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Planar Speaker Asylum Welcome! Need support, you got it. Or share your ideas and experiences. |
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In Reply to: Looking to leave the Maggie Fold? posted by audioNeil on February 18, 2012 at 12:21:00:
I'm not as refined as many here and my system is still evolving, but several of your concerns are exactly opposite to my experiences. I have MG-IIIas, which are generations before your speakers, and I'm not doing anything fancy. My set-up is clearly not optimal, but it does not exhibit all the symptoms you describe. If you resolve these problems you might still prefer B&W's, but it might not be too hard to get noticeable improvement with the Maggies.
"The imaging was mushy." On the IIIas, lateral imaging is laser-like and the soundstage is wide. Front-to-back the imaging is sharp but the soundstage is a little shallow (which I have come to realize after reading some of Wazoo’s posts) and projects partially forward of the speakers—the ultimate front-row seat. Like you I have a big flat surface between the Maggies, a little over a foot behind them, so the center reflection is compromised. The parameters with most effect were spacing, toe-in, and tweeters in vs. out. A few inches and a few degrees were the difference among hearing separate speakers; unfocused, mushy imaging; and imaging so real you can close your eyes and point to every voice or instrument, some of which are outside the speakers. What works for me is getting the speakers in front of the TV (about a foot was all I could do), tweeters in, roughly equilateral triangle, and enough toe-in to cross the tweeters about six inches in front of my head. Perhaps this arrangement gives the rear center reflection a chance to do something vs. blocking it entirely. Out of the box with a single amp lateral imaging was good, and dialed in quickly, biamping and improving the amps also made noticeable improvements.
“There wasn't enough bass energy to balance the brightness of the speakers.” I set up the speakers first for imaging. The amp, and then biamping, was the driver for bass. I have a big room with carpet and a suspended ceiling, and paneling without drywall behind it. The first amp was 500 WPC at 4 ohms. Biamping with two 500 W amps and a Pass line-level XO tightened the bottom end and gave it more strength. Going to a Sunfire (850 WPC at 4 ohms) took it to another level. Brightness was somewhat reduced by adding chokes to the tweeters—it turns out part of the “brightness” was harshness. But they can still be a little bright-sounding at high volumes, depending on the recording. And it bothers me when cymbals come out in front of the drum kit--probably a mikeing/mixing issue, but it's easily detected.
“I found myself wanting to turn up the volume to get more detail, until of course certain harsh sounds forced me to turn it down.” Chokes helped this a lot. It’s the easiest and cheapest thing you can do after positioning.
I was really surprised how much difference a few inches forward and in, and a few degrees in, made. Please forgive me if you’ve done all this. Maybe your room or other system components just don’t match well w/ 3.6s. But based on my experiences, the imaging, especially, should be spectacular with those speakers.
Good luck on making a choice that will satisfy your tastes!
Dave
--it's close enough for jazz...
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- Imaging, Bass, and Harshness - DaveStL 12:33:25 02/19/12 (0)
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