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Magnepan 1.6QR owners - what do you think of them?

dividebytube

dividebytube

Well-Known Member
It has been years since I've heard Magnepans and I've been saving up on the side to buy a new pair of speakers. I've always had a love for the Quad ESL-63s but they can be a little er, touchy. I want something a little more rugged and that can image well too.

So 1.6QR owners, what can I expect to hear (vs box speakers or even 'stats) if I buy a pair of Maggies? What kind of power amplification are you running and does the McIntosh autoformer amps work well with them?
 
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I owned their predecessor, the 1.5, and they were one of the the finest imaging speakers I've owned, in addition to throwing a huge soundstage. I ran them with a Carver Sunfire 300. They need some current to shine.
 
I owned 1.6's for 2 years and really liked them. I sold them to upgrade to 3.6's and the deal feel thru so I got a pair of Martin Logan SL3's - very articulate and fast but not near as rich sounding as the 1.6's. I bought a pair of MGIIIa's and rebuilt them, got new ribbons and covers and put the remaining $700 in the kitty for the 3.6's. Love those ribbons. I'm driving the Maggies with a Acurus A200 that I drove the 1.6's with. I have added a second A200 to bi amp the IIIa's. Maggies do like a lot of current and respond well to fast high current amps IMHO
Regards,
Jim
 
I agree ... imaging and the huge soundstage are two reasons Maggies have been one of the few constants in my system over the past 10+ years. In particular, they have an uncanny and very natural way of reproducing the human voice and acoustic instruments so that they materialize righ there in the room with you.

I've tried other speakers, including boxed and open baffle designs, in an effort to replace them with something less visually dominating. But I have not found anything that matches the open, expansive sound of the Maggies. Even my wife, who wants to redecorate/rearrange the family room, refuses to part with them on account of their sounding so good.

In addtion to the MG1.6, I've also got a pair of the little MG10.1 as well as an old set of MG-I that are currently getting a tweeter rewire and xover rebuild. Another fun aspect of the Maggies is that they can be readily tweaked, especially the crossovers which are fairly simple designs on the non-ribbon models (and part of the reason I think they sound so good ... less components to muck up the signal and maintain coherence between the mid-bass and tweeter panels).
 
Great speakers but too hard to drive, not very warm sounding unless you find the right tube pre and tubes, too hard to get the spacing right, only good for jazz, classical and vocals. I'm driving mine with a carver tfm-45 (375 wpc) which does the job just barely.

You can get the same kind of soundstage, detail, and imaging without the headaches from the polk sda's (2B, 1B, or 1C) that have the stock sl2000 tweeter in them. The sda's only downfall is that they require a common ground amp.
 
I have older MGII's and SMGa's both are excellent speakers. I listen to a lot of Jazz / fusion and my MGII's with H&K sub have yet to be topped IMHO and I have /had a lot of very good speakers through here. IMHO they lack some for rock or more dynamic music that requires a lot of impact.
 
As I have said before. I keep going back to Maggies for my main system. Now going from memory The only dynamic speaker that came close back in the day was the set of DQ-10's I had.

Even today I think nothing can compare price wise with a set of MMG's and a small sub. Tweak the crossover and in a small-medium sized room they are great. I do miss my 2.5R's though I do not have the room for them. (12X20)
 
thanks all! I'll skip my amp obsession right now and save to pick up some Maggies. I may have to suffer with a pair of 60W Dynaco tube amps until I can get some bigger power.
 
dividebytube said:
It has been years since I've heard Magnepans and I've been saving up on the side to buy a new pair of speakers. I've always had a love for the Quad ESL-63s but they can be a little er, touchy. I want something a little more rugged and that can image well too.

So 1.6QR owners, what can I expect to hear (vs box speakers or even 'stats) if I buy a pair of Maggies? What kind of power amplification are you running and does the McIntosh autoformer amps work well with them?
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I once had the 1.6QR's and really liked them. These were in a small room, though, so the power issues that some folks discuss related to Maggies weren't a problem for me. I can confirm that they're quite transparent and image like very few else. I sold them, however, when the mighty UREI 813s entered my life - for $400, too.

Today, I have a set of ESL63s which I've totally rebuilt. They do a fine job and I'd take issue with them being 'touchy'. I can drive them with both tube amps or with a Hafler P500/DH500 (it, too, having been rebuilt) and they will sing quite loudly without shutting down or arcing. I've got the Hafler fused for 100W/chl and have yet to blow them with the Quads.

Would I go back to Maggies? Perhaps, but I'd likely go for the 3.6s. However, if this was the case, I'd be seriously considering some of the now-larger Quad systems. Or else, I'd be adding another set of ESL63s to the set I have now. Lots of options.

Cheers,

David
 
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