In Reply to: Poll - What *type* of speaker ended your search? posted by Presto on May 30, 2012 at 12:03:30:
I would have to say "Maggies"!! :-))
I started off with a mildly tweaked pair of IIIas - the personal pair of my local Maggie dealer, when he decided to "switch sides" and become an Apogee dealer. He had removed the mid-range fuse, flipped the main panel so that the mylar was front and replaced the XO wiring with Cardas litz wire.
I then spent about 8 years upgrading them - like rebuilding the passive XOs, stiffening the MDF frame and having a braced stand made up - then I went 3-way active.
Then I got to thinking about how to make them even better! :-)) It struck me that the classic Maggie construction of having 2 drivers sharing the one sheet of mylar generates (undesirable) IMD ... and if the mid panel could be on its own sheet of mylar, it should sound "cleaner".
The Tympani-IV/IVa are the only ones in the Maggie range which do this (plus, have a "true ribbon") ... but these are unobtainable in Oz - and too wide for my room (and my wife! :-)) ).
So I mulled over how to make up some IIIas which had mid and bass panels on different sheets of mylar (which is effectively, a T-IVa having only 1 bass panel per side) and found that what was needed was to use T-IVa mid/ribbon panels plus 2.5/2.6 bass panels.
It took me 12-18 months to source these components but I was eventually able to build these "Frankenpans", as I call them. :-)) They use the same 3-way active XO I was running on my IIIas and the result is everything theory predicted it would be; because the bass panel is separate to the mid panel - and in a separate hardwood frame:
a) bass-mid IMD has been eliminated, and
b) vibrations generated by the bass panel are not transmitted to the mid panel or the ribbon.
So I expect to remain with these unique Maggies until I have to downsize to go into a retirement home! :-)) The only thing that would make them sound better, would be a pair of subs ... unfortunately "the wifey" is not too keen on this idea. :-((
Regards,
Andy
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Follow Ups
- Well, given I have been running Maggies for over 20 years :-)) ... - andyr 16:57:29 05/30/12 (1)
- RE: Well, given I have been running Maggies for over 20 years :-)) ... - slbenz 19:25:08 05/30/12 (0)