Pure, natural and free.

As others have mentioned, bass fiends will not be pleased.

I fell in love with these little beauties on first look and listen. They've been great companions (I'm not mad, I promise), and handle different genres of music very well. Although, I've managed to damage one of the speakers and am trying to desperately find someone who will repair it. Any hints or clues as to a suitable Maggie Doctor in the UK?

open and detailed, with no unpleasant "edge"

no true low bass

I've been slowly adding audio systems to various rooms of my house - a devoted setup in a basement listening room, a theater setup in our family room, and a set of living room speakers cabled to the family room's front end. With my wife's blessing I just replaced a pair of bookshelf size KEFs in the living room with a pair of SMGa's; and for the first time am really enjoying the sound in the living room. While not as "intense" an experience as my devoted nearfield system in our 150 year old, open beam basement room with Genesis VI's, Bryston BP25/4BST, Cal-Genesis Lens -EAD DAC and Oracle table, the little Maggies are wonderful speakers in their own way. And at the current "street" price for a good used pair, the SMGa's are an outright steal.

If you are looking for true audiophile speakers on a boombox budget - good condition used SMGa's are just the ticket. The highs and upper midrange of these speakers are fantastic; cymbals ring and shimmer, brasses have just the right amount of "bite" and finger clicks on steel strings sound right - all without the grimace inducing rough edge of other good, modestly priced speakers - as exemplified by the bargain hunter's favorite, the Sound Dynamics 300Ti, which I've owned and loved except for this trait.

Similar Products Used:

Genesis VI, Von Schweikert Research VR3

Look, sound, the sound stage

little or no bass

Well, what could I say, this "little maggie" is really a great buy for the price. I would say if you could get one for US$400 even right now, go get it, you will love it.

Some great amp to drive it are: NAD 304, Adcom GFA 545, Bryston 2B-LP, and the famous ST70.

Highly recommended for people who love classical, opera, vocal and jazz music

Own this pair of SMGa for years now and still love it. Someone wanted to buy it from me for US$380 but after consideration I decided to keep it (although I already upgrade to a new system). I once compared the SMGa + NAD amp with the system of a friend of mine (he spent couple of thousands for his system, while I only spent around US$700), and we BOTH had to admit that for jazz and vocal music, SMGa is still the winner!! That's amazing especially for the little price you pay for SMGa. What could I say? This is highly recommended!! Get a used one if you could find it on a auction site! It looks very "hi-end" too. :)

The second pair of serious loudspeakers I bought were Magneplanar's SMG-a. Let me tell you there are no better speakers in this price range. I say again, no better speakers for the price. These beauties are sold for around a DFl.1000 which is around a us$500 or a UK300. second-hand and can easily take on speakers of double or even tripple the price. Like Magneplanar says, they never fail to please. They sound transparent, the bass is satisfying if you don't like boomy bass and if placed correctly (and I mean correctly, placement comes as precise as half-inches!) you can have true surround sound. Listen to Amused to death from Roger Waters and you know what I mean. SOunds litterally come from right beside you, and you can even look at it! I had people over at my place and they said I had a pair of surround speakers hidden somewere. If you are an audiophile on a budget or you have a small room, I can certainly recommend these speakers. Also think about the specs, they don't play very loud with a 86Db sensitivity, and my 100watts amp makes them distord on really load volumes, not in low as you would expect, but in mid, sharp steel guitars for instance.

open, airy, full, natural

extreme low bass, weird speaker connections

first purchased by my brother in late 80's, i have used them for aprox. five years, first as secondary units in my main listening room(living room), now in the bedroom secondary stereo system. used for music-rock(zappa-floyd)-classical(pipe organ)-voice(howard stern). placed near the rear wall, the sound is very full and natural except for the lowest bass fundamentals. (when i want them,i go downstairs to the 5000thx). overall, a fine entry level audiophile loudspeaker(as long as you have the room for a panel speaker). still available from the mfg. direct for $550. also used for music tv watching from sony tivo(the greatest video invention yet!). power comes from a new nak. re-10(hi-power/hi-current/wide bandwith receiver). (see review)

Similar Products Used:

kef c80, m&k thx5000 (main system)

Truer reproduction under 1500 than any other, amazing midrange (vocals, instruments etc), tight bass, company support.

Placement (get a bigger maggie), UV (keep away from windows), bright when new (break them in!), clarity fades with complex multisource reproduction (again get a bigger maggie!)

The speaker's ability to reproduce details accurately and clearly is excellent - it is definitely a compromise over the more expensive maggies, but soundly trounces anything under 1500! The positioning is a trait of maggies that requires the right room (the speaker won't compromise here), and the UV succeptability is greater than cones, but the factory does do renewals for a minimal fee (what other company gives a damn about their old products!) I've experienced all classical, Jazz, Rock, Metal, Techno, even movies with great enthusiasm. i even had an old Onkyo integrated Amp with only 60w (80 into 4 ohms) that could really drive these, so they aren't as power hungry as the upper models. Definitely the best of the SMG series - the early SMG's were improved, and for some reason the SMGb's and SMGc's were compromised somewhat... I've used many amps (Adcom, Onkyo, etc.) and mostly Sony, then different NAD CD players over time - the only thing I've kept since 1990 was the speakers - can't upgrade them til I can buy the 1.6's (will have to compare to the Martin Logans as well.)

Similar Products Used:

a/d/s, Audio Research, Polk, Infinity

Very tight and accurate bass and mid bass response. Natural mid range. Exeptional image depth/stageing. No coloration or resenant problems.

Very small sweet spot for good imaging. The accuracy may be a detriment for those with low quality saurce material.IE if its a bad recording you'll know it.

I feel that if you are a mid fi consumer based on budget constraints only.If you wish you could have the sound that a $10.000 system would give. If you judge your speakers based on smooth uncolored accuracy Then buy a pair of these speakers. They offer the best performance in this price range. I listened to several Brands at the $1000.00 to $1500.00 price range. Brand such as Kestrel, B&W, Kef, If you can find of SMGa's obviously used but well cared for, I feel it would be a good investment. I use a Jolida 40 watt per channel tube amplifier,old monster cable 10ga speaker cable a 5 disc changer by pioneer. I plan to upgrade to a REGA planet cd player and better cables but I feel this speaker will stay with me for a long time to come. If I can get good sound with this system then any one can.

Similar Products Used:

none

I have just bought a pair of this excelent speaker. Mid and highrange of these speakers is really, really good, the only problem is with lowrange. I recomend an amplifier of about 100 Watts per channel, if you want to really enjoy the superb sound of these speakers. And play a little bit with a position in the room. Otherwise they are excellent for this price.

Having extensively auditioned a well run-in SMGa belonging to a friend, I came to the conclusion that these speakers were not to my taste. The speaker seemed to have a mellowness in the sound, and after a while I realised that it was just plain slow, especially in the bass, which by the way, was rather weak. The treble and transparency was also lacking.
Perhaps the amps (Naim 32/140 SNAP) were not suited to the speakers, but Naims are fast amps. The Epos ES14s (his other pair of speakers) sounded much better.

AUDITION before you buy!