Magnapans and Rock&Roll

[JohnnyK]

Does anybody have Magnapan speakers?

I was recently speaking to a Magnapan dealer and he mentioned that Magnapans do not work well when playing Rock and Roll. He said that they do not produce the dynamic punch of dynamic (box) speakers. I am building a home theater and I was considering Magnapan speakers to do double duty as HT speakers and as music speakers. I enjoy 60's and early 70's R&R.

Is this true that Magnapan speakers do not work well with Rock and Roll?

Thanks in advance.

[Holy Zoo]

I used to have the small Maggies (MMG's) and they didn't work well for rock and roll at all: they could not handle deep bass (would distort easily), and just didn't sound natural. I gave up soon after getting them.

A friend of mine has the MG20.1's - and I don't care for them either. Too much high end (he eventually put a resister inline (!) to tame them). Now, they may work for classical and acoustic jazz, but it was horrible on any sort of rock. (Steely Dan's AJA didn't even sound good on it, it I find it tends to sound good on all speakers).

Just my $0.02.

HZ

[JohnnyK]

Originally posted by Holy Zoo
I used to have the small Maggies (MMG's) and they didn't work well for rock and roll at all: they could not handle deep bass HZ

Holy Zoo,

Thanks for the input. Any opinions on Martin Logans with Rock and Roll? Maybe I should just stick with dynamic speakers?

John

[John B]

For the benefit of Mister K.......
I borrowed some Magnapans about ten years ago. They are good speakers with a transparent clear midrange and smooth highs.
Not much bass though.
I was told that if you add a subwoofer and appropriate crossover, the combination sounds pretty good for rock. It does depend on what "rock" music you like to play most. Simon and Garfunkel would sound very good on that Maggie/sub combo.
If you like your rock with a throbbing crunch, your dealer is right, go for box speakers

[petzi]

Originally posted by JohnnyK
Does anybody have Magnapan speakers?...


No, but I have large panel electrostatic speakers, and I can say they sound very good with Rock music. The caveat is that dipole speakers have no box around them, so at very low frequencies an acoustic short circuit will occur, which eliminates the deep bass. You may want to use a subwoofer if that is a problem for you.

Magnepan speakers are known for having very low sensitivity, so you need a lot of amp power to achieve high volume.

[JohnnyK]

Originally posted by John B

If you like your rock with a throbbing crunch, your dealer is right, go for box speakers

Thanks Mister B;)

I think that I will need to stay with box speakers. Since they will be used for home theater and music, I guess that the Maggies will have a difficult time dealing with the DVD of The Who at Royal Albert Hall.

John

[Paul Chang]

A friend of mine is quite happy with his small Maggies. But he has a small living room and his wife hates boxy speakers. A smaller room means less deep bass. And at a closer listening position the speakers sound louder (higher dB). The panels sure are easier to your eyes than some coffin-looking boxes.

Have you considered Audio Physic or Legacy? You will get higher efficiency and deeper bass out of them. What's the brand of the speakers that Steve got recently? Meadowlark Audio? That, too.

[John B]

Originally posted by JohnnyK


Thanks Mister B;)

I think that I will need to stay with box speakers. Since they will be used for home theater and music, I guess that the Maggies will have a difficult time dealing with the DVD of The Who at Royal Albert Hall.

John

I think you're right about the Who. Pity though. I went through a similar quest because I could get the Maggies cheap and I tried to justify their purchase for that reason. In the end I settled on B & W box "digital ready" DM3000's which have nice mids, highs etc and can handle the full onslaught of Keith and John.

Had you settled on the Maggies. I would have said:
"being for the benefit of Mr K,
there will be a show today at Inverness.
The magnepans will dance and sing,
as Mr K flies through the ring......
It's a good thing you chose not to get them because that would have been really corny. I make even me cringe :confused: :confused:

[Ted Bell]

I'm going to disagree with several of the others. I love my Maggies and listen mostly to 60s and 70s rock. Plenty of bass with my 600w/channel @ 4 ohm Sunfire amps. I did, however add a Titan 2 sub crossed over at 35 hz to get the lowest octaves, but I can be just as satisfied with the sub off. I would encourage you to listen before making any decisions. Another option is to ask over at www.audioasylum.com/forums/MUG/bbs.html . I expect your reponses will be much different than those here.

Jay N.

[Metralla]

Originally posted by John B

Had you settled on the Maggies. I would have said:
"being for the benefit of Mr K,
there will be a show today at Inverness.
The magnepans will dance and sing,
as Mr K flies through the ring......I don't know whether you deliberately wrote "Inverness" in order to bring into play mental hooks to Loch Ness (and the monster), though of course there is some small distance between Inverness and Loch Ness, but Mr. Kite's show was at Bishopsgate.

Regards,
Geoff

[Joseph]

Originally posted by Ted Bell
I'm going to disagree with several of the others. I love my Maggies and listen mostly to 60s and 70s rock. Plenty of bass with my 600w/channel @ 4 ohm Sunfire amps. I did, however add a Titan 2 sub crossed over at 35 hz to get the lowest octaves, but I can be just as satisfied with the sub off. I would encourage you to listen before making any decisions. Another option is to ask over at www.audioasylum.com/forums/MUG/bbs.html . I expect your reponses will be much different than those here.

Jay N.

Which Maggies do you have. I know that the larger Maggies can generate more bass due to the larger panels.

600 watts per channel. I suspect most people really don't have that kind of brute power. Small class A amps and most tubes need not apply.

I auditioned Maggies (mid-size don't recall model) with a friend. They were driven by Bryston 3B's and the clipping lights were flashing before decent levels could be reached.

Someone I knew who had larger Maggies tended to play them a lower levels and they sounded very good with excellent mid-range. Maggies tend to have an excellent ability to portray depth.

[Khorn]

Originally posted by JohnnyK
Is this true that Magnapan speakers do not work well with Rock and Roll?

It depends what you mean by the above.

Lifelike R&R levels in large spaces? Just ain't gonna happen, no matter how much power.

Reasonable levels in average size spaces maybe , with enough power.

If you really like the sound of these speakers, and don't expect 120db+ peaks and 100 db+ averages in large rooms then maybe they will work for you, but , unless you can't live without the MAG's sonic sig then you would be starting at a disadvantage for the kind of stuff you want to reproduce.

[tomcat]

If you want dipole speakers that rock, you may look for used Apogees. Caliper or Duetta may be the right choice, but only if your amplifier can handle them. Tube amping? Fougetaboudid. They need watts and ampères! Hey, I have a pair of Calipers for some ten years now and I am more than satisfied with them - in every respect, be it for classical, jazz or rock!
Thomas

[John B]

Originally posted by Metralla
I don't know whether you deliberately wrote "Inverness" in order to bring into play mental hooks to Loch Ness (and the monster), though of course there is some small distance between Inverness and Loch Ness, but Mr. Kite's show was at Bishopsgate.

Regards,
Geoff

Hi Geoff,

JohnnyK comes from Inverness so that's why. Had to change "tonight" to "today" so as to rhyme with K not Kite. Extreme creative license!

[Metralla]

Ah John,

Sorry. The penny drops. I should have looked up at JohnnyK's post.

It never occurred to me that there was a town/suburb called "Inverness" that was outside Scotland - but it happens all the time, both in the USA and Australia. In fact on the New England tableland in New South Wales, there's a slew of towns like Glenn Innes, Glencoe, Ben Lomond, Inverell etc. The same is true in the New England states in the US.

I'll pay more attention to your poetry in future!

Regards,
Geoff

[Scott Wheeler]

I have the Martin Logans and a Vandersteen sub to go with them. Rock and Roll is not a problem but the Martin Logans are never going to peel the paint off the wall. In my room they are loud enough for my taste in Rock and Roll. I'd actually like more SPL for Jazz but I'll just have to save up for the Statement E2s and a bigger room. A warning about Martin Logan CLS's though. They are eminently aware of what is upstream from them. Don't put a cheap CD palyer and cheap SS amp infront of them. Your ears will bleed.

[BeatleFred]

Pssssssst....... You might want to consider the Infinity Renaissance 90 (made 1992-95). Just so happens to be a pair on Ebay now (#1364702919). They arent known by too many people yet they are one of the best speakers you can ever hope to have (as I do:) Owner Reviews at www.audioreview.com (Product Reviews, Main Speakers, I for Infinity, scroll down to Ren 90's). Infinity also made the smaller Renaissance 80 and thats a great speaker too.

Of course, if its Bass you are after you can get something like an Infinity SM-150 that has a 15" woofer (as opposed to the Ren 90's 10" woofer). The SM model Infinity's are very efficient so you dont need much power at all for the music to be heard LOUD. However, there is no comparsion at all between an SM-150 and a Renaissance 90. The SM-150 is a "party" speaker- sure, the bass is there but it is boomy, muddy and there is no Soundstage that exists at all. The bass on the Ren 90 on the otherhand, while not thunderous, is very- VERY tight and the Soundstage is Outstanding.

[JohnnyK]

Originally posted by Metralla
Ah John,

Sorry. The penny drops. I should have looked up at JohnnyK's post.

It never occurred to me that there was a town/suburb called "Inverness" that was outside Scotland - but it happens all the time, both in the USA and Australia. In fact on the New England tableland in New South Wales, there's a slew of towns like Glenn Innes, Glencoe, Ben Lomond, Inverell etc. The same is true in the New England states in the US.

I'll pay more attention to your poetry in future!

Regards,
Geoff

Geoff,

The person that founded Inverness, Illinois was from--guess where--Scotland. In fact, most streets have Scottish names.

How's the weather in San Jose? The weather in Chicago is TOO DAMN HOT AND STICKY! It will be 92 today with high humidity. Everything feels wet, including me.

John

[John B]

Originally posted by Metralla
Ah John,

I'll pay more attention to your poetry in future!

Regards,
Geoff

I'd advise against it Geoff, you seem well balanced.

PS There's an Inverness in Ontario too. Canada "borrowed" many names from the founding countries. We have a London with the river Thames going through it. We have a Stratford, guess the river. And many many more........

[Ted Bell]

Johnny,
I have 1.6QRs -can check my system under profile.

Jay N.