awesome. purchased from magnepan. used for one week, and ordered the 1.7. i may end up keeping the mmg for a second system. adcom gfp565 and gfa545ii sound just fine, if a touch hard and harsh on poor program material. so i hooked up my conrad johnson pv2 and mv45. in case any of you are wondering whether or not 45 tube watts can drive this speaker the answer for me is YES YES YES. the tube drive noticeably extends the dynamic range of the speaker, meaning that they sound better at low volumes with the cj gear. they do sound pretty flat when playing softly with the adcoms. i could be satisfied forever with the mmg. i am a musician and life long music freak and audio enthusiast, so i certainly deserve the 1.7, well within the budget of any serious music lover with an average income. to attain some of the best possible sound quality at these prices is just amazing.

After extensive reading of all the reviews I could find, I decided to try out a pair of MMG's. They're replacing my Axiom M3ti's in a bedrooms system. They're paired with an Audio-Gd DAC/Preamp and driven by a Virtue One.2 with 130w/30v power supply (87wpc @ 4 ohms). I have a Mirage Omni S8 crossed over around 60hz (still tinkering with that currently).

How do they sound? Wonderful. Open, airy, articulate, fast, accurate, brilliant. I was worried that my amp would struggle with the low efficiency/impedance of these speakers. But I'm getting more sound (not just volume or loudness) from my setup than I ever did with my Axioms. Don't get me wrong, I really liked my M3's but the MMG's best them in every way. Perhaps is the dipolar nature of them works better in my bedroom space. I don't know. All I can say is that I'm never turning my volume knob up higher looking for all the detail and resolution that I know is there in the music. My tastes vary from Indie, Jazz, Electronic, Rock, Classical, Instrumental, etc. The only little struggle that I've encountered so far is with very large orchestral recordings (Stravinsky, Dvorak, Orff) but everything else just sounds effortless and like it's right here in my room. Closing my eyes listening to Ella, or Nora, or Diana is creepy!!

I wrote this as a response and thanks to everyone who's taken the time to review these speakers for people like me who were on the fence. I hope this helps anyone else out there trying to decide whether to take the plunge. I know I'll be keeping these for a VERY LONG time. Cheers!!!

Magnepan MMG Floor standing Speakers


I thought I had a decent rig until I decided to change my speakers. After looking around on the web, the MMG caught my attention. Trying to get an opportunity to audition apair was useless or hopeless in the region where I live (Dubai, UAE). Tracking down a dealer even in the neighboring country went in vain. Finally, I just decided to take a chance, and mail ordered one from US which I will never regret.

To start with the process of placing an order and getting it shipped from Magnepan USA was easy. The customer centric personnel who handled my case had a very wide bandwidth of patience and was as clear as their prestigious product.

The delivery person looked at the content list and was shure there was something wrong with the consignment. A pair of speakers in a package just three inches deep? No it couldn't be, for he was convinced that the box he was delivering was probably only the stands and the boxes of speakers would come later!!

I took it home and hooked it up to my Yamaha amp, and I was in tears! All the pain and trouble that I took to read the reviews and buy my dream went in vain. It sounded awful. Finally after researching more, i realized that the amp was the culprit and not the speakers. The only way out was to buy a better amp, and I chose a NAD C372 which was in my limited budget and now things were sounding better. The CD's were still not sounding right, and thus a Marantz joined the megre fleet, followed by a Dennon Digital tuner.

After all the shifting of locations with the MMG and the concurrent burn in, the sound has finally evolved. Today my friends like to come home over raid my fridge and burn midnight oil, ensuring that my neighbors anger would fall solely on my shoulders.

Finally the Delicate Sounds of Thunder, just sounds right, thanks to my MMG.

I want in no way to discredit this fine speaker. However, they will be frustrating if your looking for a speaker that does "justice" to both music and HT. BUT, for the price, it does a pretty good job on both but will eventually, I believe, leave you dissatisfied But then, they were designed to do just this and make you want to "upgrade" to the 1.7's or whatever in the Magnepan line. But the SIZE and WEIGHT of this particular speaker is ABSOLUTELY RIGHT for most homes and could compete with any electrostatics and way better than most box speakers out there irregardlous of price! It's hard to be critical of a speaker for this amount of money but because it has received almost unanimous praisies, I offer these caveats. If Magnepan had used even "slightly" higher quality crossover parts, they would blow eveybody else out of the water including most floor standing speakers no matter how expensive. They other speaker companies are lucky that Jim Winey, the head of Magnepan, has not decided to do that. Others think they can outsmart Mr. Winey by offering "upgrades" to his basic design but most of them are a disappointment. Things sound "different" but not necessarily better. Marketing is everything these days to "stay ahead". Sadly, the consumer ends up being the victim. Here we have an "almost" perfect speaker COMPROMISED because it serves another marketing purpose.

I write this review because a) I love these speakers, and b) because my story might help others, and is a little different.

I've read about the SMG's/MMG's for many years and finally got around to buying a used pair about 2 years ago. It wasn't pretty.

In my main listening room (basement 16 x 16) I just couldn't get them sorted out. If one or two tracks sounded great, others were terrible...especially in the bass. Boomy or thin, or both. I could easily hear their quality, but in my system (solid) they were just too inconsistent to keep. I listen to all types of music (OK, no rap) and I need equipment that can do it all, at least to my ears. So regrettably, I sold them.

Anyhow, months go buy and I start thinking about the MMG's. About what they could do that all my (very good) cone speakers couldn't...no matter how much I tweaked, moved them around, etc.

So guess what? I see a used pair and immediately called the seller. And guess what again? They were the SAME MMG's I'd sold...he was moving up to MG-12's. We laughed, and I bought them right back.

Happy ending? Were they going to do it for me this time? Not so fast.

I get them home, and of course I haven't said a thing to my long suffering wife. So when she's out of the house that night, I unpack them...and f--k, what's that smell? Smoke...arrrggghhh...they stink!

This wouldn't do, so I panicked and quickly moved them into my basement bedroom to air out. A room where
I crash sometimes, and listen a lot...my man cave, most definitely.

Now, this room is about 10x8 soaking wet, not exactly what you'd say is a healthy space for Maggies.
But guess what (OK, that's the last time)? They sound AMAZING!

I still can't believe it. I have a small sub hooked in at 50hz, and now they sound like I'd hoped for in the beginning, but could never quite get. With glorious detail, imaging, transparency, decent dynamics, it's all there...fantastic! I couldn't be happier, and that's with all my music. Nice.

Anyhow, perhaps this is a cautionary tale for others who are interested but unsure.

Make sure they're WELL broken-in (I suspect that was part of the original bass issue), and don't be too afraid if you have a smaller room. As long as you can get them out from the walls as mentioned, and position them decently, you can have that terrific Maggie sound others love...and most cones just can't do.

I've tried a TON of good equipment over the years, in particular speakers, and don't fall in love too quickly. This time it's different. Happy listening.

I haven't added anything to this post in a while. Still listening to my MMG's! Great sound. Keeps getting greater! They are so precise. They help you tweak the rest of the system to what it should be.

In response to the previous poster - The problem with bass integration - It is a challenge. A "cheap" mod is to replace the inductor with a good copper film inductor. While you are at it - replace the cap too! And the wires. Not as big a deal as it may appear! 1st order crossover - very simple with one cap and one inductor. Then the sub has to be crossed over quite low - 50hz or so. An adjustable crossover on the sub amp is required. Much tweaking and fussing, but worth it.

I bought these speakers to originally listen to in my office at work. I have also listened to them extensively in different rooms at home with a number of different components both tubes and solid state. When I bought these speakers back in 1997 they were the original mini magneplaners (MMG) and they were only $500.00 per pair. I have been told there may be a new "mini mag" coming out. I have bought a number of products over the past 40 years including several pairs of speakers that have cost more. However, these are the speakers that have given me the most pleasure to listen to over the years. Even at their current price of $600.00 a pair it is well worth the price and if I needed another pair of speakers I would purchase them at that price. These speakers are so natural sounding I could listen to them for hours. Unlike some other reviews, I could not integrate the sound with a subwoofer to extend the bass. The sound was never coherent and I just preferred these speakers playing by themselves the and live with the lack of deep bass.

They are very power hungry. My Quicksilver Mini Monos did not work well with these speakers. Neither did a Parasound 60 watt amplifier I initially tried using. It took a pair of Marantz MA-500 to really bring them to life. I am currently using a Parasound HCA-1200 which puts 300 watts into 4 ohms and really works well with these speakers. Even if you have to spend a little more to obtain that extra power you make up for it because you do not need speaker stands. Which brings me to another point, these speakers are not very large and so I cannot see why anyone would want to spend more than $600.00 for a pair of mini monitors when these sound so great. Plus you don't need to buy any speaker stands.

If I needed to purchase a complete stereo I would start with these speakers. Magnepan could raise the price to $1000.00 a pair and I would still consider them a bargain. Too bad they don't sell them at any local high end stores; where more people could hear them because I am sure once they listened to them and found out how cheap they are they would sell like crazy. Everyone that I have played these speakers for thought these were one of those insanely expensive audiophile speakers. They could not believe how cheap they were. I recommend that anyone looking to spend under $1500.00 for a pair of speakers consider the Magnepan MMG's.

I am a very satisfied owner of a pair of MMG's. Fpr the asking price, there is NOTHING that even comes close to the overall value of the MMG's. This is assuming you would like the kind of sound Magnepans offer. By this I mean Magnepans as a speaker sub-species offer a possibly unique sound. The number one critical requirement before buying a pair of Maggies is the room. Forget the equipment, forget the setup, with the wrong kind of room, you're doomed right from the start. The ideal room(I know this from experience) is a room with four solid walls, a rectangle. Three(two?) walls? Forget it. If this is what you are playing your Magnepan's in now, YOU ARE NOT HEARING YOUR SPEAKERS IN THEIR FULL GLORY! So, you have a rectangular room? My MMG's are in a 16'x12' room, 10' from the rear 12' wall. Yes, 10' from the back wall. I thried them 2', 3', 4', 5, from the wall. Sounded not bad, not bad. The MMG's are about 6' apart, tweeters outside(bigger, wider soundstage), angled in straight towards my ears. I sit 5' from the speakers. I bought the MYE stands(filled with shot)because the speakers need to be raised higher than with the factory "feet", and be vertically straight(direct sound...5' away). Assuming you have decent electronics(Maggies need all the power you can give them, these are not Quad ESL's), and the rear wall is diffusive(books on shelves are fine), NOT absorptive, what you will hear is: floor to ceiling, wall to wall music. I am not exagerating. The music(vocals)appears about 5' behind the speakers, again floor to ceiling, wall to wall. And, oh yeah, the glory of the Magnepan's set up THIS way is from the highs to the lower midrange(which is everything)is absolutely superb, fabulous...sound to die for.

i read some replies to your delima. when reading your story, i have to tell you that i haven't noticed any difference with the time element. my mmg's have always produced a great crisp clean awesome sound. what you need to realize is that these speakers need power provided from a 4 ohm system. most amps purchased are rated at 8 ohms. if your receiver is 55 watts and at 8 ohms, you need to contact your amp manufacturer and ask them what it's rated at driven at 4 ohms. you will find that it will be much less than the 55 watts, more than likely half.

i am running my mmg's with a harmon kardon 7.1 home theater system, watts are strong enough to drive these, but even with that being said, i would prefer upgrading to a stronger more powerful amp. but that is why your old klipsh speakers sound better, because they were made to operate with less watts of power driving them.

I Just received the MMG's today and I am caught in somewhat of a dilemna. I read just about all the reviews and this is my experience. I played them with my McIntosh 1900 55w receiver. I put on some Brahms orchestral music and listened. The sound stage was there and so was the presence in the music. I listened to Placido Domingo and could feel him in the room. I was not overly impressed by the choral music and thought I would wait to later in the day to try the speaker again. This time I connected my Velodyne subwoofer and as an additional remote speaker, my Klipsch Heresey speakers.

This is my dilemna. The Klipsch sounded so much more alive and dynamic. I knew it had to be because the Klipsch are so efficient and require little power to get them to sound their best. The MMG's need alot of power. Far more than my 55w receiver. So I playing them seperatedly and the Klipsch had life and aliveness while the MMG's Had excellent sound stage. I was getting very worried about the comparison. The Klipsch were out doing the MMG"s which I thought would be better after reading all the reviews. I used the Balance knob to try to blend the two speaker sounds together with the woofer and on some music It sounded very very good. Should I return the MMG's I thought? Wow. Why weren't they better than my Klipsch?

I got to wondering. Many reviewers said they need time to break in. I beleive it is about 100 hours. I played them again because I was getting nervous. The sound state was great the voices were excellent but the music did not match the other speakers which were over thirty years old. Does the speaker need the 100 hour breakin period to sound their optimum? Worried. I listened again and tried to imagine what the speaker would sound like if they just had more use. The image was great but the reality was not.

Could some owners of the speaker assure me that they will sound better with time. And especially some Klipsch and Mmg owners. Could you tell me which speaker sound you preferred etc./ I really don't want to return them because they may show they magic down the road but as of this moment I have not as of yet experienced it.

Please advise.

Thanks