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Magnapan MGIIIa Crossover upgrade w/pics

ehoove

ehoove

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As some of you know, I decided to go active crossover instead of rebuilding the Magnepan external crossovers. I went with a Behringer CX2310 stereo 2 way electronic crossover with sub out. Since I really like my high current Acurus A200, I decided to pick up a Acurus A200X3to complete the Bi-amp project. I am using the A200X3 for the bass panels, and will use the 3rd chanel to drive my passive 10"subs when completed. I am using the A200 to drive the mid panels, and ribbons. I am using 12ga. magnet wire on the bass Panels, and Belden 5000U 12 Ga. Copper on the mid/ribbons. I am Crossing Over at 350hz, and running the mid/ribbons inverted phase to mimic the Maggie external crossover. (incredible difference reversing the phase on that section)

Initial impressions:
Running 300 RMS into both the bass panels and the Mid/Ribbon panels (600 watts RMS per side) there is obiviously plenty of head room. They refuse to distort, it's amazing. The real story is in the effortlessness of the reproduction, these babies have really opened up. Huge soundstage and deeper too. The clarity is like a live presentation with the speakers becoming unnoticed in the presentation of the music. I always felt these were very fast speakers, but it's like they found another gear. Very impressive. I just listened to Dianan Krall's Steppin Out redbook cd and I must say the acoustic bass and piano are outstanding. I feel like a kid in a candy store:banana::banana:

I'll check back in with an update, but right now I got some listenening to do!!
Regards,
Jim
 
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Sounds (pun intended) like a very nice setup! :thmbsp:

A pair of Maggies are on my short list to own! :yes:

Scott
 
Nice to hear the operation was successful. If you can do that much by just going 1/2-active, just think of the possibilities. If you enjoy tweaking the speakers, you have plenty of options before you take the plunge for the 3.6s you talk about.

With the car you saw, which I have owned since new, I take the tweaking as a way of spending a little to make it new to me again. Doing this saves from having to go for a new car. Same thing with the Maggies. AndyR would be glad to help.

but heck you have to get used to the 'new' speakers before you do anything else. Great initial report.
 
Thoughts after several hours of listening

After an afternoon and evening of listening several things are now apparent. The bass is tighter, and there is much more of it. Other than Bach Organ music, and driving rock and roll there is no need for a sub with this setup.
I will still add 2 I0" Subs in sealed enclosures since the crossover suports it and I have a channel of 300 Watts RMS sitting there unused, but will only use it sparingly.
The mid panels and ribbons totaly disappear they have so much air and the ribbons are absolutely amazing in their presentation. No need to attenuate them at all, they are that smooth, or maybe the midpanels are more seemlessly matched to them. Whichever it is it sure works. All the cables and speaker wires employed have been previously burnt in so the change was startling right off the bat. I'm not sure about the burn-in time of the crossover, but it sure sounds good already. I'll feed it signal till the weekend and see if there is an improvement and let you know. This has been the most rewarding upgrade I have ever undertaken, and being off on vacaion next week, I'm sure I will have some time to make some crossover point adjustments etc.
Regards,
Jim
 
I think MG 3's are the "thing"! I love the way they sound with the right amp.

I have SMG now, want to get some 3's, someday.
 
ScramMan2 said:
I think MG 3's are the "thing"! I love the way they sound with the right amp.

I have SMG now, want to get some 3's, someday.
Click to expand...

You can pick them up at a pretty reasonable price, and refurbish them as I did. There is no better bang for the buck that I have found.
Regards,
Jim
 
The behringer made THAT much of a difference? I was thinking of doing the Peter Gunn external crossover maggie mod on my SMGa`s. Hmmm for that kind of money maybe not.
 
dokblues said:
The behringer made THAT much of a difference? I was thinking of doing the Peter Gunn external crossover maggie mod on my SMGa`s. Hmmm for that kind of money maybe not.
Click to expand...

You still need to have a second power amp to bi-amp them though. but even with the second A200 and the behringer I still spent less than top of the line rebuild of the stock crossovers and have twice the power. And Maggies do love lots of power and current as we all know
Regards,
Jim
 
update

After many hours of listening, I have settled on a crossover point of 340hz. The effortlessness of these speakers in their current configuration is amazing. They are acurate and detailed at all volumes with an amazing sense of lack of bloat or driver awareness that makes one listen to the music rather than the speakers. I continuue to notice things on lp's and cd's I never heard before. It's like having a new music collection, and the music is so open that you can listen forever with no listening fatigue. This has been a great upgrade that I would recommend to any MGIIIa owner. They were great before with just the A200, but I really had no idea what they were really capable of until I bi-amped them. The Behringer xover has been a wonderful surprise, no coloration nor deterioration of the signal that I can descerne and the system is dead quiet at idle or high volume with no input. The Behringer is quite a value in my book, more than I expected for the $$$ spent!
Regards,
Jim
 
Is there some kind of advantage, electronically speaking, to putting the wires in those little pod thingys and keeping them off the floor?
 
I noticed a difference, and it sure does keep the dustbunnies off the wires. I thought that getting them up tightened up the bottom end, and seemed to increase the black background in the system. The maggies are dead quiet with no system noise at idle, and they are very revealing speakers in my opinon. I experimented with styrofoam cups turned upside down useing short skewers and rubber bands to raise the wires up, and thought it made an audible difference, my wife looked at me and shook her head then bought these for me for fathers day after scouring my audio rags. Ya gotta love her! I do! Actually I think they are more effective with carpet than hardwood floors, reducing static electricity interference.
Regards,
Jim
P.s. Do those items on your head improve the sound ???
 
ehoove said:
P.s. Do those items on your head improve the sound ???
Click to expand...

lol. i'm sure it does. atleast he can use 'em for snack while listening.

hey Mr. sealy, has your neighbor, who bought your CV sub, blown any windows yet? or have you felt any earthquake lately?:D

ehoove said:
I noticed a difference, and it sure does keep the dustbunnies off the wires. I thought that getting them up tightened up the bottom end, and seemed to increase the black background in the system.
Click to expand...

you know...this maybe the last thing i need to actually found out for myself. i really doubted that there'll be significant enough improvement in sound to justify spending hundreds of $$$ for what seem like wire insulators (looks exactly like one) do you know what they're made of? ceramic? anything inside them?
 
ScramMan2 said:
I think MG 3's are the "thing"! I love the way they sound with the right amp.
Click to expand...

I got MG3'cs, and was wondering what would be considered the right amp?

So far I've run them with a Adcom GFA 545, an upgraded Dynaco120, and also a Anthem PVA2.

To me they don't really seem amp picky, but power picky. All three amps sound fairly similar to me when played through the Mags, but I can hear a difference between them with my other speakers.

Do the Mags need even more power than I'm providing?
 
They certainly like a lot of current, and I really think they can use more than you have provided. I would think though that the more you give them the more they like it. I'm feeding them 600 watts RMS per speaker and they suck it right up and produce extremely high volumes with no noticable distortion, You will take out the ribbons with too little power, as the clipping of an underpowered amp will fry them quickly.
Best of luck,
Jim
 
gogofast said:
lol. i'm sure it does. atleast he can use 'em for snack while listening.

hey Mr. sealy, has your neighbor, who bought your CV sub, blown any windows yet? or have you felt any earthquake lately?:D



you know...this maybe the last thing i need to actually found out for myself. i really doubted that there'll be significant enough improvement in sound to justify spending hundreds of $$$ for what seem like wire insulators (looks exactly like one) do you know what they're made of? ceramic? anything inside them?
Click to expand...

They are ceramic with no ringing, and do not sound hollow so I'm assuming the are filled with something. they are rather heavy and hold the wire in place nicely. I think my wife paid around $100 for eight of them
Regards,
Jim
 
When I first bought the mags, all I had was KT-88 based mono blocked tube amps... and this combo did not sound all that great with them.

I quickly realized they needed more power. I'm now running them with the adcom, but always wondered what they would sound like with more power.

I think they sound great as is, but have always wondered if I'm missing out on a even better combo. One of these weekends, I should try tri-amping them. This would then give me an idea of what a amp upgrade might be able to give me.

I'll have to look up my model number again, because I know mine do not have ribbons. Maybe my memory has mis-identified them.
 
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