Realistic vocal and musical instrument reproduction in true dimensional sound.

Not good for your relationships.

For those who feel the bass is lacking, try repositioning the speakers at varying distances from the rear and side wall, or, if the speakers are placed on the short wall of your room, try them on the long wall. Being an electric bass player, I feel I know a little bit about bass reproduction and with the right placement, I have found acoustic and electric bass reproduction to be very realistic and satisfying. All in all, the vocal and instrument reproduction of these speakers is so realistic, you can practically put your arms around the sound, particularly, if you like classic jazz and classical music. Enjoy!

Lightning fast dynamics, stunning vocals, easy to move and handle, clear strong articulate base above 50hz, cheep, hey look how thin it is...

Lacks the testicular fortitude of some coned speakers in the same price range. Loud but not party volumes. Small for a maggie but big by most standards. Clearly no base below 50hz

Summary: I’ve owned my MMGs for 3 months. I purchased a used pair so mine were broken in before I received them. Before I purchased the MMG’s I had never really listened to planer speakers. Like many of the people who have reviewed these speakers they were purchased to satisfy my curiosity rather than as a planned upgrade. Along with a newly acquired sub the MMGs have replaced my Vandersteen Model 3s. System: Original Rega Planet CD player Classe Cp 45 Preamp Bryston 4B-NRB Amp Home brew interconnects and speaker wire (thanks www.tnt-audio.com) Dayton Titanic subwoofer kit from Parts Express. Rooom: 12ft x 22ft Converted car port, wood panel on three walls and the ceiling. Right wall is brick., floor is carpet over concrete. Looks: Oak trim with black cloth. Not stunning but not bad. Look at them on the web site. If you like the looks there, they look the same in real life. Note: The screws that hold the side panels on are exposed on the sides. The legs are strong enough to do the job but the speakers are not going to sit firmly on the floor like my 85+ pound Vandy’s with spikes. The flippers to adjust back angle are not the strongest looking parts but they do work. Some people may find the speakers imposing (most non-audiophiles find 4 ft tall speakers imposing) but I find them less imposing than my 2” taller Vandersteens. They are more imposing than my previous ~3 ft tall Meadowlark Kestrals. Like the Vandersteens these are cloth monoliths in the listening room. Unlike the Vandersteens you do have a choice of grill cloth colors. Sound: Please note placement is important. I placed them too close to my Vandy’s while doing an AB comparison and the sound became thin and shrill. When set up properly in my room they sound great. The soundstaging is almost as good as my Kestrals but it has more height. The images come from a large area in front of me instead of a line between the tweeters. That said, the MMGs do not have the pinpoint accuracy of the Kestrals. The sound is more coherent than the Vandys. I believe the Vandy’s were suffering from being a big speaker in a small room. They simply couldn’t be placed well enough to really work. Where as the height of the tweeters and midrangers was obvious with the Vandys the Maggies act as if the highs and lows are all from the same wall of sound in front of you. The MMGs are not the last word in

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MG 1.6

Sound stage, voices, detail, price

placement, won't play at PA levels, no sub-bass

I moved into a small apartment within the past year. Prior to this I had Klipsch, which are great for house parties and loud music, but the MMG's are absolutely amazing and far superior. Although I primarily listen to music, I also use them while watching DVD's projected onto a screen between them. It becomes very obvious when voices and sounds are added in during post-production, and, when the subtitles say inaudible voices, I can still understand what is being said. I finally understand what all those voices mumbling in the background of "Dark Side of the Moon" are saying. String bass actually sounds like an instrument rather than incoherant booms. Voices sound like they are in the room. Horns sound great. Cymbals are very seperated. They don't play very low or loud, but, in my apartment, I can't use that anyway. Speaker placement is as important as cabinet size for woofers. I personally have them vertical and about 21" off the ground 37" from the rear wall, 17" from the sides, with 47" in between them facing almost directly forward-6ft from the listening position (all measured from the edge of the pannels)- works in my room. I think verticle placement is almost as important as horizontal in my room with high ceilings and seating area. There should be nothing in between them and they work best in small rooms. They really do take some time to break in the panels and seem to sound better every day. Also, I think their resistive load helps smooth out amplifier interactions. Although they are not very sensitive, they still have a surprising dynamic range. Also, since they project sound perpindicularly to the panels, it doesn't decay as much when you move away from the speaker and doesn't shoot down and bother my neighbors as much. These are the least expensive speakers I've ever bought and the best sounding!

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Klipsch, jbl, yamaha, cerwin vega, sony- all of which have inferior sound

Realism, Transients, Accuracy, Soundstage. The ONLY speaker I've heard that can accurately reproduce an acoustic bass. I've listened to $4,000 B&W speakers that couldn't compare.

Limited bass extension, cheap flipper feet, difficult placement, size, power hungry(for those SPL freaks out there). Bright on most awful rock recordings(Not the speakers fault)

Let me point one thing out right of the bat. I love jazz music. I love it so much that I searched high and low for a speaker that could faithfully reproduce an acoustic bass. These 1/2 kilo-buck maggies did it. Listening to Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, etc. these speakers will blow your mind. These speakers are so fast that instruments like pianos, trumpets, saxes, etc. will be zippy as ever due to a hair thin ribbon making the air move. I don't have a fancy shmancy Amp running the show either. An Integra(Onkyo with gold-plated connectors) DTR-5.2 runs them at the volume I like. 60 days or your money back? Give me a break Magnepan you can't have these back!! Not over my dead body!!!!!!

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Paradigm(bright), B&W(booooooring), System Audio(pretty close).

Clear sound with a wide soundstage

Need a fair amount of high current power to get them cranking.

Everything you read about these speakers is true..there GREAT! I have been into audio for a long time and am finally able to afford some decent stuff. I was ready to buy B&W 602s2 and then all these reviews changed my mind. I am running these off a old Bryston 2b 60 watt per side amp. It produces strong clean sound on CD's but could use some more power on records. The soundstage is all over the room with these speakers. I also feel there is plenty of bass, but I am in a small room and listen to jazz. These are available used for $400.00 and there a steal. The sound they produce is clear and pinpoint accurate. You can hear the difference between these and box speakers. I had good box speakers before these and it's no comparison. Don't be afraid to take the plunge and try these. You can't go wrong used or new at $550.00 with a free 60 day trial from Magnepan. I am enjoying my jazz collection all over again, which is fun but bad for my marriage. I have the white sock with oak trim and it looks really classy.

Imaging, full sound, non boxy, believable quality of sound.µ

Will definitely make you late for work.u

I ordered these from Magnepan on a Monday (spoke to a real live person on the first try), and they showed up in perfect condition the following Friday. You''d have to spend two to three times as much money for a speaker that gives a similar amount of pure enjoyment. These are involving, non-fatiguing speaker that fill my house with a rich, full sound. Sure, you need to fiddle with them to find the ideal placement, but that is part of the fun, isn’t it? Thanks to everyone who posted; the postings here prompted me to buy, and I am very glad I did. They sound great on a wide variety of repertoire, Mahler, Joni Mitchell, Kraftwerk, Jordi Savall, Glenn Gould, Dave Matthews Band, and on. They won’t give you gut thumpin’ bass, but what is there is great and tight. Even my wife admits that they are great!

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NHT 1.5, PSB Bronze, Paradigm Studio 20

Audiophile grade sound Outstanding value

You will begin searching for higher grade equipment to compliment the abilities of this speaker

The most revealing, natural sound I''ve ever heard through recorded music. These "maggies" are outstanding in sound and value. I own Tannoy speakers (downstairs in home theater) which are superior speakers in their own right. However, they do not hold a candle to the Magneplaner MMGs. I now know the difference between a "boxy" sound versus the open soundstage of the magneplanars. I experienced for the first time in many years of quality grade equipment listening, a three dimensional effect when listening to accoustic music. Try Gillian Welch''s "Revelator". My set up (upstairs - music only): Creek Audio OBH-12 Preamp AudioSource Two Amp Yamaha CD Onkyo TVR DS 717 Magneplanar MMG

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First introduction to ribbon speakers

Pinpoint imaging, Ribbons (WOW!), Looks, Natural sound, Wife Acceptance Factor

Need good subwoofer for low end. Finicky on placement. Not for concert level sound.

Purchased these speakers new from Magnepan $550 delivered. These speakers are the most revealing I have ever heard. You will hear things on your Cd''s that you never knew were there. You definitely need good electronics upstream and a good subwoofer because these speakers will not play anything below 80Hz. But what they do play is simply amazing, they do have a very small sweet spot and are finicky on room placement but once they are set up correctly SONIC NIRVANA! The only comparison I can make is listening to your favorite music on the best pair of headphones you can imagine, the sound is that good. One recommendation: the feet that come with the speakers do not allow them to be completely upright at a 90 degree angle to the floor. I used a pair of vibrapods under the flippers on the feet to get them to stand completely upright and the sound got even better. And I thought it was pretty good before I did this little tweak. Youcan purchase custom stands for about $75.00 per speaker or if you are handy you can make your own. Check this website for specs:http://maggislegs.bizland.com/ The speakers do require significant amount of break in time (100-200 hours) but they sound so good out of the box I cannot imagine what they are going to sound like after I break them in. As an aside my wife actually came down to my listening room and sat with me for over an hour listening to these beautiful speakers, that is a record in my house.

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Never used planars before. Don''t know why I waited so long.

Smooth, natural, open, Maggie sound. Will hear things in your music you never noticed before. Cheap admission price into the exotic speaker world.

Can be thin and disapointing sounding on certain recordings without a subwoofer. Slight "forward" quality in brighter rooms that can be fatiguing on some material.

A respectable, inexpensive introduction to panel speakers. At 48" tall, does not have the same sonic "Wow" factor that the bigger Maggies posess (I attribute this mostly to the increase in total driver area in large planars, not just taller height). Big Magnaplanars have a lot of driver surface, and the sound is much more impressive. Still, these are a steal even including the (I think) mandatory subwoofer. After listening to these panels for a few years, I recently added a JBL PB10 sub (don''t laugh!) from J&R for $199.99 with free shipping. I didn''t think a ported 10" sub would be the greatest match for them, but the price for this nice little sub was too low too pass up, and I''m very pleasantly surprised at how much better the sound is now, I would now say that a decent sub is practically mandatory for the MMG''s. Another neat thing is they are quite easily re-finished to match your decor if you tack on your own fabric material.

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Magnepan MG-3C''s

Good price. Excellent soundstage when placed correctly. A decent listen with simple acoustic / vocal music and jazz.

Highs are way too forward, even with the resistors. You could drive a truck through the hole in the mid-range. Rock music, large orchestestral music? Forget about it. Vocals and bass are pretty clean, everything else gets mashed together to form one unmusical blob in the mids.

Sorry - I can''t understand all this hype about these MMG''s. When I bought mine I really wanted to like them given all these great reviews. After two years, I gave up and bought a pair of used Thiel CS2''s (1990 model) for $400. Yes, the soundstage was good if you placed the speakers correctly and didn''t move a muscle. But I think people are being charmed into liking these speakers by the soundstage. To me, listening to these MMG''s is like having good seats at a live concert, but the sound engineer on the board doesn''t know what he is doing. Do yourself a favor.... listen to different high end speaker brands like Thiel, Proac etc. and then look for a used pair in good condition on Audiogon.com. I find my Theil''s have a great soundstage and I can leave the speakers in one place. Don''t equate used high-end audio equipment with used cars. Most audiophiles take great care of their equipment. All my friends asked when I got my new speakers (they were shocked when I told them they were ten years old).

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System: Theta Data IIa transport, Theta Pro Prime II DAC, Anthem Pre 1L tube preamp, and Anthem MCA 2 (200 watt solid state amp)