Magnepan MG-I - Can the vintage be salvaged?

[khtbone]

I have a chance to purchase a pair of Magnepan MG-I that were made in the 70's for under 200. There is a slight buzz in one of the speakers, but in good condition for being so old. I was wondering if the new mags (1.6 area) are that much better? I would probably send the mags for overhaul which I am guessing will cost almost 500 (just estimating from other forums). I guess the question is are these vintage mags worth the the price of almost 700, or should I just buy a newer version, aka 1.6

side note. Has anyone had experience driving mags on Adcom GFA 555 (II)

[khtbone]

Just bumping thread along

[Florian]

The Magnepan MGI is very very old. You need to reglue the wires to the foil which is a pain. Since the MGI is so old, you need to redo the whole Maggie. Its not worth it. Even the MMG sounds better than the MGI. If the 1.6 is out of your budget, then go with a MG12 or 1.5

-Flo

[Geoffcin]

I have a chance to purchase a pair of Magnepan MG-I that were made in the 70's for under 200. There is a slight buzz in one of the speakers, but in good condition for being so old. I was wondering if the new mags (1.6 area) are that much better? I would probably send the mags for overhaul which I am guessing will cost almost 500 (just estimating from other forums). I guess the question is are these vintage mags worth the the price of almost 700, or should I just buy a newer version, aka 1.6

side note. Has anyone had experience driving mags on Adcom GFA 555 (II)

I wouldn't invest $500 into them but Magnepan sells the glue, and socks if you need them. The glue kit is like $40 shipped. At that price you have a pair of maggies for under $250.... not bad!

The Magnepan 1.6qr use a Quasi-ribbon tweeter that's a step up from the MG-1. That being said the MG-1 can sound pretty good, I wouln't toss a pair out if they came my way.

[leonski]

i bought a pair of MG-1's probably 20 years ago for 400$. Same day, I sold some RSL 'studio monitors' for 200$. Quite a trade up for 200$.
I even sent them back to WhiteBear Lake for the rebuild. Cost, about 6 or 7 years ago was about 250$ round trip, with a choice of grill cloth. It took them a while to break back in, but it was well worth it. Now, my equally Vintage Carver Cube is about to take a nose dive. This item has been serviced once after a lightning strike blasted it. I guess I'll head down to the local used stereo store and pick up an Adcom 555 MKII.
....................!..........................

[blackraven]

I use a JVC 120wpc AV receiver to drive my MMG's without a problem. I even used it with my Q1.6's without a problem, so I'm sure that adcom can do the job.
Call magnepan and ask them what their opinion is about the MG-1's. The people there are very helpful and will be honest about whether its worth fixing them. I live near by the factory and have met some of the engineers there.

[M Gibson]

If yours are buzzing it usually means that some of the corners on the larger wires are coming loose and need to be glued down to the Mylar again. Also look at the tweeter wire. If you see any light colored spots on the wire it's usually corrosion and they should be replaced. The tweeter wire is about 32 gage aluminum wire so it doesn't take much to break it. I wouldn't pay over 100.00 a pair for them.

I've redone the tweeter wires on two pair so far. The hardest part of the job is removing the 4 score and 20 staples holding the socks on. After that it's easy. Just a little time consuming. Magnepan wont ship the Miloxane during the winter as it's a water based adhesive. They will ship you the socks and tweeter wire anytime. Go to a hardware store and buy a quart (doesn't come in a smaller size ) of Weldwood water based neoprene adhesive and a quart of Acetone. Also a small paint brush (1/2" or so) and you're ready to go. The kit contains the wire and some solder to attach the new wire to the terminal block.

If you are willing to do the work yourself your cost will be around 120.00 or less for everything. Also there are threads on several forums explaining how to do it better than I can. If you need more information PM me and I'll hook you up or explain it in my somewhat wandering way.

Mike