Hooking up magnepans

[MomurdA]

Just bought some magnepans off of ebay. Had heard good things from this site, so i decided to take a chance and buy them. Havent ever heard them. Anyways, the speaker wire connections on the back of them look different than anything ive seen on other speakers. What kind of connectors will I need to buy, and should i use 16 or 12 gauge wire with them? These will be my first 'good' speakers that ive owned, so i want them to sound as best they can. Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks

[markw]

Banana plugs work just fine with maggies. There's a little set screw on the side that you can tighten (a little) to hold 'em firmly in place. Tighten it too hard and it may deform the plugs somewhat.

[MomurdA]

Thanks a bunch.

[E-Stat]

Just bought some magnepans off of ebay. Had heard good things from this site, so i decided to take a chance and buy them.
Maggies are fine speakers indeed. The 20.1s are among a small handful of the best speakers in my experience. I bought my first pair nearly thirty years ago. Since they are bipolar and radiate the same sound both front and rear, give them some space to breathe behind them. Set them out from the back wall at least a foot or so - more is usually better. It may take some experimentation to find the optimum position for your room based on its nodes (frequency peaks and dips)


...should i use 16 or 12 gauge wire with them?
Start with 12 gauge. Depending upon the rest of the components, you may want to "test drive" some other cables down the road. Maggies are capable of very high resolution.

rw