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There are a pair of MagnePlanar MG3 for sale in my town. The owner asks for $500. I believe those are original MG3 not 3.5 or 3.6. I have a pair of 845C mono blocs, which I don't think have enough juice for Maggie. However, I have a spare Denon POA-2800, which have a lot of power. My question is whether it is worth buying the speakers. I mainly listen to classic and jazz.
Thank you all in advance
Follow Ups:
First, you did not say how large your room is. This matters a great deal, as the 3 series can easily over load even a modest size room. Everyone always wants to shove 5 pounds of you know what in a 2 pound bag when the money could be spent better in so many other areas. You also didn't say what you now own, or if in fact you ever owned maggies.Second, you can look listen and grope them all you like, but that will not tell you the wire delam condition. You could listen for hours and hear nothing and take them home, open them up and find half the wires are off. (And I mean literally half the wires) The only way to know for certain about wire delam is to inspect the wires first hand (and that means socks off). Given it's age, I would certainly expect to find some going on inside. Also given it's age the tweeters if not shot will be worn and shot won't be too far in the future probably. These things are after all probably 20 years old.
Three, while they can be fixed by you with my DAP method for "next to nothing" some people do find the task difficult. If you're not handy, especially with glues and cleaners, you may have trouble.
Does 845C mono blocs mean Ming Da? If so you are correct, they are not going to cut it. The Denon on the other hand will play it but...you get out what you put in lets just say.
So, it will almost certainly need work which will cost a lot if you can't do it (4 to 6 hundred or so, not sure what they charge these days), if you need new tweeters there's a couple hundred more, so $500 might suddenly be (with shipping factored in) $1,600 - $1,800. All to find it sounds not so great with the Denon on them.
Now all the regulars reading this are thinking "here it comes...", that being me advising you to buy a used pair of SMGa's. I won't. Mainly because I don't know enough about your room and over all system. But if you are interested in trying maggies I would advise buying a smaller used model from the smg/mmg up to the 1 series.
Many people here in their well meaning enthusiasm are all too eager to spend the money of others and yell "go for it, go for it" when someone contemplates buying magnepans here. I think if you go for this, you'll be sorry.
But, I've been wrong before.
Been right too :^ )
Pete, our opinions are not so far apart. I did not want to address the appropriateness of III's vs 1.6's vs oh no, SMGa's, vs etc. and whether there are better bargains in the Maggie line. I think we both agree that a buyer of original MGIII's will be looking at a bigger bill than the purchase price. Still $500 is a fair price assuming the speakers are in good condition. He can always turn around and sell them for the same and perhaps more. On the other hand, money put in to replace the ribbons and for new socks and to have Magnepan relaminate the speakers, would probably not be recoverable - I think a fully restored pair of III's would sell for about $900.00, not enough to break even. And finally, I agree with you that the MG 3 series,just like the SMGa, is not for every room.
I may be an egoist but at least I don't talk about other people.
My post wasn't directed at your post, I was just looking at things more objectively. (That means assuming the worst possible outcome in every case. You know, life. :^ )"I think we both agree that a buyer of original MGIII's will be looking at a bigger bill than the purchase price."
Agreed.
"Still $500 is a fair price assuming the speakers are in good condition."
Agreed.
"He can always turn around and sell them for the same and perhaps more."
Perhaps. Unless he gets someone who has a coniption fit because the tweeters are shot and the wire is all off.
"On the other hand, money put in to replace the ribbons and for new socks and to have Magnepan relaminate the speakers, would probably not be recoverable - I think a fully restored pair of III's would sell for about $900.00, not enough to break even."
Agreed.
"And finally, I agree with you that the MG 3 series,just like the SMGa, is not for every room."
The SMGa not right for every room?! Now I know you're joking :^ )
Room size dictated smaller Maggies for me and I'm finding it difficult enough to give a pair of MMGs room enough to sing. The room that can be given to a pair of speakers (especially, I suppose, planars) must be factored into the choice of which model to select. One could do a heck of a lot worse than a pair of MMGs and they can be tweaked into something quite splendid!Now Mr Gunn, one of you statements really intrigues me. That would be the one about a pair of tweeters costing a couple hundred dollars. Will Magnepan sell me drivers if I request them? I ask because the raw drivers are ALL I really want to keep in my next upgrade project, but if I could buy new drivers...oh, the possibilities!
I'm not sure Magnepan will sell you ribbons outright. They will sell them for $100 each if you send back an original (damaged) pair of ribbons to them in exchange. (They rebuild them). I would contact Magnepan to verify if they sell ribbons outright if I understand you correctly.
steve
That's the idea that suddenly hit me. I'm sure I'm crazy, but the thought of adding a true ribbon tweeter to a smaller Maggie (using the MMG drivers for bass/midrange in a 3-way design) captured my fancy. Such an implementation is bound to be loaded with complications, and 3-way passive crossovers are an order of magnitude uglier than 2-way, but I don't see why such a thing *couldn't* be done. Of course, if Magnepan requires the return of the defective ribbon, then I may as well forget it.BTW I'm about to embark on the construction of hardwood frames to replace the MDF (I was thinking about it *before* seeing PG's, but after seeing how beautiful his are, I'm all the more motivated), and integrating another driver shouldn't be that much of a challenge - at least that's what I think right now as I'm merely conceptualizing!
You're not talking about tweeter wires for your mmg's, you mean a ribbon driver like on the III's we're discussing? Or the main mylar driver?If you mean the ribbons yes they do (or did) sell them, although they make sure you are competent to install them and telling you doing so yourself may void any warranty they might have come with them, but I'm not sure about all that as magnepans policies tend to change on whims from day to day.
I knew a few people who did install new ribbon tweeters in their speakers, but all cases were some time ago and some got read the riot act by magnepan and some didn't.
If you mean the mylar driver, they either won't sell that alone or they charge so much you may as well buy the speaker as I recall.
I'd like new, complete MMG drivers AND a set of ribbons.
That's what I'd want - the whole ribbon tweeter assembly. It might be a totally insane idea, but I was suddenly taken with the thought of merging a ribbon tweeter with the MMG drivers in a 3-way design. I'm sure such an idea is loaded with complications, but I couldn't stop fantasizing about having true ribbons in a speaker that fits into my space - just don't have room for the larger Maggies.I can't imagine adding the ribbons would make the construction of new hardwood frames that much more challenging, but things are just in the conceptual phase right now. My opinion might change when I actually start trying to construct them. I hope you realize the revolution your gorgeous hardwood framed SMGa speakers are about to ignite!
The price is fair if the speakers are working properly. Audition the speakers and crank them up with a lot of bass to see that the coils are not delaminating from the mylar (you will hear a rattle). Look at the tweeter ribbon from behind and see that it is not wrinkled (wavy). A little wrinkle is probably ok. Also check that the socks are in satisfactory condition (this is cosmetic but new ones are now costing about $70.00). The ribbons can be replaced for ~$100.00 each and the delamination is a DIY project for next to nothing although you probably will want to replace the socks when you get done.Magnepan's have hidden costs. Namely you will get the upgrade bug when you realize how good these speakers are and how much better they can be. Upgrades include better amplification, upgrading the crossovers and changing the binding posts, jumpers, fuse holders (or better yet by-passing the fuses altogther), getting stands (Mye stands) to better stabilize the speakers, and active bi-amping or tri-amping (Hello Andy). So what starts off as a $500 purchase can easily end up closer to $1000 to $1500 or more if you start upgrading your amps.
So are they worth it? You're talking to the choir here. Most inmates on this forum will give you a resounding yes. Even if you have to replace the tweeters, glue the wires, and do several upgrades and spend $2000.00, you will have speakers that can compete with others in the $10,000.00 range.
I may be an egoist but at least I don't talk about other people.
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