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Craigslist Maggie Review

Posted by Ross (A) on January 19, 2015 at 17:21:37

Magnlanar MG II, firstversion. As posted below, I purchased this pair for $200 via Craigslist. I was able to feel the upper and lower surfaces of the panels to determine that delamination had not occurred. I got them home and installed them in my room, in place of my standard speakers- a pair of Triangle Titus 202 run full range, backed by a pr of AR3a used as subwoofers. Initially the Maggie's were positioned in approximately the same place as the Triangles; abt 7ft from me and 7ft apart. I was initially apprehensive regarding power, as I am using a pr of Cary monoblocks rated for 40wpc. I put on a mono recording and began to fine tune positioning. I toed them in a few degrees and all seemed fine- I had a strong central image which was my goal.

Initial impressions were mixed. Volume was fine- abt a few db lower than the Triangles, which was acceptable. Soundstage extended beyond the the width of the panels, but depth was restricted to the plane of the speakers, no deeper. Bass was attenuated as expected. Treble response was lacking. Cymbal shimmer and brass overtones were noticeably diminished. And while there was image height, for the most part, sound was mostly restricted to the space between the panels.

On the other hand, sound placement was pinpoint specific and soloists were firmly anchored in front of me.

One of my selections was Anita O'Day and Billy May play Cole Porter. Verve Stereo. This recording exhibits what I call the Verve Halo Effect. Verve tended to close-mike the singer and then arrange the orchestra around the singer but in the background of the stage. Sonically it can sound like the singer is under a spotlight. The Maggie's exaggerated this effect resulting in Anita's image floating above the orchestra to an unnatural degree. Enough for one day.

I started today's session by moving the speakers farther away from me and farther apart. Basically a 10 ft triangle, with a slight toe in, and several feet away from room boundaries. Sonics were improved. I now had a big wide soundstage, and a realistic degree of height. Some acoustic sounds- drum head, struck blocks, pluck of a guitar string- were very realistic. Bass was still lacking, as was treble. I noticed that some vocals were a little recessed. Based upon what I heard, I would describe the frequency response as bowl shaped, with the shallowest part in the upper bass, extending to the low midrange. "Muffled" came to mind more than once.

The above may read like a negative review, but the MG IIs do some things better than the Triangles: Image height and placement are more realistic, reproduction of some acoustic sounds is noticeably more real. Unfortunately the good is offset by the bad. Depressed treble response robs some of the impact of what is otherwise very good transient response and image depth is noticeably lacking, both in stereo and mono. My system is capable of reproducing a sense of "depth" from mono recordings; I heard none of this from the Maggie's.

In re reading the above, again it may seem to be negative, but overall the Maggies are a pleasant sounding speaker. However to me and in my room, they lack the excitement that I experience with my usual setup. On the other hand, I realize that planers are different and may even require a recalibration of one's sonic expectations. Thus I wonder if some of the issues noted above are due to my unfamiliarity with the speakers and how they reproduce music.

I will continue to listen and report back.

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