Yeah what the kraut said.....
If I where you I would try and find a good power amp to drive your new 2 channel system. After upgrading to a power amp if the low end is still unsatisfactory then I would get a subwoofer to compliment them.
What hardware are you working with currently?
By hardware I assume you mean componets and wire. The reciever mentioned in my intial post plus the Yamaha M50 amp. Some 16 gauge wire I believe.
Very nice upgrade. Magy's are leaps and bounds ahead of Bose. You're gonna love them in the end. The external amp will help a lot. A small sealed subwoofer could be in order down the road.
Thanks, I was hoping I made the right choice. Any recommendations on a reasonable sub?
I think my next step would be to make it a 2.1 system and add a subwoofer to the equation.
Need some more help here on subs. I need something reasonable. Thanks.
You can't drive those speakers with the sort of receivers you are talking about.
You need a powerful amp rated to four ohms giving somewhere around 250 watts per channel.
The F3 is 45 Hz, which is not terribly low but adequate. A sub is recommended. I would leave the Magneplanars full range and ease in a sub around 60 to 80 Hz.
The big issue with planars is placement. They have to be pulled out from boundaries. Play a recoding with a lot of bass and pull them in and out a little at a time. A few inches can make all the difference between no bass and reasonable bass. This is the big issue with planars, placement is critical.
Also they will not like that tiled floor, there will be a lot of reflections and cancellations. Quite a bit of carpeting in front and behind the speakers will be mandatory.
Now the bass of these speakers is very clean because there is no box. Almost certainly you are accustomed to box coloration, and these speakers are free of it.
I have always liked those speakers, but they are a specialist speaker, that requires obsessional set up and the right owner.
If you give them the attention to detail they require, then they are some of the best speakers around. Ignore what I'm telling you and they will be dreadful. So it may be these speakers are not for you. Bose speakers by the way rank close to bottom or bottom on every count.
How about the amp I picked up with the reciever used with it. I cranked them up tonight and I think my ears almost bled. Still no audible distortion.
I would like a sub but have no idea what to get. I also have a throw rug in front but nothing behind. My space is limited however. I have about two feet by two feet which to work with these.
I figured as much with the Bose, they just sounded good for the size in my opinion.
I would have to recommend NOT running the Magnepans full range. You should be using an active crossover to limit LF to them, and use a high performance/high fidelity subwoofer (ideally dual subs) to augment the LF properly, if you want satisfying, full range and dynamic bass capability. As TLS Guy stated, you need to use a proper component amp of sufficient power for this speaker.
The Yamaha P2500S would be a perfect amplifier, and is very reasonable priced. A better product/deal compared to 'home' amps of comparable quality/performance - that would usually cost at least twice as much and probably still not be of actual similar quality build. Use a Behringer CX2310 active crossover, also very well priced, and of high quality/performance. You will need an adapter if you choose to use the Yamaha amp; it's a pro amp and has some different line input standards compared to consumer equipment. You can buy an adapter called the Samson S-Convert or Art Cleanbox(not Cleanbox II) to make the connection from your consumer RCA pre-outs to the pro gear.
-Chris
I was surprised to read this. I was testing the bass tonight again by playing a little "And Justice For All" on them tonight. Bass seemed flawless. I actually tried to see if I could hear any distortion by turning them up as high as I could stand and still I heard no bottom out or flutter in the speakers.
I just wish all recordings would put these speakers to work like this one did.
I think that unless he is going to play the maggies really loud he can use them full range. The maggies can sound really pretty good without a sub, although I have never tried pop or rock music through them. I would imagine they are are a lousy rock speaker.
Getting a good sub splice with maggies and full range electrostatics is always problematic. You don't want to spoil the bass definition with the sub. So I feel driving the sub as little as possible is the best way to go.
Actually the volume seems to really bring out the bass so far with these. I think the sub would be more appropriate at lower volumes, at least that is what I think right now with my placement and I don't have much room to move around.
After listening to several different cds, I almost think past setups have artificially gave them more bass than intended. I have been running the "direct stereo " setting with these in the hope I am bypassing any signal processing from the reciever.
To be fair, I did specify high performance/high fidelity subwoofers. A TRUE high performance sub will not cause any 'bass definition' loss, though, as with any sub, you have to place it in the ideal position in the room and ideally have at least a parametric EQ to optimize response in a limited range of spots and ideally, have acoustic bass control treatments(though I do realize this is an extreme thing for most people, I am just mentioning it to cover my bases). The dipole bass radiation pattern from the Maggie will tend to excite fewer room modes as compared to a monopolar bass radiation pattern.
-Chris
Still looking for some reasonalbe recommendations on a sub.
I been pretty pleased with the sound so far from the MG12s. If for no other reason, I can't seem to find any audible distortion. Sound seems more lineir (for lack of a better term) if that makes any sense and clarity is more than I expected.
Thanks for all the help and replies.
Art
