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In Reply to: RE: Best Magnepan MG 12 upgrade posted by rayjtam on November 20, 2009 at 14:41:54
I have done both to my 12's, and would not want to be without either one.
I did the Ed Morawski crossover upgrade first (bypassing the Solens he suggested with Jensen oil caps), which made the things sound smooth enough that I thought I might be able to live with them. The MyeStands enhanced clarity, attack, decay, focus, instrument timbre and bass...not bad. I'm sure Gunning 'em would do even more, but that's some serious gelt. You could do the crossover upgrades for not too much scratch, and then add MyeStands down the road. Or, make your own solid wood panels, go nutz. If you think you might want PG to Gunn 'em down the road, I'd go ahead and just do the Morawski crossover upgrade, because it'll make 'em livable while you're waiting to send 'em to PG. He's going to pretty much gut the crossover, put in his own selected components anyway, so I wouldn't necessarily goldplate the crossover mods. The 12's are great speakers, but you'd never know it, the way they come from the factory.
Follow Ups:
Marc, could you list the specific components you used in your upgrade? Specifically the Jensen PIO caps you substituted for the Solens.
Relying on aging memory here, because I'd have to pull Maggie's skirt up to see what I put in there (I actually shoehorned all that shit into that little cutout space). The mid/bass panels were Solen 50mfd caps (the ones Ed Morawski used), bypassed by 600(?) volt Jensen aluminum foil in oil...pretty sure that one was 0.5mfd. I left the stock tweeter cap in there, since it was a matching Solen (only 33mfd, of course) and bypassed that one with a 0.1mfd Jensen copper foil in oil cap. Don't remember the voltage. Considerably more than necessary, I'm sure. The inductor was the one Ed Morawski recommended in his article. I actually managed to get it inside the cutout, right under where the plate for the speaker terminals screw on in the back. Didn't quite leave me enough room to screw that plate back on, so I've got the Cardas speaker posts just hanging off the back. Looks odd, but works fine. I wish I'd gone ahead and replaced all the chintzy stock aluminum 14 gauge wire inside while I was at it, but that would've necessitated carefully prying the trim wood off to totally remove the cloth, and I wasn't wanting to do that. Now I wish I had. Someday I will, because I need to replace that cloth anyway.
Anyone who says bypass caps don't do anything...I listened first with just the Solens, THEN I put in the Jensens. Made a very worthwhile difference...took that whitish, grainy edge right off the sound, really smoothed things out without in any way rolling off the treble.
There is no hobby on earth where prices run to the fantastic like our own - 5 grand for cartridges, 75 grand for turntables, 20 grand for speakers, 500 bucks for a turntable tracking weight scale you may actually only ever use 1 time...
So 15 hundred bucks, while hardly chicken scratch, is also hardly serious gelt, especially when the resulting product may indeed be a "final destination". In fact it is getting painful to keep the prices where I have because the cost of everything keeps rising, but I have done so because the economy is so awful.
In any case what has the cost of the speakers got to do with the cost of the mod? As you yourself correctly point out at the very end - "The 12's are great speakers, but you'd never know it the way they come from the factory." Exactly, and I am just trying to make them not ony great speakers, but exceptional ones, and the OP asked for the "best" mod, not the most cost effective one.
I bought my SMGa's used for $100. Am I stupid for using a 6 grand Pass amp and a 6.5 grand Hovland pre to drive them?
Anyway, if he did it himself it would cost less than anything from me or anyone else, and I got the impression he was looking to do that. So why should he waste time and money on Morawski and the rest of it? If he truly wants the "best" MG-12 mod, he should email me for the schematic and go to his nearest lumberyard, IMHO.
It's all about the music...
The OP was asking about tweaks/mods he could do to make his entry level Maggies sound better. What you do is an absolute bargain, I have no doubt. Very high value for money, when you consider what people will spend on an amp, as you pointed out. But a lot of folks don't want to START with something that costs 'em twice what they originally paid for their speakers. Those who can, more power to 'em.
Perhaps it didn't come out the way you intended then, but you did say what I do was "serious gelt". As long as we're clear then however that's fine. The only ones that are serious gelt to do are the tymps, because of all the driver panels :^ )
It seemed to me the OP asked for the "best" mod. I assumed he was going to do it himself, in which case I would bet the cost of my XO parts is almost the same as any other design, (or close enough that there's no reason to spend it on the others) and many people can "find" wood for nothing or almost nothing (they have it lying around, a friend has it... lets face it, it is everywhere) so what is it costing him to do it "right"? Nothing more than some of his time, and the cost will be less than half what his speakers cost, not twice.
BTW he did contact me and I gave him my schematic and I think he is going to use it, so it's a happy ending after all :^ )
It's all about the music...
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