, poor bass, not-so-transparent sound, etc. are so acute, I can't possibly give it more than a 3. It is strange that Magnepan sells those MMGs at a ridiculously low price, may be to make people buy into the more expensive (1.6QR or 3.6R) Maggie sound. If I am a merely HT dude whose the transport is mass-market Sony and owns an A/V receiver, I think MMG serves its purpose as an glimpse into the real audiophile sound. But if are you already an audiophile and have years of listening experience, the MMG may actually scare you away in no time. I don't care how transparent or fast an Maggie is. If the bass is supposed to be there, and it does not sound like there at all (like MMG and the 3.3R than I owned for 2 weeks), then the speakers STINK.

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Magnepan 3.3R, Revel F30, B&W 801 Matrix Series 2, Alon IV, Newform R645, etc

Great clarity, detail and soundstage. Excell for jazz and vocals

Placement can be tricky and speaker wire hook-up is silly.

I was all set to buy B&W 602S2'S and then I read the reviews for these and had to try them. I am a jazz buff and this speaker really makes jazz and vocals shine. Iwould call this speaker refined in the way it sounds. I have it powered by a Bryston amp and Adcom seperates. A nice office system that gives me a lot of enjoyment. The speaker has a well defined soundstage and instruments sound well defined with great clarity. I'm not a bass hound and find it has enought to suit my needs. My office is only 10X12 so you don't need a lot to sound good. My son listens to his rap stuff on these while doing homework (it kills me) and they do it justice. Far from the best speaker for this stuff but it does pound it out. This is well worth the $550.00 new and a steal at $400.00 on the used market. I still like the 602's but love the MMG'S. Do yourself a favor and try these.

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none

-Articulate, detailed sound -Dynamic, punchy -Incredible jazz, vocal reproduction -Neat "Wow!" affect

-Demanding placement -Slightly recessed, dark sound

I bought these my last year or so in college primarily because of the excellent, distinct Magnepan sound at a relatively affordable price. A few years and several apartments later, they still sound fantastic, but I can certainly see where their performance wanes (by no great margin, however). The MMGs suffer a bit in large rooms--they begin to sound a little thinner and darker than how I remember them in smaller rooms. Depending on how they’re set up they either have excellent, well-defined bass, so for me, bass was never an issue. Clearly, positioning is important! It makes a world of difference depending on where and how you put them in your listening area. Coupled to decent equipment, they certainly are a remarkable value. I still haven’t heard anything nearly as delightful to listen to for the price. The Maggie 1.6s sound about $1500 better, but on the bright side that’s the only speaker I’ve heard in quite some time that would justify spending more. Sony DVP-S7000 Mod Squad Line Drive Preamp B&K ST2020 MMGs

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Magnepan MG 1.6 B&W DM601 S3

Cheap, but see below. Unbeatable sound for the money, but only in a well matched system. Forget about plugging em into your mom's Technics reciever.

Good bass response only if it has lots of amp headroom. Cheap initially, but you may wind up spending more in to the long run to upgrade the rest of your system to their standards.

Well I thought I'd put my 2 cents in about the MMG, which might be helpful to someone considering them. Initially, I hooked them up to my Audiosource AMP-2 (which had served me well) and the results were decent, but not brilliant. I had the same problems as others have mentioned - poor bass response, finicky placement. I bought a CV sub, but that didn't really improve things much. I was thinking about sending them back- but I figured this was a good excuse to upgrade the amp. I picked up a mint McIntosh MA6100 integrated on EBay and plugged them in. I was floored by the sound. The clarity was amazing. The bass issue is history. True story - the bass was so strong (rattling pix on the wall) that I went to turn down the sub - only to find that it wasn't even turned on!

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B and W, Klipsch, AR, etc.

No box "smearing",they do that legendary disappearing act Maggies are famous for Deep and wide and very clean soungstage Will reveal equipment upgrades

Limited vertical dispersion Can sound "thin" in large rooms 4 ohm load Need sub to reach full range

Here is the skinny: if you are looking for a speaker that exhibits all the great maggie traits:transparency,detail,imaging,and soundstage depth for around $600 delivered then look no further...these will simply pull the pants down on many hi-end speakers at three times the cost...in fact the only speaker that really surpasses the mmg is another maggie...the 1.6...but that speaker is nearing 2000 bucks...and with a decent sub these puppies really shine...these mmgs are so good I didnt even consider the mg12s...for twice the price you really are not gaining anything...and unlike most mini-monitors at this price point the mags are capable of showing off improvements as you upgrade your system...you are not pigeon-holed into a sound that has no room for improvements...a huge advantage as SA slowly takes hold...they easily wipe the floor with anything near their price...the b&ws have muddy base...and the nht sound very bright...NOTE:THESE MAGS ARE DESIGNED FOR SMALL ROOMS...IF YOUR ROOM IS MEDIUM TO LARGE GET THE 1.6S...

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mg12,b&W 602 s3,nht 1.5