Incredible, accurate, detailed reproduction of music. I am hearing nuances i've never heard before from my CD's and vinyl records!!

None I can hear. Especially at this price point!

What can I say that hasn't been said already... these speakers are sonically and visually MAGNIFICENT!! I finally took the plunge and listened to Magnepan planar speakers on prodding from a close freind, and I was so moved by the timbral accuracy and detail I heard, I had to sell my 6 times more expensive Thiel's!!! I cannot believe it, but the MMG's trounce speakers that cost several times it's price, and that is astounding.

Listen to your favorite music on these wonders and you will be 'rediscovering' your favorite artists/pieces all over again. But don't read what I am saying anymore... go forth and listen to them yourself! You will be moved!

My system:

McIntosh preamp and amplifier
Sony SACD player
Straightwire cabling

Similar Products Used:

Martin Logan, KEF, Dynaudio, Thiel, Joseph Audio, Infinity

Sound quality is superb......clear and open......fills the room......sweet spot is larger than expected

Low end bass

After having these for a litte over a month...they are the deal of the century. Love the sound, finish and quality. Takes up 1/3 the space my Accoustat's did. I thought the Accoustats were great......these are better and get better each day, the bass is becoming more apparent.

Equipment:
B&K PT3 Pre-amp
B&K 2140 Amp
Alpha Goertz Cables
Yamaha CD

Similar Products Used:

Accoustat Monitor III's with Tube Amps

Price/performance ratio. Sound.

50-60 Hz lower limit. Small sweet spot, but a very sweet spot it is. Efficiency and to some degree, dynamics.

These are the best sounding speakers I've owned, and they sound better than some far more expensive speakers I've auditioned, although, as with most audio gear, there are caveats. They have a very smooth response throughout their frequency range with no noticable dips or peaks (at least in my living room). When you and the speakers are positioned correctly, the soundstage and tonal balance is impressive. Close your eyes and enjoy!

Now the caveats. For my taste, a subwoofer is a welcome addition to the MMGs. While not a bass freak, I do have a healthly appreciation for frequencies below 60Hz and most recordings today have recorded material well below the 50-60Hz mark. I paired my MMGs with an M&K sub and am very pleased with the results. Some people speak of a problem matching the speed of the MMGs with the speed of the sub. Maybe I was lucky or maybe the speed issue is BS (or maybe I'm just an audio hayseed and can't tell the difference). In any event the M&K/MMG combo gives me the sound I like. Next, while you can play the MMGs with 50 watts of good quality power, I feel a solid 100 watts or better of high current amplification is required to extract the desired volume and dynamics from the MMGs. Moving on, partly because of their placement requirements and partly because of their strikingly different form factor and appearence, the Magnepans will have a more obtrusive presence in your listening area than most other speakers. Lastly, they have funky connection terminals.

In spite of the caveats listed here, I will repeat, these are the best sounding speakers I've owned. I'd buy them again in a heartbeat. If you're in the market for a sub-$1K speaker system, give 'em a listen.

My system:

MMGs
M&K 125 sub
Cambridge Audio D300 CD
Link DAC III
Mitsubishi DA-A15DC 150 watt dual mono amp (24 years old and counting)
Mitsubishi DA-P20 pre amp (ditto)
Kimber 4TC
Kimber PBJs

Similar Products Used:

Various box speakers through the last 25 years.

Clean

need a powered sub if you want bottom end. Delicite

I got these in February of 2000 (had a 6-7 week wait). And I have loved them ever since. They are very tricky with placement. Even a few degrees of toe-in or a shift of the head can change things. But once in that special spot, it's amazing what these do. The sound has the usuall left and right but it also has up and down, which my B&W's could never do. Back in April or May of 2000, the maggies were toppled over by the cat and one of the midranges got punctured, so they had to go to the factory to get doctored up (~ $250). But while they were gone I hooked up the B&W's and within probably 45 minutes everytime I would get a headache from the topsy treble. All things about the naturalness are true. I would say that you should probably use active pre-amping, because there very insesitive and I run out of source signal before they get real loud. Also these are being driven with a 35 watt class A amp, and I have never clipped the amp, probably because they dont do the lower octives, so they don't suck wattage. The White and Oak ones look absolutly great. Highly Recommended

Speakers - MMG
Amp - Monarchy Audio SM-70
Pre-Amp - Creek OBH-12
CD - Technics SL-PS770D
DAC - Monarchy Audio Delux 18B
Cable - Nordost, AudioQuest

Similar Products Used:

B&W DM302 ($250)

Too many to type, read previous reviews

Must be sitting to listen, not a problem with me, but others need to be aware of this parameter. They WILL show short comings in your upstream electronics.

I am not going to waste your time repeating what everyone has said. Yes I am a MAJOR Mangepan fan and will NEVER go to any other speaker than a Magnepan as I AM addicted to the planer sound. The speakers are so good the WILL show short comings in your upstream electronics. We use the MMGs for music and in a dedicated AV room for home theater. I struggled with this and wanted to share my results. As far as the MMGs go, BUY THEM, I find it hard to believe anyone can be dissappointed as they simply sound not the music presented to them in the source and nothing else. The MMGs are a musical instrument, not just another speaker.

Here's my life after living with teh MMGs:

I am in my 40s and enjoyed audio at the high end level many years ago. I recently entered back as we constructed a dedicated AV room for our family. After this was complete the audio bug came back. The HT gear was top notch Marantz "Reference Series" with M&K surrounds, sub etc, but I was not staisified with the music side so I added a set of Magnepan MMGs. Love the speakers, but it demanded more from the upstream electronics. I started cycling with used and new amps, both solid state and tube. It always left me feeling like something was missing. I tried different subs, still not right. Then I ran across a good used McIntosh 2105 from a store on the web willing to take my Jolida in on trade. WOW!!! I don't want to bore you with all the positive statements everyone else has said. I would like to share an end result of this change I did not expect. The McIntosh simply made the music sound more real than anything else that I used to drive my Maggies. The music was absolutely majestic! It sounds so good I nolonger use my sub woofer with the Maggies when listening to music. The panels are driven in a way I have not heard before. They are open, warm, no lack of bass or soundstage. I am a happy guy and have ended my search for the amp to drive the Magnepans. Add to this I have spoke with teh companies that made the products I mentioned above. I was surprised to find I would buy new product and receive poor support, then buy a used McIntosh amp and get the kind of support I would expect if I purchased a $10,0000.00 plus amp. I just called for a user manual and the people at McIntosh thanked me for buying their product. THIS IS A 20+ YEAR OLD AMP!!! They reminded me they still service everything they make or have made and even if I ever need a new glass faceplate they manfacture evrything in house and would build me one. Now I understand why McIntosh holds such good resale value and why people say "Once you go Mac You'll never go back". I know any updates I make in the future will have the McIntosh name on them. Buy it, you'll like it.

The summary of this is buy the MMGs. You will be buying musical instruments, but be prepared as they will not hide any short comings in your electronics. Ignoring movies as the 5.1 demands a "false" room shacking bass that only a sub woofer will provide, the MMGs are not short on bass as some people may lead you to believe. I think it is just the quality of presentation from their amplifier.

Similar Products Used:

Phase III Speaker System

Can anyone recommend a standard type center channel for these speakers? Thanks in advance.

Clarity, accurate reproduction of sound, musicality, flat-out gorgeous sound!!!

Sent the wrong owner's manual.

After a long, hard, thorough speaker search, I have found Utopia in the Maggie MMG's.

I do not know any speakers available to consumers in this price range that sound so incredible. For 550 bucks, I challenge any person on any continent to find a better sounding/performing speaker. I was considering higher dollar speakers in the high3/low4 figure bracket, but am convinced that the MMG's sound better. In my estimation, they blow away Paradigm Reference Studio 20's. I don't know why I even considered Klipsch or Boston.

I listen to music 95% of the time and home theatre the other 5%. Acoustic guitar, and other pickin' and a grinnin' type instruments sound heavenly. Female vocals grip you!

I don't know why other people have said not to get these unless you are going to sit and listen. They fill the entire house with incredible sound. Yes, they do have a WONDERFUL sweet spot as well, but it isn't as small or hard to find as some would lead you to believe.

I also don't know why some complain about the speaker stands. They are very stable, and reek of good workmanship. This is an American product as well! They are handsome in my listening area. I chose the off-white sock with an oak finish.

Kudos to Magnepan!

My system:
Yamaha RX-V800 receiver
Fronts: Maggie MMG's
Center: Paradigm CC-170
Rears: Paradigm Atoms
Sub: Paradigm PDR-10

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm Reference Studio 20, Paradigm Atom, Infinity Entra

All the superb qualities of this speaker make this an excellent product to use in home theatre setup; it's capable of reproducing reality in a breathtaking way

lack of deep bass

For about 1 year I have used 4 MMG's in a Home Theatre set-up. I wanted to use the centerspeaker from Magnepan, but this one is too big to put on my Sony Wega 32 inch TV, so I decided to go for a quality-speaker from a different brand. I purchased the highly praised B&W Nautilus HTM2. In itself, I think, the B&W is one of the best centerspeakers available on the market. Nevertheless, when used in a setup with MMG's the B&W turns out to be the weakest part of my hometheatre system. Compared to the MMG's they have a tendency to sound boxy and at the same time 'lighter' (not faster) with human voices. So, when viewing a movie the MMG's are the outstanding performers in recreating and reshaping reality, and within this framework somewhere in the middle on top of my TV I there is also the sound of that other speaker than cannot keep up with the MMG's. Put simply, they don't match at all with the MMG's.
I think eventually the solution lies in the purchase of ..... the centerspeaker from Magnepan. But I shall place this one not on top of the TV, but below the TV screen.

Finally: in my opinion, a relatively 'cheap' setup with MMG's, can easlily outperform more expensive hometheatre systems with conventional conusspeakers.
The lack of deep bass (when needed) can be overcome by buying a quality subwoofer.


-AV receiver Denon avc 4800 (soon replacement to 4802; in Europe it is called Denon AVC A11 SR)
-cables: . van den Hul optical
. van den Hul speakercable CS 122
- DVD player: Sony DVP 7700
- subwoofer: Yamaha YST 800

Similar Products Used:

Apogee Caliper, Quadral Aurum, B&W Nautilus 805

Realism blows me away. Sounds like the stage is out somewhere in front of me.

Not so hot at low-volume -- they come alive at a tolerable level though, and are stunning for strings etc...anything not for heavy thumping/distorted 'music'

Use a sub with MMGs. My MMG's are suspended upside-down from the ceiling using custom brackets that preserve the proper '7-like' vertical angle and can rotate left/right so you can aim them. We have cats you see, and they would destroy MMGs in a day if they could.

For a while I drove these with Carver M400 series cube amps per channel, and I may go back to that config. The more CLEAN power the better!

Would buy bigger Maggies in a heart-beat but any taller and they would hang down low enough for a cat to jump up to and destroy. alSO, BIGGER maGGIES WOULD NOT HANG FROM CEILING at "7" angle without ripping out ceiling, or, I'd have to reinforce ceiling {lotta work}.

If you are just using speakers for background noise while you do other things, these might be a waste. If you like to sit in a favorite room and listen to music these would be tough to beat for over twice the price!

Summary: needs lots of clean power, a sub, but will re-shape your tastes in speakers, maybe forever.

Similar Products Used:

Genisis Genre I speakers -- moving-coil but they have a stunning proprietary tweater that is round but planar and AWESOME.

Realism blows me away. Sounds like the stage is out somewhere in front of me.

Not so hot at low-volume -- they come alive at a tolerable level though, and are stunning for strings etc...anything not for heavy thumping/distorted 'music'

Use a sub with MMGs. My MMG's are suspended upside-down from the ceiling using custom brackets that preserve the proper '7-like' vertical angle and can rotate left/right so you can aim them. We have cats you see, and they would destroy MMGs in a day if they could.

For a while I drove these with Carver M400 series cube amps per channel, and I may go back to that config. The more CLEAN power the better!

Would buy bigger Maggies in a heart-beat but any taller and they would hang down low enough for a cat to jump up to and destroy. alSO, BIGGER maGGIES WOULD NOT HANG FROM CEILING at "7" angle without ripping out ceiling, or, I'd have to reinforce ceiling {lotta work}.

If you are just using speakers for background noise while you do other things, these might be a waste. If you like to sit in a favorite room and listen to music these would be tough to beat for over twice the price!

Summary: needs lots of clean power, a sub, but will re-shape your tastes in speakers, maybe forever.

Similar Products Used:

Genisis Genre I speakers -- moving-coil but they have a stunning proprietary tweater that is round but planar and AWESOME.