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No love for Magnepan MG II ?

BlueKatt

BlueKatt

Member
So, I just picked up a nice pair of Magnepan MG II from a nice couple on Craigslist. They were the original owners having bought the speakers back in the 70's. These are the first model MG II's...not the a, b or c versions.

I've done some research about the MG II and it seems that they are not as popular as the smaller MG I's. Several people mentioned that the MG II's just don't sound "right" but no one could really point to a reason why.

So I'm curious...who here has owned or listened to the MG II's and can offer an explanation of why these speakers seem to be the ugly ducklings of the Magnepan line?

Either way I plan to replace the socks, repair any issues they may have and put them in my apartment. Add in a couple of sub woofers and I should have something nice to listen to and a style/profile that's more acceptable to my wonderful wife. (she might be reading...Hi Honey!! ;-) How do you like OUR new speakers? What? How much did I spend? Well........let me explain.....)

BlueKatt

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I owned a pair of MG-II's. I though they were an improvement over my previously owned MG-I's. They played louder the bass went lower and they had better dispersion because they were taller than MG-I's. I bought both new. The MG-I's in 1976. I traded them in on the MG-II's in early 1978. Later in 1978 they introduced the MG-IIA. Too late for me!
 
We had MG IIbs - loved the look of the white tweedy cloth and oak trim.
Soundwise, ours seemed to run out of steam in the highs (14-15k?),
and were also lacking in bottom/bass, so I added a Volkswoofer just barely dialed in to bring out the lows.

But the presence was addictive - my wife said it was like swimming in the music ...

Had a neighbor over one day and played Sinatra's "One for my baby" and he actually wept -
it was like Sinatra was right there in the room ... and that was before I switched to tubes in that room!

I suspect they could have used a rebuild (I have reformed woofers sucessfully, so I am a hands-on audio-buff)
but the panel rebuilds looked like a very fussy messy job. Had them a year and sold them off.

Still, Maggies have a very amazing kind of sound - and I want to investigate another model someday -
 
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Had a pair of IICs.
Best sound I'd ever heard in that defined space.
I got them at about 6 or 7 years old. Replaced the crossover cap with a Solen (made a bit of a bulge under the back cloth). Got new socks from Magnepan as the old were a bit dingy.
 
I had the MGIIa's until I moved into a small NYC apartment. I still miss the imaging and clarity of the sound. By the way, having plenty of overhead in the power amp did wonders for the sound.
 
I have a minty pair, i love them! They do what they do better than most vintage speakers you can find at their price point. I think they are wonderful for classical, horns and strings, and vocals. They do not "rock out" like my Klipsch' or Polks. But they have a job to do, and do it very well. I buy and sell a lot of speakers, and my MGIIs have made my "all star" team, and will stay, along with a few other favorites. Enjoy them. Position them by ear, experiment a bit to find the magic location, and feed them some decent power. You will be rewarded!
 
I too own a pair of MGII's, I don't know where you are getting the bad reviews from, but I think they are great, They are not "Rock and Roll" speakers but they can handle there own at moderate volumes with any Genre'. I was surprised when I got them how much bass they DO have. Very full and detailed and a great bargain at this age if they are repaired or you can do it yourself.
 
Had a pair of mg2c's-meh- did some things right-did many things wrong-huge speakers,picky about placement,power hungry, just when you gave them enough juice to open up they went into distortion,[with a Yamaha m2 amp] just a lot of other speakers out there that sound better and are easier to live with-in my opinion. At the same time I owned a pair of the big double panel Geostatic Speakers", made by B.E.S. (Bertagni electro-acoustic systems) which I felt were superior.
 
I owned a pair for a very short time and thought they sounded terrible :/

I have a vague memory that any solid bass note seemed to tear the speakers apart.
 
IMHO they are some pretty good speakers.
Due to their age they usually require some tweeter wire work, and fixing bass wire delamination-tedious but not hard work.
If driven by a good 4ohm amp work very well.
I disagree they aren't rock speakers.
They have bass-but it's not cone woofer bass, and many people eventually add a sub.
Magnepan has a optional bass panel now-it's not a sub-just adds more of Magnepan's unique bass sound.
I restored a pair of SMG's and they sound awesome-no need for a subwoofer in my IMHO as it detracts from the sound.
The older Magnepan's lack the ribbons of the newer models-but personally I like my SMG's over the newer MMG's-as they seems more evenly voiced.
If you want to crank the bass control-look elsewhere.
 
AudioMayhem said:
I owned a pair for a very short time and thought they sounded terrible :/

I have a vague memory that any solid bass note seemed to tear the speakers apart.
Click to expand...

I've usually found that type of sound to be the result of the amp's power supply not being able to handle the Maggies low efficiency and 4 ohm load.
 
Well, I heard the modern Mags last year in an audio shop with a high end amp and audiophile wires
and they were pretty amazing on whatever music I played.
But I had just bought the used Vandersteen 2CEs and wasn't looking to drop $2500 on new speakers at that time.
 
ejman said:
I've usually found that type of sound to be the result of the amp's power supply not being able to handle the Maggies low efficiency and 4 ohm load.
Click to expand...

Yep.
A B+K ST202+ or an Allegro Audio Design Cantata drove them with no issues at all to room filling levels with anything from Kraftwerk to Amanda Mcbroom, and anything in between that I'd be listening to.
 
Most of the complaints about poor bass on Maggies can be directly traced to the amplifier. Most receivers need not apply.
 
JoeESP9 said:
Most of the complaints about poor bass on Maggies can be directly traced to the amplifier. Most receivers need not apply.
Click to expand...

I run my main speakers on a Carver TFM-45, 375 watts per channel. It seems to be sufficient for the maggies and my Acoustats.
 
Your post only reinforces my assertion. I've had and used MG-I's, MG-II's and MG-IIIa's. I currently use Acoustats. Both Maggies and Acoustats IME need some real power to work properly. I reiterate, most receivers need not apply.

BTW: With Acoustats IME the more panels the less power needed.
 
ejman said:
I've usually found that type of sound to be the result of the amp's power supply not being able to handle the Maggies low efficiency and 4 ohm load.
Click to expand...

Yes i agree with this atatement whole-heartedly. Maggies need good clean power, the more the better imho.they DO NOT reproduce very low frequency as well as some of my other standard cone driver speakers. but it is there, and i never felt it was "loose" or " sloppy" or tearing apart my Maggies! Just give them whatever power you can, a couple hundred watts per channel sure won't hurt th e bass.
 
Confirming, MG-II's will definitely need high-current and power amplification to get things going. Once they do, however, you'll get used to the sonic presentation. This is due to the imaging and the way it appears to come from inside the panel, if you're not used to it. They need to be pulled away from the wall, of course.

I've restored some MG-I's and MG-II's, both of which needed tweeter wires and had the delaminated woofer wires. Its a messy but not-too-difficult restore process. You'll likely need replacement socks if the original covers are still installed, too.

Cheers,

David
 
I don't accept the premise that there is any sizable group that prefers the MG-1 to the MG-II.

Maybe just one or two vocal posters out there, but the consensus is the II is better, from what I've read.
 
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