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In Reply to: RE: MG .7 availability guesses posted by mbnx01 on June 21, 2014 at 14:42:22
Are you speaking of the 1.7? Or is this a new model? I just picked up a mint pair of 1.7's for $1000. Guessing they have no more than 100 hours on them, probably less. They sound great. Big difference between them and my B&W Matrix 800's. I am researching amps for them. Would like something more powerful than my low power tube amps and 150w Krell.
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Could you tell us more of the differences and strength/weaknesses between the B&Ws and the inexpensive new Maggies? Do you have two rooms for music?
I will try, however I may not be able to give you the most accurate description of the differences between the two for a couple reasons.#1 The Maggies are placed about 1.5 feet directly in front of the B&W's. It's easy to tell having the very large B&W's behind them is affecting the sound in a negative way. #2 I have not had that much time with the Maggies and I'm still playing with positioning them.Saying that, these are two completely different speakers both with their own strengths and weaknesses, obviously. The Maggies are more balanced, meaning there are much less peaks and dips throughout the frequency range. This could be partially caused by a few things. The B&W's could use a larger room and also a more powerful and better quality power amp. The driver integration seems better in the Maggies. It's almost impossible to hear where the woofer, mid and tweeter pick up and drop off. They are very seamless. I believe the Maggies may have a bit more detail but I'm not 100% sure on that one yet. The Maggies seem to be less fatiguing. I listened from 6:30AM till 12:00PM last Saturday and I never felt like I needed a break. The right side of the room is open to my computer area. The Maggies have a more natural bass. While listening to acoustic bass, the room is not pressurized and doesn't vibrate things in the room as much. Not sure how to explain it but the Maggies have this natural sound to them with certain recordings and types of music. I believe it's partly due to the excellent driver integration.
The B&W's are a massive speaker with 2 12in woofers, 2 mid-range drivers and 1 tweeter in each speaker. This is in a room that is about 20 feet by 25 feet? Roughly..
The B&W's are far more dynamic and go much deeper and can play much louder than the Maggies. As someone who likes to play the drums the Maggies can't come close to the B&W's on percussion tracks. They also have this presence with some recordings that I have never heard with any other speaker. They can assault you, kick you in the face but put in another recording and they can sound laid back & graceful. As big as they are they do not make instruments sound larger than they are but can make an organ sound almost life size. With big orchestral ensembles the B&W's are effortless with no strain. This goes for the pipe organ too. I have this Bach recording that will give you goosebumps when it hits the low notes. The Maggies are not as good at doing this.I have another room in my house that is much larger than the room I currently have this system in. I have been trying to think of what I want to put in this room. Do I want to try my B&W's?, the 1.7's? or my Martin Logan CLS-IIZ LE's? Recently I have just started really thinking about this. Moving the B&W's is A LOT OF WORK!! And would take 2 people a couple hours to do. In this room I can give all the speakers good breathing room behind them, specially the CLS and 1.7's. Also I will be able to have 8-12 feet behind me while listening.
I have been into this hobby since I was 14. In that time I have owned about 15-20 different pairs of speakers. Most I have sold, traded...ect There are 2 pairs I have never sold and never plan too. #1 the B&W Matrix 800, #2 The Martin Logan CLS IIZ Limited Edition. The Magnepan 1.7 may just be added to this list of speakers I will not sell.
All in all I love both speakers and would be happy with owning either one for many many years. I have owned the B&W's since I was about 24 or 25, I am now almost 35 now so I have had them a long time. The Maggies still give me that new speaker excitement.
Please excuse my typing. It's obvious I am not great at it :) I'm not the best and explaining things either.
Edits: 06/26/14
Thanks LT, that is really interesting. It is pretty cool that you have three different types of sounds to listen to. My HT room has Goldenear Triton 2s (admittedly nowhere near B&W). Every once in a while I would move them into my music room. They definitely do some things better than Maggies (the heil folded ribbon tweets are amazing). I am just a planar freak though. When I listen to non planers I catch myself wondering how the passage would sound on Maggies. There really is something to the naturalness and evenness of acoustic bass on planars.
Now that I replaced my 27 year old MGIIIa's with new 3.7i's I am re- listening to every record in my collection.
I have never seen Goldenear speakers before, they look interesting. Funny I just sold my MGIIIA's! I sold them to offset buying the 1.7's. There is something about planar speakers that attract me. They can do things no moving coil speaker and dream of. However they have their own set of drawbacks.
While my system is based on modded MMGs, the system that I helped a friend to choose years ago is based on B&W. It was clear that my friend was not into the "planar sound". It had to be good boxes for him...and really good they are. Nowadays there is a room with 802D (plus other smaller Nautilus for surround) and another room with 804S. I listen to these all often enough, and enjoy them for their many attributes.
Even in the broad strokes that you brushed the comparison, I'd have to agree with you. And when you speak about the time that each system can sustain you through continuous listening, it even brings a smile of recollection to my face. I don't often have very long blocks of listening time available to me. In those few chances that I get, I've spent 14+ hours listening to my Maggies...and still resented that I was forced to stop. In all my life, no box system has sustained my listening interest anywhere this long.
That's a great thing about this hobby, everyone has their own opinion on what sounds best to them. And lets face it, none of it really sounds like a real un-amplified concert. For example, I have never listened to a system that truly sounded like a real piano.I could live with box or planar speakers. However there is something about box less speakers that I just love.
Edits: 06/27/14
"That's a great thing about this hobby, everyone has their own opinion on what sounds best to them."
I seem to use the term "presentation" when it comes to liking the planar sound and admittedly is not for everyone...which is ok...
When I owned my 1.6's, I could not find a box speaker that did what they did in the same price range...
Box speakers that I liked were from Thiel, Joseph Audio, TAD and the 800 B&W nautilus series, the diamond tweeters were an improvement for that series... But all these speakers were out of my price range...when I broke the piggy bank and took the plunge to upgrade the 1.6's, I bought the Maggie 3.7's and could not be happier...
IMHO...I have to spend allot more money to get comparable sonics out of a box speakers than what I got from 1.6's and now my current 3.7's...that is the Maggie value...if I was not living in a condo, I would add a pair of Rel G2's and still be under $10K for a truly full range system...
As Maggie owners we may sacrifice deep deep bass for tuneful tight base down to about 35-37 kHz...dynamics with the 3.7's are not shy by any means...
Thanks
Mark
I absolutely agree! Even with the box speakers you listed, they still will not have the "presentation" that the 3.7 have. Or the 1.7's IMHO.
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