Magnepan Crossover Mod done by a friend of mine..

[Florian]

Big improvement as expected!

OLD




NEW

[superpanavision70mm]

So besides looking much better I am sure it makes a huge difference in the sound...what have you noticed thus far in performance difference???

[JoeE SP9]

Hi Flo!
I have a buddy who has a pair of MG3.6R's. He has custom external crossovers. They walk all over the original ones in the small boxes. His custom ones are housed in black plexiglas boxes as large as a power amp. They are as heavy as a lot of receivers. The stock crossovers in Magnepan products while OK are not nearly as good as a replacement. Anyone that owns Maggy's should look into replacing the stock crossovers with new parts. It is not necessary to change any of the values. Just get better parts. The difference will amaze any Maggy owner. The difference in sound is such that you would think you bought a better more expensive pair of Maggy's.

[Rick Vansloneker]

But how does the layman know the parts are better?

[Florian]

So besides looking much better I am sure it makes a huge difference in the sound...what have you noticed thus far in performance difference???

The difference is across the board. Much more increased transparency (which is already quite good), the bass tightent up and gained in speed and controll. The Midrange and Treble was smoothed out and extends more. This friend of mine used to have Genesis II.5 and Infinity IRS Epsilon but was forced to down downgrade since he got a lovely daugther and wife but will soon step back into the music world with big planars.

-Flo

[Florian]

Dear Joe,

new crossovers are truly wonderfull and i will post pictures of my new ones soon which raise the DIVA to a level i never heard from any other speaker system in the world. You need to drop by and give em a listen :-)

Dear Rick,

a normal user wont know, but i will write a guide very soon about it.

-Flo

[superpanavision70mm]

why would he have to downgrade if he already owned them? why not just keep what he had? I remember your statement on another thread about not putting your family up as an excuse or a defense for having or not having a great system.

[Florian]

why would he have to downgrade if he already owned them? why not just keep what he had? I remember your statement on another thread about not putting your family up as an excuse or a defense for having or not having a great system.

Well, he moved in with his wife and kid. So, no more space for the Epsilons and the Genesis. But he sold the Genesis before. You missunderstood me on the second part, the probem lies in people disrespecting good systems and defending their choices by putting their familiys infront.

-Flo

[JoeE SP9]

You guys could just get some full range electrostatics and get away from all this crossover nonsense. I have only one crossover frequency; 80Hz. I do it with active crossovers so I can forget about coils and capacitors. Full range sound from 80Hz up with no parts to smear the sound. The best crossover is no crossover.

[Florian]

You guys could just get some full range electrostatics and get away from all this crossover nonsense. I have only one crossover frequency; 80Hz. I do it with active crossovers so I can forget about coils and capacitors. Full range sound from 80Hz up with no parts to smear the sound. The best crossover is no crossover.

Yes, but the 1+1 is limited dynamically volume wise, doesnt play low and then you have the subwoofer integration issue. Its a lovely speaker, but i miss many things with it. My buddy has a 1+1 and Al has a 2+2. But, we could run our speakers digitally active, only problem is that i need 3 Stereo amps or 6 Monoblocks which are stable down to 0.3 ohms. Ouch!

BUT

How about a 1+1 for music, digital x-o to another 1+1 at 80Hz only for bass?

[JoeE SP9]

I don't have 1+1's. I have Model 2's. I am looking for a pair of 2+2's to replace the Model 2's. With the 2+2's up front I won't need any kind of crossover or subwoofer. With 4 electrostatic panels instead of 2 the limited volume and low bass problem disappear. Seamless sound from 32Hz to 20KHz. I will need to replace my (what once were) Dyna MKIII's. I could always use the input driver stage I designed with a new output stage using 4 6550's or 4 KT88's per amp. This should give me around 120Watts or so of tube power. Maybe then I'll replace the Model 1's in the rear with 1+1's. That way I could use my (what used to be) Dyna MKIII's for the rear channels.
I used to have a pair of Model 3's. They were flat to 32Hz with no subwoofer. The larger radiating area coupled better with the room and consequently they did not need enormous amounts of power. They were just too wide for my current room.

[Florian]

The 2+2 is lovely, but still limited in the bass and dynamically. Sorry, buddy but thats just how i feel. One of my top speakers, no doubt about that but 32Hz is not deep bass. Eventough i have to admit, that the typical box ratings are laughable and that the Acoustats do real 32 Hz. I have a lot of music in the 20's and my large Orchestral works incl. pipe organs need to played at 100db or more with brutal dynamics to be enjoyed and electrostatics cannot do that.

Even the big Soundlabs, like the U1 dont go into the deep bass regions, but everything else is sublime. We hit the limit of the 1+1's and the 2+2's quite often, with 200wpc tube monoblocks.

-Flo