Im quite intrigued by the maggies so I started asking for some silly questions until I got a chance to audition it.
The other forum told me that maggies can be found at Acoustic dimension in Powerplant Mall. I went there and found that Magnepan 1.6 is actually one of their main setup(the other one is Vienna Acoustics Schönberg, this one looks very cool and I think it has a very high WAF, quite surprised this smaller set of speakers is more expensive than MG 1.6). The MG 1.6 with their stands is almost as tall as me. They are huge but thickness is only about 2 inches. They are spaced about 8 feet and listening position is about 5 feet from center. The listening room is quite spacious but not acoustically treated, just the normal carpet on the floor, sofa and lots of audio gears on the fronts, sides and back.
Here is my evaluation for MG 1.6, at least to my newbie ears :-)
I've also done some research and added it.
Maggie pros:
1. spectacular midrange and highs, details, imaging, realism
2. fast, tight, and accurate bass, natural sounding, no boominess, one of the best bass i've heard.
3. The biggest soundstage I've ever heard in an audio setup. It really amazes me how these speakers create such a huge soundstage, it's as if you're brought in a hall.
4. Excels in vocals, jazz, classical, chamber music. It seems they are made just for these types of music.
5. The presentation is very real, male and female voices sounds full and warm
6. almost constant impedance of 4 Ohms (according to the demo guy)
Neutral (depends on preference):
1. some material (such as female/male Jazz vocals) the sound image (vocalist or instrument)
appeared "supersized" compared to the image produced by other speakers
Maggie cons:
1. very small window for sweet spot. That is, leaning even an inch to the left or right will bias the imaging to that.
2. Singer's voice is like on the floor (maybe this can be solved by elevating them? or standing them upright?)
3. rock, RnB and hip-hop I played on this doesn't seem to have that Energy(is that dynamics?) that I want
(I won't play these on maggies)
pros(From the web):
1. Maggies represent one of the best bargains in audio.
At every price level they are nearly impossible to beat.
Cons From the web(and my comments):
1. They lack dynamics (may depend on amplification I guess?)
2. need tons of power (quite ok, I think there is a behringer amp that can give just this)
3. are a bitch to set up right (quite ok)
4. are tough to match with subs (for the types of music I will play with them, I think sub is not needed)
5. They have trouble pushing large volumes of sound, but no trouble with small delicate amounts.
(quite ok, for the types of music I will play with them, my normal listening volumes is 70dB - 80dB)
6. need the right kind of room, bigger is better. (oh well, it seems maggie is not for me, I have a small room
)
