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Model: | MG2.7/QR |
Category: | Speaker Stands |
Suggested Retail Price: | $300 |
Description: | Magnepan MG1.6/QR Stand |
Manufacturer URL: | Mye Sound |
Review by Mart (A) on October 30, 2004 at 10:49:43 IP Address: 24.195.248.166 | Add Your Review for the MG2.7/QR |
Right off you can detect an increased clarity. There's substantially more resolution. This is akin to when I brought Marigo CD mats, then bought Aurio bearing feet, then bought Auric Illuminator, then bought a DeskSysteme CD lathe, & finally upgraded my transport's clock to SOTA. It was yet another veil removed. Some veils were more mucky than others. This is not subtle. It's extremely audible. There's no nuance improvement involved here. It's as if you have conventional domes & cones dynamic speaker sonics in a boxless planar presentation. It even sounds 3dB more efficient.Upon closer listening, you can't help but notice more low-level details are not only exposed but surprisingly-well imaged as the music is much more resolved ... over the entire spectrum, which is something I didn't expect to hear. I suspect it made my other signal chain upgrades that much more audible. This increased dynamic range has made my system clearly more analog sounding.
I was in a unique position, as I was tweaking my newly designed XO simultaneously. I for one of the two months had one XO being tweaked, and one stock Maggie. For one thing it did no harm. (I thought my speakers were a bit shouty afterwars but I was mistaken. It was my room instead & why I added my egg-crate tweak orinally. It was a rude reminder.) 1st, my mostly stock Maggie (had new binding posts & bypassed back plate) seemed to wake-up as if from an extended comatose hibernation, but what's this ... is it bass? Before the stand, I had what sounded like an 8" woofer low-frequency roll-off. Now, it's like a 10" woofer's.
OK, now onto my new XO. The stands made the XO upgrade that much more audible. I had heard what the new parts did before, or may be more appropriately said ... what the upgarded parts didn't do. Ignoring the new values for a second, the new parts had the detail. They were sonically even more musical yet. Clearly, the woofer's inductor had much reduced DCR that provided punch, but the stands gave that punch authority. Pianos sound much much much more grand. The same piece sounds like a toy piano on the old Maggie. Even wind instruments sound very very good. They wouldn't blow before like they were propelled from horn speakers. Now it sounds as if they instruments were authentically blown & you heard them from a few rows back. Yes, I have both Maggies done now. The charm is riveting. The imaging, rock steady. The soundstage, explosive.
I also asked Grant for a horizontal crossbar between the buttress struts near the top where they screw into the Maggie's back about 4ft up. Immediately, it reduced stand vibrations. I don't think I need sand with just this simple bar.However, I had a different concern. I wanted to insert some styrofoam to stiffen the vertical magnet array in the some 1¾" gap. I thought reducing magnet vibration from Newtonian reactionary forces might add some more detail. I was wrong. It did make the sound tighter though. The transients follow the signal now. Without the styrofoam the transients sustain longer. Some may perfer the sustain instead as the vibrating magnetic gap seems to introduce a natural decay that may not be in the some signals.
Also, low-frequency roll-off rate is slower. The low-frequency roll-off point is no lower, but 20Hz is actually audible now. It's still at a very low-volume though. It's woefully insufficient as a signal itself, but as a subhamonic it's enough to generate a sense of genuineness for above 40Hz. Again, surprise!
Product Weakness: | still trying to find one ... perhaps I should look harder? |
Product Strengths: | Clarity & Increased Dynamics with over a half-octave low-frequency extension. |
Associated Equipment for this Review: | |
Amplifier: | Krell:KAV-1500 w/Shakti:Stone |
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): | EAD:StandingOvation w/Shakti:Stone |
Sources (CDP/Turntable): | CAL:CL-10 upgraded w/SuperClock |
Speakers: | Magnepan MG1.6/QR w/upgarded XO |
Cables/Interconnects: | AudioMagic:Sorcerers&Illusions |
Music Used (Genre/Selections): | classic rock, psychedelic rock, fusion rock, melodic metal, pop country & pasionate classical |
Room Size (LxWxH): | 21 x 14 x 10 |
Room Comments/Treatments: | hemi-cylindrical egg-crated Maggies & one rough-hewn brick-wall behind listener |
Time Period/Length of Audition: | 2 months |
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): | Tice:Solo&Enhancer w/3 BlueCircle:NoiseHounds |
Type of Audition/Review: | Product Owner |
Follow Ups:
does the crossbar keep them fron ringing? that's what i heard right away. as soon as i filled them the ringing was gone. i think this has to do with it being made from square stock. it sets up a strong resonance because two sides have the same dimmension. using rectangular stock might be a fix too.
Yes, the cross bar did arrested all audible ringing. I'm sure there's more to be had but even knocking on these empty trusses sounds substantially deader. Unlike sand, the initial wrap sounds the same upon contact, but there's no ringing.No, it rings because steel has very little internal damping. Period. You could make it out of irregular L-channel & it would still ring. Granted square channel adds some but it's not the principle factor here. Mass loading reduces the resonate frequency & granulation absorbs vibration energy. That's why lead shot works too.
♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
The ribbon is outstanding and the bass articulation is also superb. However, the lower midband is a bit thick and colored sounding. There is not the see-through transparency there that I get with any of the planar speakers I have owned (Audiostatic ES 100, Infinity IRS Beta, and now Apogee Caliper Signature). To be sure it is not nearly as bad as I have heard with most (but not all) box speakers but I was a bit disturbed by it especially in contrast to the general openness of the sound and the high resolution in the upper mids/treble and in the bass. Are your 2.7s also a two-way design like the 2.5R? If so care to comment on this part of the reproduction? I did not hear such problems with the newer Maggies such as the 1.6qr and the 20.1. There was one other problem I heard with these speakers in contrast to the others I mentioned above and other SOTA planar designs of today, namely low level resolution and lack of life at modest volumes. When we cranked them up just a bit then the sound grew and breathed much better but it was somewhat louder than I normally listen. His other gear is quite good as well: Burmester 808MkIII preamp, Mark Levinson 27.5 amp, Naim CDX2 cd player so I think we were hearing the speaker pretty truthfully. What is the difference between the 2.5r and your 2.7?
The MG2.7 is a 3-way QR. It is a uniquw animal of the Magnepan II-series & arguably led to its demise. It was the first (to my knowledge) of an integrated driver sound like the MG1.6/QR & MG3.6. The lower XO is acoustically phase-aligned.As you know the MG2.5/R & subsequently more refined succeesor MG2.6/R are 2-way speakers with ¾-length true-ribbon tweeters. The MG2.6/R has a much better XO that provides a good midrange which may cure the bloat sound. See Scott 2.6/R below for more details.
OTOH, what bugs you may just may be the stock XO parts. The speakers deserve better. When I upgraded my parts, I got much (if not all) of the transparency to which you refer.
Also, the back plate parts suck. Everything sucks on stock black-plate, including the speaker terminals, fuses & fuse holders. It inserts a grunge into the sound. You can better parts at Radio-Shack. I'm not kidding! Although, don't go thinking that I'm advocating RS. OTOH, RS gold plated fuses & gold-plated fuse-holders aren't terrible. Maggies deserves better than Tandy's RS binding posts. Most here like to select their favorite Cardas binding posts for speakers of that caliber.
Scott probably could help you much more than I with your friend's MG2.5/R's.
♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
His speakers did not have the stock crossovers. He has built custom outboard crossovers (I guess the original was also outboard since I couldn't see where to put them inside) using top quality parts so it wasn't the xo parts quality that is to blame for what I heard. Perhaps a different xo frequency would make a difference. How much did they shift it when going to the 2.6r?
NT
Mart,Your title is 2.7, but your review summary is 1.6's??? Which is which?
In one iteration I editted it to MG2.7. So, I stopped reading it as I was developing a review. It must've been uneditted one of the times I went "back".
♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
Now you know what the rest of us MYE stand owners are experiencing.The obvious benefit is the bass extension,the unexpected bonus is the increased resolution.
I suggested to Grant awhile back that he should send a pair to Harry Pearson for his 20.1's for his review as i hear he is a big fan of the Maggies.It might be very good PR for Grant's company!
Scott
Good PR... if he can get it. The 20.1 is much heavier though, weighing about 140 lbs each. It would take considerably more force to move that larger mass relative to the floor with the 20.1 than a smaller Maggie. The tendency to rock back and forth should be much less. I Would be curious to hear from MG-20/MG-20.1 owners if the Mye stand improves their sound as much as it does for MG-3.6 owners. Another approach might be to send in a pair of 1.6 or 3.6 with Mye stands for review. At least, there are a lot more 1.6 or 3.6 owners out there than 20.1 owners.
He feels the improvement was greater as the panels got larger.
I have one customer who's gone from 1.6's, to 3.6's and now to 20.1's. His 20.1 stands left today. Another has 3.6's and 20.1 stands on order, I'll ask him also when his ship out. You make a valid point about the weight of the speaker being harder to move.... but it also has more driving area. :)
As for sending a pair of stands in to TAS.... Partly that I'm already quite busy and can't barely keep up with orders and partly that I've never been asked. I'm not sure what I'd do if a rush of orders came through from a big magazine review! :)
I've seen a lot of prestigous reviewers online using Mye stands with 20x's.I say why stop at HP; send a set to Magnepan!
____________ // ________________
GL,
Wendell Diller doesn't seem too enthusiastic about improvements to the Magnepans whenever I spoke with him,I don't know how far Grant would get with that approach.I would hope to be wrong on that point.Scott
The good folks at Magnepan realize that 90% of people that buy their product are happy with the speakers as is. If they added better xover components or stands it would raise the price, possibly taking them out of some people's price range. If they offered a "custom" model some people would feel put off or compelled to upgrade....
For the 10% who will take it a step further... let them. This was from a sales rep that I spoke to.
The 'streamline' approach in their designs would also be compromised not to mention the added cost. Seems a pity since most reveiwers tend to knock each Maggie in it's ability to handle the low end. A simple hardware addition as a option to me would help in this regard; such as the case in the Vandersteen 2 series a while back.
____________ // ________________
Ironically enough, I wanted the increased hi-rez & got the bass augmentation as a pleasant bonus. I thought most of the cloudiness was the often blamed thermal compression. To have the planars drivers increase their dynamic range to approach that of dynamic drivers wowed me.OTOH, you having a dynamic driver already, namely a true ribbon tweeter, I would be curious of your findings. Is the tweeter that more dynamic, or just more resolved? Is this paramount, or does the bass panel sudden sound less compressed in comparison with the tweeter, or both?
♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
Mart I did not experience an increase in dynamics with the ribbon but a very noticable increase in resolution with the stands probably because the ribbon reaches down below 1000hz.The 2.6's now provide a much improved image focus and articulation in the midrange.
The bass driver dynamics and improved apparent speed and detail present an overall sound that approaches traditional box speakers like what you described.More slam and bass detail makes the bass driver more seamless with the ribbon.
See my post above for my news of a demo of a new amp.Scott
Aha, must be nice.I always wonder about digital amps. They won't clip but does the RF switching noise damage a true-ribbon? I don't know. I would check to see if you can borrow a Shakti:Stone with that digital amp. They quieted much of the digital hash from my subs & have read that they've helped other digital amps too.
♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
Mart,
Thanks for the concern!I will check with the manufacturer to see if there is any RF switching noise.The amplifier was designed especially to drive the Apogee line of speakers.Scott
Are you using the spikes? Have you considered filling the stands' struts with sand for even more stability?
One never knows how much will change until one does experiment.I also wonder about people who use bearing feet under Maggies. However, I can understand under ESLs where stators may resonate. I still ponder what if I have a bearing(s) in back for the struts & spikes in front for planar positioning. I can imagine that the stand would lose a lot of vibrational energy into inertia while the panel is remains basically anchored. There's some guy on A'gon who has affordable stuff that I just might try.
♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
The fit & finish are superbly professional. They bolt right up. Plus, I echo Grant's apprasal, "The 'high-gloss black' powder coat is very liquid." Elegant!
♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
room allowable as positioned along long wall.
♪ moderate Mart £ ♫ ☺ Planar Asylum
An amazing set of ears you have there to be able to hear all those subtle improvements. Tweak-on, tweak-on!
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