Outstanding value, similar to Mag 1.6QR with modified placement (see below), great resolution, low listener fatigue

Sound character changes dramatically with various angles and proximity to walls, small sweetspot

The MMGs are indeed wonderful speakers. Though they are highly sensitive to room interaction, nothing in this price range can match the resolution and soundstage that these panels can put out. The "boxless" sound is very appealing.

I have heard the 1.6 and notice improved clarity (less diffuse sound) and dynamics. The 1.6 and MMGs use similar drivers, but the stands are different so I experimented. Here is a copy of my post about an alternate arrangement with the MMG:
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OK...a while ago I noticed that the MMGs sound much different when placed vertical and raised. So after looking around, I found some Home Depot parts that allowed this placement. Best of all -- very cheap

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch 10.5G, Koss CM1020 (remember these?)

Imaging, soundstaging, appearance, overall sound quality, price...

none (well, because they require some distance from the walls, they can take up quite a bit of space)

I think these speakers are absolutely fantastic. I read countless reviews, opinions, and critiques of these speakers before deciding to purchase them, and my excitement was SO great that I was sure I'd be disappointed when I experienced the reality. Fortunately, however, I LOVED the speakers from the first second I heard them.

I have a Hsu Research VTF-2 to help with the low end, and the combination is fantastic. I used to own Von Schweikert VR-3s, and I can honestly say that these speakers are far more satisfying to me. I mainly listen to classical/opera and the speakers do a terrific job reproducing this genre, but I've tried hip-hop, rap, rock, etc. and the MMG/VTF-2 works with these types of music as well.

I'd recommend that anyone looking for an incredible audio bargain give the MMGs a try.

Light wheight, clear open sound, beautifull, elegant and sober finish

power hungry, touchy settings.

I got these Baby Maggies for only one day and have already fallen in love with them! Wonderfull imaging, unsurpassed clarity and sweet midrange!
Plays the strings like Paganini!
Alittle shy on briging the low end but over all very true to the real thing. That's it, I am a convert. No more boxes in my living room.
Take a little bit of geting used to, but your ears will thank you because of the no stress/fatigue listening experience.
Can't beat that deal neither.
Enthusiastically I will rate them a solid *****.

Although I had a hard time getting these speakers to my area (outside thecontinental U.S.), I was greatly rewarded by their sweet sound on arrival. Classical and jazz music sound best on them. Rock or Heavy metal sound good on lower volumes. Overall I am pleased with the purchase. A great conversation
piece at $500.

Wow! For $500, these speakers are incredible. I have them matched with a Boston Accoustics SW10 Powered sub and have no complaints about the bottem end. I decided to order these after reading the reviews here and have now had them for approx. 3 weeks, with lots of playing time for break in. I new Maggies were great as a good friend owns a pair of 3.5s that are in another league.
The detail and soundstage that these speakers present is tremendous. I am often amazed by certain passages in music. I have been listening to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (MK 39699) for years now, yet discovered a new performance listening to these speakers. On Tori Amos' Jupiter, I can here her foot on the pedals of the piano. Now that's detail.
For Home Theater, the MMGs do not disappoint. On 5.1 soundtracks such as T2 there is an incredible clarity and yet they are still very dynamic. I use this disc often for demos to friends and play it at peak volumes of 95 decibles. There have been no complaints from the MMGs at all, and yet you can still here details such as empty rounds hitting the deck.
Some sound tracks, such as Silence of the Lambs and The Last Emperor are 2 channel only. The MMGs had no problem centering the dialog and presenting it crisply, without the center channel. In fact, on Super Speedway, the engines are so loud that my Boston CR2 can't handle it so I turn it off on the receiver and let the MMGs handle the whole front end. No problems there either. I will someday have to get the Magnepan MGCC1 Center Speaker. I have heard great things about it, but would like to find it used.
These speakers are the real deal. Someday maybe I will try the 1.6QR, but until then the MMG are a fine choice.

Current System: 5/20/99

Sherwood New Castle R-925 A/V Receiver (Dolby Digital)
Magnepan MMG Front Channel Speakers
Boston Acoustics SW10 Subwoofwer
Boston Accoustics CR2 Center Speaker
Boston Accoustics A60 Speakers (surrounds)
Toshiba SD-3109 DVD Player w/ HDCD
Sony KV-27S20 27” Trinitron TV
Sony SAT-B1 DSS Satelite
Sony CDP-C725 5 disc CD player
Sharp VC-H923U VCR (Hifi, 4 Head)

Cables:
Main Speakers: MIT Terminator 6
Surrounds: Tributaries SP12W

Interconnects:
Tributaries DCV 100
Audio Quest Video 1
XLO/VDO ER 5 (THX)
Vampire One
Nakamichi
Sony POC 15A Toslink

Soundstage,depth,price

Need loads of power

These speakers are very nice. After owning much more expensive speakers, these are by far the most enjoyable. I can not believe the amount of satisfying bass that comes out of these;I thought they would have no bass. One thing though;they need tons of power. I originally had them hooked up to an amplifier that had 100 watts/channel and it just wasn't enough power. I then hooked them up to two 300 watt mono amps and then they really came to life!

Similar Products Used:

Nht2.5i, Meadowlark Shearwater,Paradigm Studio 60, Dahlquist DQ-10, Bose 901, Magnepan MG1

Vocals. Price. Imaging. Clarity.

Limited bass. Unconventional looks

I'm reminded of the title of a video biography of Orson Wells: "It's All True". I feel a bit silly repeating some of the extravagant descriptions of the sound quality. For me these are the best sounding speakers I've owned by a large margin. It is qualitatively different from any other speaker I've listened too except for the larger Magnepan models. I will give my take on some of the more typical comments found below.

Vocals- It has been fascinating to listen to my CDs all over again to see what I've missed. I had no idea the Dylan's voice was THAT raw/rough, or that Diana Krall was that incredible. There is all kinds of faint conversation going on in the background of "Dark Side of the Moon" that I didn't know was there. Etc-etc-etc.

Frequency response: Within the range specified it is remarkably smooth in my listening/living room. Based on both my ears and a test CD with SPL meter.) This is a great suprise because previously I had a lot of hills and valleys regardless of speakers or their position. Perhaps dipoles don't excite room resonances as much? The stated response of +/- 3db 50hz to 20hz needs to be understood in this context. Since it is pretty flat over most of the range that means that when you get below 60Hz and over 16khz there is something like a 6db dropoff. This is still +/-3db overall. (Again, no other speaker I've ever had stayed within such a narrow range in this room, which is far from an ideal room.) I can't hear above about 12db anyway so response above that is academic to me. I'm using a very modest quality sub to fill in the low range and will be shopping for something more substantial next year. For now it seems to integrate pretty well just using the AV reciever's XO which ia about 80Hz. (If it were adjustable, I would recomend setting it as low as you can get away with because the bass that is there is really good.)

Set up: Not as hard as some have reported. Following the instructions in the manual gets you almost there. After that you have to fiddle a bit I found in my room that even sub-optimal positioning sounds pretty good.

Connectors: The connectors are definately non-standard. Probably the "best" but inconvenient solution is to use bare wire. Bananas work ok if you screw in the little nut until they are snug. By the way, one reviewer was worried about losing the little nut and wrench that is supplied. These are often called "Allen nuts" and "Allem wrenches"; you CAN find replacements fairly easily if you lose them.

Size & Decor: Despite being only 1-1/2" thick, they have feet which effectively give it a 12" x 14" footprint. Being 48" high this means it effectively takes a the space of moderate tower speakers. Also the front really needs to be at least 2 feet out from the wall behind. Since even these smallest of "Maggies" can be pretty prominent in a room think about what color to ask for. Better still ask for color swatches before you order.

Brightness: Depends on the room. I didn't need the attenuators, but can see where this could be a problem. I have a couple of older CDs that were produced with exaggerated highs. (They were originally released as LP and probably were equalized to compensate for mid 70's equipment and vinyl.) The MMGs really blast these out. It seems to be accurate but most unpleasent. The fault lies in the CDs.

Rock Music: Despite what some others have written, they do nicely with rock music if you can give bass output a pass or if you have a sub.

Power requirment: Look before you leap. These are 4 ohm speakers and they do such up a lot of current. Check the manual that came with your receiver/amp or call the mfg. In thirty years of using audio equipment, this was the only time I ever drove an amp into clipping accidently. And boy does that sound ugly! I had the receiver configured for main speakers=large. Watt rating alone doesn't cut it. Mine is rated 100 @ 8 ohms; it has a switch on the back for 4 ohms whose use is not optional with these.

Risk: The no questions asked return policy offered by Magnepan is really cool. They were easy to deal with, although being a small outfit I usually had to leave a message and let them call me back the next day. But they always called back.

Stars: Value as in what you get for what you pay is 5 stars. Actually, these are off the scale. Overall rating is only 4 because if I had more space in my room I would have sprung for the big Magnepans which are even better.

Similar Products Used:

Various box speakers. AR. Advent. M&K. CSW. Bose.

A midrange to die for. They freak people out when they see them for the first time.

Limited sweet spot, finicky to set up. Major-league power-suckers.

I'd like to thank everyone who has posted previously. These reviews were very helpful in making my decision.
I found the MMGs more susceptible than my other speakers to cable changes. I got the best results with Mapleshade's strand cables.
I have yet to have a friend sit through a demo without shaking her/his head in awe. As I listen primarily to acoustic jazz, chamber music and vocals, these speakers are a dream. I'm not sorry I have a subwoofer, but I don't always use it. I live in a small apartment and for most music, and for the configuration of my room, the MMGs produce satisfying bass levels.
If you are still using vinyl, remember that these are dipole speakers, meaning they radiate sound from the back as well. Watch out where you place your turntable to avoid acoustic feedback.
The rest of the system:
Thorens 280 w/ Sumiko Blue Point
Cambridge Audio D500SE CD player
Parasound P/HP-850 Stereo Preamplifier
Parasound HCA 1201A mono amps
Adcom GFT 555II Tuner
Velodyne CHT 10 Subwoofer

Similar Products Used:

Boston Acoustic A40s; B&W 302s

Natural transparent sound!!!

To improve low frequency requires subwoofer (I used the Paradigm PDR-10).
Requires high (more then 50 Watt) power amplifier. Buy these speakers if you are going to seat and listen, but not just to have music as background when you do something.

I have tested them with classical music (for example: J. S. Bach - Brandenburg Concertos, Concert for violine, oboe & stringsin D minor; Ludvig Van Beethoven: Symphony N9 and N5; Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade; Camille Saint-Saennse: Havanaise; Nicollo Paganini: Violin Concerto N1, etc.), traditional and classical acoustic music from different countries ( Russia, Japan, India, China, Turkey, Armenia, countries of South America), rock music ( Pink Floyd), voices of Pavarotti and Renee Fleming, etc.
With all of these different music they have shown a natural transparent sound!!!

Buy these speakers if you are going to seat and listen, but not just to have music as background when you do something.They are not for a party.

Similar Products Used:

B&W602, B&W302

Exquisite detail without being bright or harsh. Large soundstage, good imaging, and realistic tonal balance (slightly warm). Improved dynamics over SMGa's.

The magic is gone when you stand up.

For the past 10 years or so, I've been using box speakers of various types, the latest being Unity Audio Signature 1's and a Velodyne F-1800XR subwoofer. As good as these speakers are, I was becoming a little bored and decided to try a planar speaker. After considering the options, the MMG's seemed like the obvious choice, especially since I have fond memories of SMGa's I owned in the late 80's. The MMG's arrived about three weeks ago, and I've been listening to my system every spare moment. I've driving them with a McIntosh MC275 reissue and Adcom GFP-750, and the sound is marvelous. My impression is that Magnepan has improved the detail and dynamics of the MMG's versus their budget speakers of old, the SMGa's. (I haven't heard the SMGb's or SMGc's.) My only criticism of the MMG's is that you must be sitting in the sweet spot to really appreciate these speakers. For the moment, I'm willing to accept this drawback. The question on my mind now is whether I should upgrade to the 1.6's, in hopes of expanding the sweet spot, or just continue with the MMG's which are surely one of the best buys in the world of audio.

Similar Products Used:

SMGa's, MG-Ic's, and many well regarded box speakers.