Magnepan MG-12

[supersonic]

I've currently got Quad 22L speakers with Quad 99CDP/99Pre/909 and love the presentation on most music but wondering what the MG-12's will sound like? 

What I like about the 22L's is its smooth and immersive presentation; a midrange that pulls me in and is in the spot light, deep bass and weight (particularly piano) that drives the music. Also this might seem like a negative but I like the fact, with the right music, I can put my young'uns to sleep or I can crank it up with Led Zep. or even some dance music without it grating my ears or sounding shouty. I've heard some speakers which have superb clean resolution but are not comfortable when you turn it up.

For me the Quads sounded best pulled out more than a metre from the bay window wall firing length ways into a 13x25ft room but I'd want the MG's to sited on the long wall and don't want them to be pulled out much from the back wall. 

Form reading reviews I understand the MG-12's may share some these virtues such as a smooth sound which work at low night time volumes but also have superb resolution and front to back 3D sound stage so keen on your experiences, the amplification and positioning and how long the panels last or any other speaker recommendations which meets my objectives.

I'm in NW London so if someone is happy to demo I'd be very grateful.

 

[MrSammy]

Firstly your 909 amp will drive the MG-12s fine. They need a powerful amplifier to work well.

The Maggies are di-pole so that alone may take some getting used to as the sound will come from the rear as well. You probably don't want them to sit too close to a rear wall because of this. The lower bass has quite high distortion although it doesn't sound bad by any means but creating accurate bass with a large flat panel is tricky.

I personally love them and have been running a pair from new since 2002 without any issues but if you are not used to flat panel speakers e.g. electrostats or planar magnetic, then you may get bit of a shock as they don't sound like a box speaker at all. You can only really tell if this will be a problem for you by getting an audition.

They are okay for quiet listening but the imaging and depth really start appearing with volume. Led Zep sounds very different than via conventional speakers for which it is mixed.

 

[Radioham]

I think the 909 will be OK, however most demonstrations seem to use something a bit more powerful like Cord.As you can appreciate the planers are current driven rather than the electrostatics which are high voltage driven.

I have heard them at HiFi Lounge and a few other shows. I did buy a pair second hand and they were too large for the room (18ft x 14ft) . Being s/hand the private seller failed to mention that some of the fine wires had become detached from the plastic film causing a buzz when playing. I did attempt a repair,I got one panel working but on the other panel the rest of the wires disintegrated into a pile of dust when I touched them. (plenty of info on the web)

The other thing you will notice with a panel speaker is at high volumes, they reach a limit where no further increase in sound can be produced. 

You may have to watch pets like cats, as they make a very good scratching post.

Regards

Alan

 

[JANDL100]

I had a pair of the larger 1,6QR in my 2nd system.

Assuming the experience reads across to the 12 ....

The presentation is either (depending on how you want to express it) immersive, or big and blousy and lacking pinpoint focus.
A bit of a Marmite thing - like it or loathe it.  I like a near-field, focused, hi-rez presentation - pretty much exactly the opposite of what the Maggies deliver!  Not a good choice for me, but I know some folks just love them.

Resolution is decent but not top notch.
I think you may need more current-based grunt than the 909 may be able to put out to get the best out of them.  But they will sound pretty good anyway.
-- I managed to blow the output stage of  a 70wpc Sony integrated amp.  They do rather put a strain on the amp! You do need some amplifier whoomph.

They worked surprisingly well close to the back wall - I tried 1 foot out and several feet out, and tbh there wasn't a lot of difference to my ears,

 

[MrSammy]

Hi Jerry,

one point to note on the focus issue is that the Maggies are "handed" i.e. they are not symmetrical. Magnepan recommend setting them up with the tweeter ribbon on the inside but they actually seem to image better if you ignore this advice and have the tweeter on the outside ( Noel Keywood of Hi-Fi World has shown this setup works better via measurement). They are certainly immerisive giving a wall of sound but you do need to move the around a lot of focus the image. It can be done but not all rooms' proportions allow this. They won't image as sharply as a point source speaker but they don't have as much of a sweet spot as a Quad ESL for example.

As always with speakers it is which set of compromises you want to except and since you must have tried most of the options over the years you know what you like.

Cheers

Nick

 

[supersonic]

Thanks for the advice people.