Good music speakers?

[Whatever6750]

I gather you listen to rock music so as nice as the Maggies are I found their upper 1.6 lacking in this regard so the MMG wll be really not what you're looking for. I would wait for a sale and look at Athena Acoustics and a Yamaha receiver which might be packaged for $500.00. If you wait till boxing Day you could probably get an Energy C-5 and a Yamaha or marantz receiver for $500.00 -- also by then you may have more money and could afford something like the Energy C9 whcih would be more able to rock the house - I stress this is a starting point suggestion and not necessarily the route I would definitely go - but Energy is generally good value for money in the budget more full range speaker line.

Would you happen to have a link to the speakers your talking about? And whats thease packaged deals? ie the yamaha rx and speakers. And whats this "boxing day" thing?

Sorry if thease are stupid questions.

PS. Yes i do listen to rock. More of the hevy side so whatever i get would need decent bass.

[Feanor]

Would you happen to have a link to the speakers your talking about? And whats thease packaged deals? ie the yamaha rx and speakers. And whats this "boxing day" thing?

Sorry if thease are stupid questions.

PS. Yes i do listen to rock. More of the hevy side so whatever i get would need decent bass.

See the Energy C5's here ...

http://www.energy-speakers.com/v2/pr...page.php?id=24

As for Boxing Day, I'll leave that for RGA to explain in details. Let's just say it's the day after Christmas when things are on sale.

[Florian]

Don't let yourself be fooled. Maggies do Rock, and especially when you are playing life recordings. Acoustic Guitar, Rock Guitar and Bass Guitar and voices sound extremely natural and in all their tonal color. And Maggies do just that, and if you want more bass or higher volumes then you can get a bigger Maggie. As for a entry system the MMG's cant be beat in terms of musicality and realness. Yes they dont kick you in the stomach like some old JBL's will but your music is not all bass. Check them out and if you dont like them return them, they have a 60 day return or so. Take it from someone who has lived with 4 Maggies over the years and continues upwards with ribbon planars.

Have a look in our planar section for pictures, information and manufacturers!

http://forums.audioreview.com/planar-speakers/

Cheers

Flo

PS: MMG's go used for 325$ which leaves 200 for a good used Cambridge Audio and that is almost the same system i had when i started and i never looked back again.

[Whatever6750]

So whats the deal with thease mmg's there like 3' thick... Is there like a fue rilly shallow speakers in them? Maybe some one can exsplain. Thanks.

[Mike Anderson]

The MMGs aren't cone speakers, they're planar speakers. The technology is described here:

http://www.magnepan.com/maggie_tech.php

Instead of a cone, the speakers use a very thin ribbon suspended between bar magnets. I'm not terribly knowledgeable about it though, I'm sure others can describe it more insightfully.

I know what people mean when they say the MMGs aren't as good for rock. I've been told they don't push air the same way cones do, so they lack that "punch in the chest" that cone speakers can give you. To some extent this is solved with the addition of a subwoofer, as I have done.

But there are also subjective taste differences; some people might like them just fine for rock (as Florian does), and who's to say they're wrong? If you can find a Magnepan dealer around you, you can try them out yourself.

I will say (and I think nobody would dispute) that for clarity, accuracy and resolution, the MMGs are very hard to beat for the price range. I listen to a lot of ambient/electronica, which tends to be heavy on the production side: complex, multi-layered and tonally/timbrally diverse - for this purpose, these speakers absolutely shine. The level of detail is just spectacular.

They also do very well with jazz - A well-recorded piano, acoustic bass, a woman's voice, a tightly tuned drum kit, and you're there.

Some people may say they lack the dynamic range for demanding classical recordings, but I can't really speak to that.

In my opinion, the speakers give a certain "texture" to the sound. It's hard to explain, but it's sort of velvety; it just feels good in my ears.

[Whatever6750]

Might just have to go listen to some someware. So do thay last like a rilly long time? And what about volume? All i can seam to find is a Sensitivity rateing of 86db then it also says 500Hz / 2.83v dont get what thats sopost to mean. Like how many watts can each take? guess i just cant rilly see much comeing out of them beeing that there so thin and all. Also im pritty sure i would need a sub with them for the kind of music i listen to and like whitch means im getting a bit out of my buget but i guess i could allways the the sub a little later.

Still open to all siggestions. Thanks

[Florian]

The MMG's, MG/SE, MG12 and 1.6 do NOT use ribbons!
They use a mylar foil which is susponded on all 4 sides infront of a magnetic field. For the tweeter they use thin alu foil which is put on top of the mylar foil on the right or left side respectively. They use small runs of copper wire on the foil itself which, once the power runs through them makes ,the foil push itself away from the magnets thus playing music.

Now the deal with watts is a funny and one that had many sides. You can make the MMG's sing like there is no tomorrow with real 40 watts per channel no problem at all. I guess the Max SPL depends on where you sit and maybe is in the 90ish somewhere. Planar speakers and small linesources seem louder then cone speakers because linesources do not have as high as a db drop off per meter as point sources do.

They are a dipol which means that they send out the sound to the front and to the back. Since the back soundwave has to travel away from the direct source and later gets reflected you get a time delay of around 3ms at 1m wall distance which is the same as in a small orchestra. The membrane is very light and can therefore be better controlled which gives you less overhang and a faster rise and fall time of the membrane. Maggies can have very good bass if setup right, granted they will not thumb your chest. For that you need a bigger planar like a 3.6, 20.1 or any Fullrange Apogee.

But it depends what you want, quality or quantity!

If you have anymore questions regarding planar speakers in general dont hesitate to ask, and if you want to see one of the prime examples or real ribbon planar speakers then have a look in my gallery. Real ribbons are thin aluminium strands suspended at the top and bottom with magnets on the side. The power drives trhough the ribbons themselves and pushes itself away from the magnets which is the ultimate in reproduction but very expensive and quite rare.

Cheers

Flo

[Mike Anderson]

They can get plenty loud, and they can take plenty of watts. In fact the more power the better, they really deserve a high-power amp; that helps fill out the bass end of things.

My amp puts out 115 watts per channel at 8 ohms -- but note the MMGs are 4 ohm speakers, so double that: about 230 watts per channel. That's just about enough juice, in my opinion.

You'll need to make sure you get an amp that can drive 4 ohm speakers. And beware power ratings for cheaper-end receivers, they probably aren't accurate.