Magnepans MMGs or SMGc

Hi wondering if there any Magnepan experts out there?? I have been wanting a pair but wanted to start with a smaller pair and love the price of the MMG I heard from someone on the net that the SMGc sounds better, I find this hard to belive. Looking at there specs the MMG specs look allot better but you know how that goes. I have not heard the MMGs at all and havn't heard the smgs for many years I see the SMGc for very cheap on Audiogon and ebay quite often Just wondering if there is any input for someone with experiance of both??
Mark Blom

Hi Mark...welcome.

I am by NO means an expert on magnepan speakers...but they do sound dang good...and they look cool too. As to which speaker you should pick...Can you go listen to them? Is there a dealer close enough to drive to?

one question I would as other maggie owners is whether or not they would buy these speakers used or not. These speakers are not like regular cones (which can also have their problems) ...and if there was a problem with them (if buying used) I would sure hate to look at the repair bill.

may just be something to ask other owners who have more knowledge on this than me.

I suppose...on that merit...I would say buy the new mmg's.


take care>>>> keep us updated on what you decide

Hi Mark,

The SMGc and MMG are actually very similar in size and performance, with the older SMGc having a bit more HF extension and being a little bit more efficent.

Both are very good entry-level speakers that need a fair bit of power; forget the little flea amps and need plenty of room to work in.

The better the equipment in front of these , the better they perform.

Unless the SMGc was really, really cheap and in mint condition , I would go for a new pair of MMG's.

These are only sold factory direct with a 60 day "satisfaction guarantee" .

At $550/pr. you can't go wrong.
Don't like them ?
Send them back for a hassle-free refund.

Fall in love and want more ?
You can trade up within a year of purchase and get a full refund, depending on which model you move up to.

http://www.magnepan.com/1-800-474-1646/mmg.html


cheerio

Hi thebloms,

I have to agree with michael w. Unless the SMG's are in MINT condition and cost no more than say...$200-250.00 I would opt for a NEW factory direct pair of MMG's. Although I have never heard the MMG's, I suspect they are gonna perform very much like the older SMG's (which I heard many years ago and just LOVED them). In fact, I have been a Maggie fan since the late 70's (although I have never owned a pair for many reasons such as Cats, lack of funds,etc.) but mostly due to my Six Cats! At any rate, I used to listen to Maggies at the High End shops in Los Angeles years ago and I WILL someday own a pair. In fact, I am thinking of saving for a pair of MMG's myself. Before leaving L.A., I went to a shop that had three different Maggies set up side by side. Although all sounded great, believe it or not...there was SOMETHING about the little SMG's that I liked the best! I know that they couldn't go as Deep,wide,loud,etc. as the bigger Maggies but...there was just something wonderful about them that made me want to listen to them more than the others. Since I listen to a lot of Jazz and have a small room, I think that the MMG's will be a EXCELLENT choice for me. Let us know what you decided. Best of luck.

SixCats!

Hi Mark,

I've had lots of experience with the MMG but not with the SMG series. There are reviews of many Magnepan models at:

http://partner.consumerreview.com/Excite/categories/2/84/index_M.asp

and also at www.audioreview.com. The folks at Magnepan are very friendly. I'm sure they'd tell you how the two models compare. From what I've read, they're quite similar.

Sincerely,
Terry

Welcome MasteringMan

Hi Terry,

Welcome to AK! How about doing a write up about your 6146 cutting head amplifiers turned reproducers in the tube section?

Cheers,
Rob

Yea, what Rob said.
Rob, what did you say?

Hi Rob,

Thanks for your suggestion. Lots of folks love the sound of vinyl and vacuum tubes. It seems that as turntables, amplifiers, and speakers get better and better, there's always more information to be gleaned from those amazing record grooves. Yet, the finest records, including those that continue to reveal new found depths of musical enjoyment, were often made many decades ago using "ancient" Westrex and Haeco disc mastering equipment. I agree--there's plenty to say about this subject. I'll have to think about how to narrow the topic to something manageable.

For now, since we're in the speakers forum, I'll just point out that a cutting head (also known as a disc recorder) is very similar to a speaker. It has a coil (similar to a speaker's voice coil) that moves in a magnetic field. What sets a disc recorder apart from most speakers is that it operates in a feedback loop. An ad man might refer to this as a "servo-controlled device," and indeed, some modern speaker manufacturers do make servo-controlled loudspeakers. Bell Labs invented the first feedback cutter in the late '30s, so that gives you an idea how many years passed before speaker manufacturers caught up!

Terry

Terry,

You bring up a very good point there about feedback from the transducer. I am constantly amazed at how good loudspeakers generally sound considering that they are mechanical transducers flopping along to the whims of numerous forces which include the drive signal from the amplifier, and yet they generally sound so good. I guess the good effect of electrical damping factor has been the reason that servo speakers are not more prevalent.

In my present speaker design work I am aware of back pressure waves from other drivers and their infuence on their neighbors within a shared cabinet volume, or even just from the pressure zone around the baffle.

Rob

I thought servos were just too slow.
My uncle used to send home voice records when he was in the army that had replaced wire but before tape. I remember them as being about twice the size of a regular LP.

Servos in the traditional electro-mechanical sense can have definite mass issues. However, a servo is really just any self-regulating feedback system, whether it's feedback in an amplifier or in a speaker. Even in mechanical systems, there's ways to speed up the system. For example, we could shine a laser at the speaker cone, use the speaker cone excursions to modulate the laser, and then use the demodulated output of the laser as a feedback signal to linearize the mechanical motion of the speaker (whew!). That would certainly be a servo system. Some servo loudspeakers could use mechanical transducers or strain gauges. The solution used in modern disc recorders is to simply use a separate feedback coil that's wound on the same form as the driving coil--like a speaker with dual voice coils. Even there, however, we have a time domain problem in that, at some frequency, the two coils won't be moving together on the form, or the form may actually have standing waves traveling within it.

I agree with Rob that it is amazing how good (and how bad) conventional loudspeakers can sound, especially when you realize that resonances from the listening room, or even the speaker itself, can end up in the amplifier's feedback loop. That's one reason why different speaker cables can sound different, although most reviewers aren't aware of that aspect. Keeping EMF generated by the speaker out of the amplifier's feedback loop is probably one reason why low feedback triode amplifiers can sound so pleasant.

On the other hand, a mechanical resonance can be used to advantage to provide a desired sound--one that is not easy to obtain through electrical manipulation (equalization) of the signal. Guitar speakers would be a good example, where different models are purposefully engineered to have specific tonal qualities. Most of us have heard speakers that just "sound good," even though their response curves may not be ideal. It all depends on where the resonances fall. The funny thing is, if you corrected a speaker so that it reproduced sound in an absolutely "flat" manner, it probably wouldn't sound very exciting!

Terry

I guess the only servo mechanism drivers that I know of (if that is indeed what they are) are the prosound subwoofers with metal cones and a chain driven motor instead of the typical magnet/ voice coil motor.
From what I have read and heard from a pro sound bass horn designer/builder is that while really sustained thunderous bass is achieved that the mechanism is too slow to give the music a clean punch.
Never heard them that I know of but I try to stay inside the cone of the PA system at shows or sit so far away that it doesn't hurt me.
Most of the shows I go see are in an open air venue and out on the lawn you can still hear everything fine without it overpowering you and there are big screen monitors to watch if you want closeups of the entertainers.
Getting back to the original post, though I am far from expert on Maggies but because of the type of tranducer that they are I would get the newest possible. I also think the wall mounted ones that you swing out when you want to use them as surrounds are very cool. They do need a large room because you need lots of space behind them and the lows are not much, but voices and strings are very lifelike.

Right you are about getting the newest Maggies possible.

Each generation has benefitted from advances in materials, construction, crossover implementation leading to reduction in unwanted character to the sound. The latest generation are devoid of old Maggie bugbears like limited dynamics, limited bass and an opaqueness in the mids that made them sound murkey.

Plus used examples may have been subjected to abuse that may shorten their working life, eg. exposure to excess sunlight, humidity, cigarette smoke etc.


If you want to hear some domestic servo driven speakers that are definitely not slow, checkout the Arnie Nudell's Genesis speakers.

Low mass metal cones + servo bass control + custom bass amplification = tight, extended bass that is also fast enough to stand comparison with the best planars.


cheerio