Magnepan Sound

[dem beats]

When I first got my speakers, I didn't like their sound. I had heard that planners needed a break in period so I left them on while I went out. When I got home they sounded much better. Are you saying that I got used to them while I was out?

it's probably more likely that there is no such thing as break in.. it was the speaker gnomes! They came in and scurried around adjusting "micro variables" in your room.

=)

Now thats a good point though g-man!

I think there is a break in... Maybe it's "room-break in"... if you dont' like speaker break in perhaps the repetition of new speakers playing their specific sound signature at a wall adjust the moecules and subtle difference, much liek a magnet alligning the polarity of iron when you stroke a bar of iron with rare earth magnets!!!!

Listen, I don't have evidence. I don't... Why does a brand new computer software have issues running. If I don't update it and the trillions of on and offs in the same position. My engine in my crotch rocket didn't change but the powerband did after 1500 miles. It does exist, do the people who experience drastic changes have anything to stand on.. Nope. I don't even know how it can be measured. A new spring on my pistol is a heck of allot different after a couple tousand rounds. But so is my wrist so is everything else minute around the situation....

I don't care if you disagree.. I admit it's my perception, that there is a change. I don't have deduction on my side as there are too many variables... But when someone in jumps in and says their word is king because it's king... that's a load of cod fish oil and flim flam I say!

lol

This debate will last forever so I digress. I think it's been mentioned. If you are not hapy with the maggies adjust position.. that is the first key. the room will make massive difference too but why start spending on something you are not sure you will be happy with.

see if you can adjust the toe and placement for seating and the speakers, untill you go from doldrum mids and humid and thick syrupy highs to chocolaity mids with a hint of cinnemon and those airey starry highs that speak of lemon lime pizzaz!!

I doubt break in will open up a wonderland of sound, but i beleive there is somethign to it. Placement and the room will make a larger difference.

 

[jostenmeat]

Ya, I don't see the big deal. Seems to me that break in is not a big deal, and definitely not something to get rude over. It either happens or it doesn't, and you either perceive it or you don't.

Assuming, for just one moment, that break-in does indeed occur, wouldn't the material of the drivers be of at least some importance? (question for anyone).

To take it to a crotch-rocket type tangent, a spruce top guitar takes at least 4x the duration to break in as opposed to a much softer cedar top guitar. I imagine it to be the density of the material. Violins, violas, cellos etc take between one and two years typically. Piano? I have no idea.

 

[gmichael]

Now, if you were to tell me that my wires need to be broken in, and suggest I buy a $500 gizmo to break them in for me, I'd have to call foul.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

All you need is an Easy Bake Oven to cook them until they broken in.

Now, if you were to tell me that my wires need to be broken in, and suggest I buy a $500 gizmo to break them in for me, I'd have to call foul.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I have read much about "break-in" most research that I read says it is non existent... but also it is based on traditional drivers. I know what I have heard with my maggies... it wasn't even subtle. There was almost NO bass for the first few days. I kept thinking... damn I am gonna have to by a sub. Now after two months with them the only way I think I would "need" a sub is if I wanted to do some serious home theater.

Yes, what has been tested and measured are with the standard drivers.
What did you hear? How did you really test what you think you heard? There is perception that maybe you rely on in which case, it can be unreliable.

Unless you compared two speakers, one brand new and one with the right amount of time, and under bias controlled condition, your perception is unreliable at best as your memory is unreliable for small details.

Perhaps you have measurements of frequency response when new and broken in?

 

[mtrycrafts]

I said I didn't AVAS has posted the article and there is a great deal of information here that says it does change. Not to any extent the human ear would probably notice........
.

What's AVAS, have a link?

The change measure in the AH article was very small, well below the known thresholds of detection.
When you listened and thought there was a change, that was from memory, not a side by side comparison, right?

 

[highfihoney]

Hey slick,
Listen your post has about the same merit as mine, only you came off as if it's pure truth given to you by the audio gods. If you have technical evidence, support your statement. I said I didn't AVAS has posted the article and there is a great deal of information here that says it does change. Not to any extent the human ear would probably notice........

Don't come at me with proof positive, by way of your word being truth and chastise me for saying I have no evidence, and that it probably is just me feeling a change. You're arguement didn't even have anything but anecdotal evidence assuming that we all like what we are used to.....

If you want a flame war take it elsewhere. I know my argument had little to stand on, it took you to prove you actualy COULD find less to stand on and be more confident in it.

You'll get used to it but dont bum out too bad,not everybody here subscribes to that line of thought & demands bulk links to white papers from google,the way i look at it is that unless anybody has direct experience with the same gear as you or proff positive that your observations are wrong then they are just a talking head.

BTW,nice post,i too get sick of the audio parrots who quote what they read as the bible instead of relaying personal experience.

 

[johsti]

This forum is notorious for proving speaker break-in doesn't exist (there's even a sticky on the top of the page!). To some folks break-in is very real and quite noticeable. That is their opinion based on their observations. Some of you need to quit hunting down threads that mention "speaker break in" so you can stand on your soap box and tell everyone that they don't have a clue. This is now another thread that has gone completely off topic so the "anti break in" hounds can once again prove to everyone that it is all in their heads.

Back to the Maggies please....

 

[mtrycrafts]

This forum is notorious for proving speaker break-in doesn't exist (there's even a sticky on the top of the page!). To some folks break-in is very real and quite noticeable. That is their opinion based on their observations. Some of you need to quit hunting down threads that mention "speaker break in" so you can stand on your soap box and tell everyone that they don't have a clue. This is now another thread that has gone completely off topic so the "anti break in" hounds can once again prove to everyone that it is all in their heads.

Back to the Maggies please....

Why cannot be in their heads? Is that out of the realm of possibilities? If one knows human psychology a bit, hew humans can be fooled, how gullible they can be, why can't it be in ones imagination? Why is it so hard to demonstrate this under bias controlled conditions?
Oh, and just because I observe that steel pipe being bent when I place it in a 5 gallon bucket of water, it must be reality, a fact, or just an illusion?

It would be good to know which is correct so we don't worry about it, or we all break in speakers.

 

[highfihoney]

This forum is notorious for proving speaker break-in doesn't exist (there's even a sticky on the top of the page!). This is now another thread that has gone completely off topic so the "anti break in" hounds can once again prove to everyone that it is all in their heads.

Back to the Maggies please....

Its not just this forum its all the forums,thing is though that its the same people just on different forums,their hobby is scouring the forums for any thread containing reports of differences being heard in anything but speakers or room accoustics.

 

[p38]

Maggies

All I know is that they sounded great from the getgo, and thats why my B&W's are doin jail time in the closet. Their not better or worse, their just a different listening experience.

 

[dem beats]

I wish I could find this BC cominc.

Everyone seens a flying oyster go over their heads... they alll look upp and someone says"did you see what we just saw"

"yeah must be mass halucination"

optical illusion, audio illusion... what ever who cares. I do know for a fact that the surround of a speaker changes as it's worn in. It changes drasticaly. Flex a peice of rubber of plastic for a few hours, you can see the difference. If you're telling me it make NO CHANGE WHAT SO EVER. Ok prove it with graphs and anything else. I will not disagree with your proven truth.

This thread was hijacked that's true but only because opinions differ.

and G-mike. The propper speaker break in is to put one end... the speaker end in your mouth and suck it as hard as you can. You will allign the copper properly to tune it to you specificaly and it will make sure that it can alter the sound to recognise the difference you need it to to compensate for your DNA and Ear canal impurities.

This is a long time proven method.

 

[gmichael]

Why cannot be in their heads? Is that out of the realm of possibilities? If one knows human psychology a bit, hew humans can be fooled, how gullible they can be, why can't it be in ones imagination? Why is it so hard to demonstrate this under bias controlled conditions?
Oh, and just because I observe that steel pipe being bent when I place it in a 5 gallon bucket of water, it must be reality, a fact, or just an illusion?

It would be good to know which is correct so we don't worry about it, or we all break in speakers.

It's a little hard for me to turn back the hands of time so I could test my speakers when they were new vs now. But I do have more than one system. When I first got these speakers I could easily tell that one system had much more high end than the other. This is no longer the case. Measured or not, it's not my imagination. You can chose not to believe, but I urge anyone else reading this to at least consider that I might know that what I'm saying is true.
As another poster has written, back to the Maggies. Rnatalli, are you enjoying the sound yet? Any updates?

 

[gmichael]

and G-mike. The propper WIRE break in is to put one end... the speaker end in your mouth and suck it as hard as you can. You will allign the copper properly to tune it to you specificaly and it will make sure that it can alter the sound to recognise the difference you need it to to compensate for your DNA and Ear canal impurities.

This is a long time proven method.

Won't this make my teeth tingle? Can you prove that my teeth will not tingle?
Have tests been done?

 

[rnatalli]

Well, I've been playing them the last several days. Whether the speakers are breaking in, my ears breaking in, neither, or both, they still sound terrible to me. I've moved them into every possible position, nudged them, and everything else and still nothing. Once I get back from my trip to FL, they're gone. And what is up with the way you have to wire these? They should use regular plates for speaker wires.

BTW, this is the MMG-W model.

 

[gmichael]

Well, I've been playing them the last several days. Whether the speakers are breaking in, my ears breaking in, neither, or both, they still sound terrible to me. I've moved them into every possible position, nudged them, and everything else and still nothing. Once I get back from my trip to FL, they're gone. And what is up with the way you have to wire these? They should use regular plates for speaker wires.

BTW, this is the MMG-W model.

Oh yeah. Those have no base below 100htz. They are made more for surround. Even with a sub I wouldn't like them as mains.

 

[WmAx]

The Maggies at least, will have no real cabinet resonances, unlike most other speakers(which have enclosed backs) seem to suffer from(this coloration can be avoided with enclosed systems, but it tends to be very costly to avoid, and as a result, usually ends up being a feature of only very expensive closed systems). Of course, they can still have resonances inherent of the drivers, while having no substantial enclosure resonance. The speakers require substantial space, as you refer to it, probably because (1) you require at least a 5-6 msec direct vs. rear reflection delay(this means spacing the speaker a minimum of 3' from the rear wall, ideally about 4'-4.5'). In addition, while I have not seen the off axis response of the particular model to which you refer, I expect it to be dismal. This means that if you place it far from a side wall, and relative close in proportion to listening position, that the non-matching off axis response will be heard to a lesser extent(poor off axis response does not typically result in positive results when allowed to contribute substantially). You can render this a non issue and place the speakers close to side walls by using large broad band absorption panels at the 1st side reflection points. In any case, substantial room treatments are really needed with speakers that have poor off axis response, as credible perceptual research has demonstrated time and time again. If you add a subwoofer, be certain to use an active filter on both the main speakers(to cutoff LF) and the subwoofer unit. Some recievers have adequate control and type of crossovers built in. But better results are usually had with external processing(usually only possible if you are using seperate amplifier/pre-amp units where you can get access to the line signal between devices).

-Chris

 

[emorphien]

The MMG-W are not meant to be played on their own/full range. They need a sub, and even then the regular MMGs are probably a better choice since the MMG-Ws are more of a side/surround speaker.

 

[p38]

Maggies

Go to the "Planar Speaker Asylum" site, those people are the ones to talk to. The W's were designed to be surround speakers, wall mounted. Their bass extension is not that of their bigger brothers. I've heard them and they do not compare to their entry level MMG's imho. They need to be mounted as near or onto the wall to develope better acoustics. Not to mention that they have a relatively small footprint due to the fact that their considerably smaller then the MMG's, which are 48 by 14.5. Hence a smaller sweet spot. Do not get discouraged by the Maggies. If you have the opportunity to pick up a pair of MMG"s give them one more try. They offer a unique sound if you are seated properly, their imaging suffers as one moves about the room, unlike the conventional box speaker, which are a little more forgiving in that respect. I donot believe that you will have a hard time unloading them, if you decide to. Keep in mind that the electrastats are a whole different animal. Check out the "Planar Speaker Asylum".

 

[rnatalli]

I had a subwoofer going when I hook these up as I knew they cut out at 100 Hz and they had plenty of space to breath. Like a good audiophile, I compare speakers without a sub and I definitely didn't like what I heard when compared to closed speakers. Sorry Maggie fans, I tried to like these but they didn't win me over