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70sreject
01-24-2007, 03:17 PM
For someone starting over after at least 20 years since he last bought any audio equipment, does this make sense?

Magnepan 550's
Outlaw 2150
some sort of TT
some sort of cd player
The TT and cdplayer will have to be somewhat budget minded as the speakers and receiver will eat up most of my budget for audio equipment. A bit more than all of it, to be honest.

Thoughts and comments appreciated. Total size of the room is approximately 18x36 w/10' ceiling with a hallway off one end and opening into the kitchen on the other. 1970's version of a great room: kitchen,eating area and den all in one open space.
Music listened to will be mostly what is now called classic rock and oldies, with some c&w thrown in. The occasional blues and jazz lp thrown in every once in a while.

And I blame this impending financial outlay primarily on this site:yikes:

TIA
Phil

Florian
01-24-2007, 03:21 PM
I am what most consider a over the top Planar speaker guru....but.....whats a Magnepan 550?

70sreject
01-24-2007, 03:24 PM
I am what most consider a over the top Planar speaker guru....but.....whats a Magnepan 550?



ooops:rolleyes:
that's the price....MMG

Florian
01-24-2007, 03:29 PM
Aaah ;-)

Well, first let me welcome you to this forum. The Magnepan MMG is a great little affordable speaker, but it will not be stron enough to fill your room. A Magnepan MG 12 would be required or possibly a 1.6 They can be found in great condition often on www.audiogon.com The Outlaw has been recommended many times on this site, i personally have no heard it, but if the guys on this site say its a good unit then its good enough for me. Turntables with a great 70's groove sound would be Linn, Rega or quite possible Audiomeca * a price outside of the MG12 field. My recommendations are the Magnepan MG12 along the Outlaw or Jolida amps. As for a CD Player i would look into the Cambridge Audio Series or a used Sony SACD Player along the lines of a 9000ES, used. Some room treatments with diffusion, absorbtaion can help the sound a great deal.

Cheers

70sreject
01-24-2007, 03:54 PM
Thanks for the welcome and the reply. Not at all what I wanted to hear, probably what I needed to hear, but not what I wanted to hear. Does it matter at all that the actual seating area is about 1/2 the length of the room? I'm afraid budget constraints and esthetics will prevent anything bigger. They just look so damn cool...I know, not a good way to select audio equipment. Guess I need to rethink the whole idea.

Florian
01-24-2007, 03:58 PM
Well your idea was pretty good and the MMG is a great speaker, but your room is fairly large and the MMG can only push a certain amount of air ;-) The MG12 is a very similar size. Give it a shot :-)

blackraven
01-24-2007, 06:42 PM
As a Magnepan owner (MMG and Q1.6), I agree with Florian, if you can swing it, go for the MG12, its a big step up from the MMG's with much fuller sound and much better bass. You wont need a sub for the MG12's unless your into heavy bass. For receivers, the Outlaw is good but you might want to look at NAD or Denon which match very well with the Maggies. My audio store sells the Maggies and they sound the best with warmer sounding receivers. The MMG's will work for you, I had them in a 17x17 room with 9.5' ceilings right off my larger kitchen, but I found myself always turning up the music.
If you go with Denon, don't go any lower than the AVR 3806 model because they wont have the power supply to drive the Maggies well. The 3806 is selling for $792 at one site , well below the $1600 list. www.butterflyphoto.com If you don't mind buying a refurbished unit check out
www.spearitsound.com for NAD receivers among others at great prices.

PeruvianSkies
01-24-2007, 09:19 PM
I'd recommend the Cambridge Audio CD player, any of their models are great and also quite affordable considering they really deliver the goods!!!