My quest for good speakers is over. Now just sit back and listen to the songs.

I listen to Indian music (Telugu & Hindi Language). Only one word WOW.

After listening to these speakers , I finally understoood what is audio resolution.

Large soundstage.
Incredible detail.
Great imaging and focus.
Fantastic mid-bass.
Extraordinarily reasonable price.
30 day home trial, satisfaction guaranteed.

Extremely sensitive to placement and room interactions.
Small sweet spot.

After 25 years, the only good piece left alive in my old stereo system was my NAD 3020 integrated amp, a legendary giant-killer in the budget audiophile category for many years. So when I received a settlement for my motorcycle accident recently, I went and bought both a HT setup, and a whole new (& used) 2-channel-only system. The Maggies are my 2-channel speakers.

I am hearing new detail and complexities from very familiar albums. In particular, I can follow bass tracks note-for-note now, that used to get lost in the rest of the music. I am extremely pleased with these speakers; they are the most revealing I've ever owned.

That said, I must admit that the folks who complain about placement difficulties, room interactions, and the tiny sweet spot have valid points. I have a fairly large and irregularly-shaped living room, and an understanding wife. I also listen intently, and don't mind sitting precisely in the best spot. The sound in that spot is fantastic, but these are not good party speakers, and not even particularly good for two people sitting side by side.

They also need a good, clean, powerful (100 watts), 4-ohm-capable amplifier. The 20-watt NAD, while it sounded excellent, would not get quite loud enough before running out of headroom, hence the Hafler, at 115 watts.

With the right amp, in the right room, and in the right spot however, the Magneplanar MMGs sound absolutely incredible.

Similar Products Used:

Owned: Vandersteen 2Cs, Polk RTiA1, a dozen homemade pairs.
Auditioned: Kef, Harbeth, Quad, others.

Rest of system:

Music Hall MMF-5 turntable
Denon DL160 high-output moving coil cardtridge
Marantz CD5001 CD player
Apt-Holman pre-amp
Hafler DH 220 power amp

Totally 3 dimensional, airy, musical, and inviting.

Hmmmm, none in my listening enviorment that needs to be mentioned.

First, there is nothing that I can say that hasn't already been written about these wonderful speakers. I am almost a year into a new pair, and thought to myself " if they sound this good then what if? " So I brought outboard crossovers one per speaker, and ladies and gents, if you think that MMGs doesn't have bass that one can feel, while being away from all room reinforcement, than I invite you to come listen, and this is without taken away from any of the attributes that Maggies are praised for. After completing the necessary changes ( about 1 hour ) I sat down to take a listen to various cds. Now let me tell you this, my amplication I am using can differ with my modes I am lucky to have over 13 differnt amplifiers, and for the moment let's just speak of the present one duty, a Spectron Digital One. Yes that's right, this old boy takes my maggies and turns them into something I do not have words to convey what I am enjoying, but I have used holiday time off from work just to stay in and listen ALL day. There is blissful, full, rich, pristine, dynamic, sound through out the entire room, and then when the cd calls for it, or on it, I now have volumes of bass that I still can't beleive. I have several subs, but in the room with the Maggies I am/was using a Sunfire "JR" and make no mistake this is a giant in a marvelouly small package. Now it sits mostly idle beause the outboard crossovers has revealed bass that in some instances pressurizes the air around me, and I say this without any exageration. I will not say these are for everyone, nor will I say that they should be purchased, searched out or what ever, what I wil say is this. Once exposed to what Magnaplanar has to offer, you will look at audio equipment, especially ones speakers in a new light. I did experiment with different guages of cables, and for me my 8 awg speaker wire allows my Maggies to artiulate in a manner that always keeps me looking forward to the time of it's first spoken word or musical note again.

Customer Service

Like the air we breathe, always there to help us to the next breath.

Similar Products Used:

None, mainly one speakers and too numerous to list.

Killer deal on a great speaker.

may have you spending more money on the rest of your system!

Ok - update on the previous review - These speakers continue to amaze me! I have replaced the crossovers as detailed in the previous review. Updated the wiring to pure silver wires. These speakers are so detailed and precise that I have switched to a T-amp, Winsome Labs mouse, replacing my Perreaux 200 WPC. Wow! now we are in the musical realm. No more solid state sound. I have to go back and listen to everything over again! Don't be intimidated by the 45 WPC into 4ohms. That is plenty for the MMG's as long as you are not shooting for concert level sound. I doubt that anyone would buy a planar speaker for that purpose anyway. They also blend much better with the sub using the subline converter to interface with my HSU sub. Don't skimp on the speaker level input for the subline though! Use a good speaker cable. I used the type 4 audioquest running from the speakers to the subline. I also tired pure silver from the amp to the subline without as good an effect.

The bottom line - don't buy the MMG's unless you are willing to take a look at the rest of your system. It will bring forth the limitations of everything you have connected to it.

Light weight 20 each. The wife loves the look. A sound that can't be beat. If they have a problem I have not found it yet. Magnepan shipped them very fast and I had them 2 days after I ordered them.

Need more money to buy the center channel and surrounds.

The best sounding speakers under a $1000 period! Maybe even the best under $5000 too. With my Def. Tech. (PF1500) sub they sound FANTASTIC. My wife hated my old speakers (Infinity Kappa 7's with EMIT K) but I loved the sound of the ribbon tweeter. I listened to B&W, Def. Tech., and many others but they could not compair with the maggies or the Infinities I have now. The infinities will match them in the highs and beat them in bass (Not when I use a sub) but the midrange on the maggies is the best I have heard. Most people can't believe I only paid $600 for them. Jazz, Rock, Blues, and movies all sound Fantastic. On movies things sound like they are right in the room with you. Crickets are on the movies and you are looking around to see if the windows are open, a phone rings in the move and your picking up your phone thinking it rang. Buy these and you will be a ribbon fan like me. Some of the high end stores will put them down because they can't beat them with out speading allot more money and you bypass them by ordering they right from the factory.

Let me say from the outset that the Maggie MMG are remarkable speakers at astonishing value. I consider them my most prize possession after which come the Conrad Johnson solid state separates which I use to drive them (MF 2250 amp, PF-R pre-amp), the Oppo digital source that decodes my CDs, SACDs and so on down the equipment chain. They look fantastic wrapped in high grade speaker grill material/fabric beautifully bordered with slimline wood rails; ensconced in their semi-transparent, quasi ribbon sheen; upright stance and large surface area. My father, a well read, researched, and experienced audiophile recommended the MMG to me, the eager-to-please-him son, as I sought to design and piece together a two channel listening room in early 2007. Having grown up under father’s roof with the likes of Theil, Vandersteen, and later Martin Logan, thus trending away from the traditional solid wood cabinet, tweeter, and driver designs of the traditional high end, the MMG represents the culmination of our tweeter boycott. The sound is…well…

Wonderfully detailed and transparent with great vocal and instrumental layering and separation; extended without ever sounding harsh or hurting your eardrums. Some would say just plain neutral as they simply get out of the way and reflect all of the elements of the listening chain without coloration or sonic signature. You get clean, crisp vocals and quick percussive transient and crescendo attack. Soundstage is tall and wide, with excellent imaging. Depth (front to back) of field soundstage is subtle, and a likely limitation of the imminent absence of a cabinet, but I don’t care. Speaker positioning is important and a neat opportunity to experiment with your personal tastes as you will hear changes in sound comprehension depending on how you position MMG. I like to give them plenty of room to breathe (3-4 ft) from the rear wall, acoustically treated to soak up those first reflections (I use basic foam baffle). I also space them 4-5 ft apart with slight toe-in, and I sincerely recommend an aftermarket stand ($75USD) which allows them to stand fully upright at the optimal ninety degree listening angle. A subwoofer is necessary to get the deep bass we all crave, and I am getting fabulous results with the Martin Logan Dynamo. I would also suggest that overall set-up including power-line conditioning, electronics, cabling, and acoustic treatments, are all necessary to get the most out of MMG.

Let me say from the outset that the Maggie MMG are remarkable speakers at astonishing value. I consider them my most prize possession after which come the Conrad Johnson solid state separates which I use to drive them (MF 2250 amp, PF-R pre-amp), the Oppo digital source that decodes my CDs, SACDs and so on down the equipment chain. They look fantastic wrapped in high grade speaker grill material/fabric beautifully bordered with slimline wood rails; ensconced in their semi-transparent, quasi ribbon sheen; upright stance and large surface area. My father, a well read, researched, and experienced audiophile recommended the MMG to me, the eager-to-please-him son, as I sought to design and piece together a two channel listening room in early 2007. Having grown up under father’s roof with the likes of Theil, Vandersteen, and later Martin Logan, thus trending away from the traditional solid wood cabinet, tweeter, and driver designs of the traditional high end, the MMG represents the culmination of our tweeter boycott. The sound is…well…

Wonderfully detailed and transparent with great vocal and instrumental layering and separation; extended without ever sounding harsh or hurting your eardrums. Some would say just plain neutral as they simply get out of the way and reflect all of the elements of the listening chain without coloration or sonic signature. You get clean, crisp vocals and quick percussive transient and crescendo attack. Soundstage is tall and wide, with excellent imaging. Depth (front to back) of field soundstage is subtle, and a likely limitation of the imminent absence of a cabinet, but I don’t care. Speaker positioning is important and a neat opportunity to experiment with your personal tastes as you will hear changes in sound comprehension depending on how you position MMG. I like to give them plenty of room to breathe (3-4 ft) from the rear wall, acoustically treated to soak up those first reflections (I use basic foam baffle). I also space them 4-5 ft apart with slight toe-in, and I sincerely recommend an aftermarket stand ($75USD) which allows them to stand fully upright at the optimal ninety degree listening angle. A subwoofer is necessary to get the deep bass we all crave, and I am getting fabulous results with the Martin Logan Dynamo. I would also suggest that overall set-up including power-line conditioning, electronics, cabling, and acoustic treatments, are all necessary to get the most out of MMG.

- Transparency
- Excellent Micro/Inner detail
- Speed of transients
- Aural presentation/ soundstage
- Spooky realism of source being played.

- Does need a good subwoofer, preferably sealed, to supplement the very bottom end.
- Needs a high current amplifier to fully blossom.

I have been an avid Audio nut since my younger years. I have an Audio Engineer for roughly more than 12 and have sampled both Live Sound Gear ( Meyer Sound, EAW's etc.) and Pro-Studio gear.

I have not really delved into Commercial Speakers after having sampled Studio Monitors, I never went back.

I had an opportuniy to audition the MMG's back in 1999 and was absolutely amazed at ther overall sound- coherent, accurate and seductive.

10 years later, I recalled my experience with them and finally ordered a pair. Initial listening was harsh and a bit strident but gradually mellowed out after a good break-in period. They were set up 3 feet from the back wall and 7 feet apart. They sounded good but not good enough. They was a heaviness/chestiness that I was not fond of. I decided to modify the crossovers, upgraded the 1st order design and replaced the coils with Jantzens film coils and upgraded the capacitors as well. Additional application of vinyl dampening on the rear of the panel to minimize vibration came next. Binding posts were upgraded to gold plated banana. Minor wiring upgrade internallly. After the mods, a good break in period once again, not just for the speakers but for the caps as well. After mods, chestiness disappeared, there was a better transition with the new crossover( 12db vs. 6db). Transparency was very evident. The soundstage bloomed and widened and transients became better than stock.

I have more than enough power to drive these MMG's with my current amplifier(s). I used 10 gauge cable(10 ft pair) and compared to conventional smaller gauge cables (14-16), it is significantly more authoritative especially on the low end.

One side note, amplifier power(high current) is a necessity. My ES HT amplifier never strained driving the 4 ohm load but certainly could not produce the vividness that my Carvers (modified) could...more oommph.

I listen primarily to Jazz, Acoustic, Big band, and Pop music. Listening to Allison Kraus's vocal along with her micro-vibrato, there was a seductive detail there that was veiled with otherspeakers I have listened to. Diana Krall with every whisper and lip smack, every nuance of her piano come through with full and clear.

I am sold on these Maggies, they do not possess the dynamic capabilities of traditional coned drivers, nor the boxy resonace either. But whatever they lack, they make up for in inner detail, fast transients, coherence and overall presentation. I would highly recommend them.

Sound better than any other speakers that i've heard. from martin logans to vienna accoustics to sonus faber. it don't matter, the maggies win any sound comparison and at this price there is no serious competition. if someone finds a better value, i'd looooooove to hear it!

Not a single one.

just received the mmg's and driving with an hk avr 635 amp. sure they're underpowered for now, (amp is on the way) but they were just what i was looking for. i had a set of vienna accoustics hayden grands that didn't do it for me. these aren't even broken in and they sound wonderful. my wife, who thinks these are expensive speakers, (she doesn't know what the haydens cost), complained that it didn't sound like there was any music coming from the speakers. to me, this was the ultimate compliment. she couldn't tell the difference between the the vienna's and the maggies. or for that matter, the vienna's and a pair of mirage omnisat v2 fs. that i had up front.
I don't think it takes "trained" ears to hear the difference but even to untrained ears, it sounded like the speakers weren't there; just music. That's what jumps out at you from the first listen. the music. she knows nothing about sweet spots or sound stages or imaging or transparency, detail or many of the other hyperbolic adjectives found in every bloviating issue of most professional magazine reviewers.
My son said it sounded like we were at yoshi's (a jazz club). Not quite that good but definitely more enjoyable than anything i've ever heard in a home setting at any price. the fact that these speakers are 550 a pair is what makes it truly unbelievable! if you're sitting on the fence about going with the maggies or anything else, you'll have to spend a great deal of money to get sound this good.

Similar Products Used:

mg 12

great speakers!

needs tweaks!

This is an update to my previous post. After having listened to these speakers for some time, tweaking the listening position, moving my sub around, and listening to a large variety of rock music of various recording quality I came to some conclusions. The biggest issue was with old 60's, 70's era recordings that were not recorded particularly well. I had a lot of trouble getting my sub adjusted right to get the kind of base blending that was needed for the music to be reproduced the way I would expect it to be. This was especially noticeable with Beatles music from the later 60's of which I am very familiar with and enjoy very much.

This experience motivated me to play around with the crossovers and wiring. I first bypassed the fuse and attenuator bar. That was a no brainer, took me about 10 minutes and improved the highs somewhat. Then I replaced the inductor. From what I was reading, the iron core inductor that magnepan uses is old kind of funky technology for inductors that is not used in high end audio anymore. Iron core inductors have very low DCR resistance and are good for that aspect, but have hysteresis types of distortion. I replace the 2.2 mH coil with a foil Alpha air coil 12g .75mH. This made a huge difference in the bass and midrange. The .75mH crossed the bass panel over higher than the 2.2mH and gave the panel nice base punch and great mids. Now the attention went to the caps. That was a harder one to research. Caps can get pricey and I didnt want to make a mistake. I ended up with Jantzen z-superior 15uF caps. Reasonable cost and well rated. Finding the right speaker cap in the higher uF values can be challenging due to the fact that magnepan has now switched to a 1st order crossover design due to simplicity. High end caps get more expensive as the uF gets higher. The good side to a 1st order crossover is that you only have to replace one cap per speaker. No series or parallel considerations to deal with. It was suggested by one cap company to bypass the cap that is in the speaker with a .1uF but I wasnt comfortable with spending a chunk of money on a bypass and have it not make much of a difference because the cheap cap is still in the signal path.

Anyway -- how does the tweak sound? These good sounding speakers are now really first class. Much more really good sound. I dont feel the need to be in that total sweet spot anymore. There is a much LARGER sound coming from the speakers. It even fills the room and the house. I found before the tweak that I really didn't like listening to the speakers much unless I was in the focal sweet spot. They now sound great anywhere in the house! Amazing really! This was a well worth wile investment of only about $75 per speaker to really bring out the capabilities of these great speakers. It makes them an even better bargain now. The next tweak will be to replace the wires with silver wires. That will come in time. Something to note is that these crossover parts are MUCH bigger than the parts that came with speaker. The inductor is outside of the speaker but I managed to stuff the cap in the area that used to house the old cap and inductor. It sticks out a bit but not a biggie.

Don't spend one dime changing anything else in your system until you change these crossover items! It was by far the best $150 I have spent on audio in years!

Cheers!