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First time poster here, I thought I would offer a little something before asking for thoughts/opinions.I saw the cheap little Magnepan MMG-W wall hangers, and just had to hear them. At $299 a pair how could I go wrong? Especially since I see them selling on [that auction site] for MORE THAN NEW. No kidding.
So the Maggies arrive, I hang 'em on the wall and hook up a Bryston 4B and Rogue 99 Pre, Denon 2910 Universal for a source. I'm impressed. Being my first exposure to planar speakers, this is somewhat of an enlightenment for me.
But using 5k worth of electronics to push $300 speakers? Absurd. Besides, that gear is my main setup in another room, and I want it back. This is just a side system.
So......what have I got that will handle a 4 ohm load and has tons of current? Enter the old Onkyo TX8500 (not the MK II)Receiver. It's rated at 160 wpc into 4 ohms, has two seperate (huge) power transformers, four outputs, and draws enough current to throw a 15 amp breaker if the step-up power switch isn't working (trust me on this).
This my friends is a formidable combination. The Onk's tuner section is unusually good, a nice Toshiba 3960 CDP works great, and we have a really cheap rig that sings.
The problem of course is bottom end. The Maggies bottom out at 100 cycles, so the sub is required. My Velodyne SPL 1200 integrates very well, but blows the cheap part of the equation.
So, does anyone else have a successful combo with the mini-maggies?
Follow Ups:
" ... But using 5k worth of electronics to push $300 speakers? Absurd. ..."Not really ... I have a pair of the MMG-Ws as well and have them installed at the office driven by an older Sony "current dump" amp feeding from a SqueezeBox and LAN of Macs ... I added the least expensive powered sub woofer I could find (~US$40) with a rolloff around 150 htz. They hang on the door frame of a 12 foot wide entry way between the main office area and a small inventory room. ... iTunes Internet Radio now feeds into both rooms very well = good separation, nice defination, space saving and unobtrusive. I recommend 'em ... so a friend is installing a pair in his house boat, again for a space saving measure as much as the listening quality.
My main home system has the slightly larger MMGs as mains supplimented by a good sized sub woofer, all driven by DIY MOSFET amps (3 channels) sourced from a tube pre-amp, a tube phono pre-amp, an Oppo Digital DVD-A / SACD player and a MacBook connected through an Echo Digital AudioFire4 24 bit DAC. I like 'em a whole lot and have tried several alternates to these mains, but I have found nothing better so far ... Yes, the electronic investment is easily a factor of 10 greater than the costs of the planar speakers ... but, so what, its the results, not the costs of the speakers that matters ... and I believe the results are quite good.
I'm using them as surrounds in my HT. I put 90% of my capital in two channel, so I needed economical, but not trashy surrounds and center. The MGMW and MGMC combo fit the bill well. I've not pined for anything else. The one difficulty with them is that they are pre-wired. As such, I needed to flip them upside down on the mid-surrounds so as not to have wires protruding from mid-wall, and it has worked fine. They have wonderful sound for such economical speakers. I would not so much recommend them as mains, except in dire cirucmstances, i.e. where aesthetics or space takes precedence over sonics. I helped a friend who is wheelchair bound to set them up in his house, and, though frequency limited, they sounded good. If you like what you're hearing from them, you owe it to yourself to hear the larger models. Their entry model, the MMG has a trial period and is purchased factory direct.
is where you want/need to stay, there is the MC1 which is a little larger and goes down to about 80Hz. There is supposed to be a new sub put out by Magnepan but I'm not sure if it is in production yet.
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