Magnestand - Where Maggies Live And Breathe

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Magnepan speakers are without question unique in the high end industry, and not just because of their shape and design principles. What makes them unique is the design seems capable of almost limitless possibilities, yet they are produced at a very basic and modest level of operation.

For whatever reason their design envelope was never pushed by the parent company who seem happiest making them affordable and a value for the money. In light of that numerous people have taken it upon themselves to alter, tweak and "pump up" their maggies over the years. Modifications tend to be confined to:

  • Making some sort of stand, and possibly raising or straightening them
  • Replacing the crossover components with better parts
  • Installing struts to stiffen the frames

What instantly struck me about the people who did mod them however was how varied the methods, parts and processes chosen were. There is no agreement, no unifying principle, no "best way". The only statement that even seemed to get universal support is "Just mod them some way, it will improve them." I do not believe stock maggies are so bad that "anything" will make them better, nor could I believe there was not a "best" way to improve them. Since it appeared no best method had been found or agreed upon, I made it my mission to find it.

For nearly four years I experimented with not only the stand and its design, but the crossover and components for it. While it may all seem obvious now, for a long time it was a vague shadow I could only sense, and uniting it all was difficult and took trial, error and time. The end result therefore didn't just "happen", and it's also not a guess. It is the culmination of those things which showed themselves to work best, all united and working as a whole.

Up to now, most people utilized steel when making stands for their Maggies, which I can only attribute to the fact that's it's easier to drill a hole and insert a bolt than do woodwork. Yet even those who attempted their own wooden stands achieved little more than making them vertical and stand taller. It is our feeling that all vertical placement does is make them beam. Like a flashlight, that direct beam may seem like an improvement due to increased strength (in this case dbl levels) but if you stop and really listen and consider, do you want that any more than you want a flashlight beam in the eyes? What's more, gaining this dbl increase happens at the cost of ambience and musicality. (Magnepan itself for the majority of the companies life has chosen to tip most models) A tipped flashlight gives an ambient light, a tipped maggie gives an ambient sound and it also improves its bass response. We don't wish to lose any of that and we can make up the detail in other ways.

Vibration problems are the biggest source of sound degradation maggies have. If you observe a pair of maggies playing moderately loudly with their socks off from behind, you will see more vibrating going on there than you would have imagined, and in fact some people (although the culprit remains a matter of debate) manage to get theirs to make a "slapping" noise. Maggies make sound by vibrating the mylar, but once made, ideally we'd like those waves to vanish and not interfere with the next ones. Since they are attached to the MDF frames one would hope it would help, but it does not. In fact, with MDF's normal refusal to accept wave energy a large portion of that energy has no choice but to return to the driver where it came. Like ripples on a pond crashing back into the next line of waves, those two energies fight one another with the net result being major loss of detail.

Attaching struts was always thought to be the answer to panel vibration, however time has shown it is not. Yes, attaching struts to stock maggies will yield some improvement, but it does not solve the inherent problem. We believe the that problem lies in the fact that the MDF frame, being an inert body, refuses to take up and diffuse the vibrations the maggie driver makes. So like a rock tossed in a closed pond, the waves generated reach the edge and have no where to go, whereupon they return in the direction they came. When they collide with the next set of waves they make "choppy water", and that is exactly what a maggie driver in MDF looks like when playing and sounds like when playing - Choppy Water.

As far as materials wood was my only choice, but that was initially predicated by the fact I am a woodworker. Fortunately it turns out that it is the ideal medium, not only for looks but because wood has a natural ability to take vibrational energy and diffuse it. One of the things I found is if you hold a stock maggie by the MDF frame while playing, you really don't feel a lot of vibration, but if you look at the driver it will be bouncing all over the place. If you hold one of my frames while playing the amount of vibrational energy one can feel is startling, however if you look at the driver, no movement can be seen, even at high volumes. Magnestand frames take the first order waves and simply bleed them off, therefore they NEVER come back into the driver and they never contaminate the subsequent waves. What you get is one of the purest sounds in audio, which has been compared to and even beaten electrostats in its delicacy and beauty.

There are two parts to this equation however and that brings us to the crossover. I chose the design of the SMGa because in my opinion (and the opinion of many others) it is the most musical crossover Magnepan ever designed, (It is a shared, 1st order series with a 6 dbl slope) and it turns the two separate elements on the single maggie driver back into a single, coherent one. I have adapted the design and apply it to all the models I modify. In choosing the components to use for it, I wanted detail but did not wish to lose the inherent warmth of the speakers. After a long trial period I selected inductors and capacitors (and in some cases resistors) based on performance, not cost, and selected those which could deliver warmth and detail without adding grain or edge.

The result was a crossover worthy of the frames and neither is limited by the other in any way, and in fact they compliment and strengthen each other. The crossovers get built into matching custom wooden boxes (no two pair are alike) which feature Vampire binding posts. This box then "rides" on the plinth on Herbies "Iso-Dots" which allows the boxes weight to be added to the panels over all mass yet completely isolates the crossover from all vibrations. This gives the listener the clearest window into the music possible. The fuses are also permanently removed from the speaker because as far as Maggies go, "No fuse is good fuse".

The result? We believe it's one of the best speakers on earth, and I would be willing to put them up against any commers. So far they have beaten the top of the line models from companies like Gallo, Harbeth, Merlin and Vandersteen and they have even beaten specialized speakers costing as much as 15 thousand dollars. Is that possible? Well, I'll leave it to one of my customers to say who compared his Magnestand modded SMGa's against his friends pair of $4,300 Harbeth Super HL5's (Of which Stereo Times said the following: "Never, at any price or design type, have I heard a speaker that so completely got out of the way and let the music speak for itself. Never have I heard a speaker that exceeds the HL5’s ability to reveal the artistic quality of the music and its performance.") The results of that meeting? "....we A/B'd the Harbeths against the SMGa's and once again your SMGa's smoked a much more expensive speaker. It was incredible!!" Smoked, once again? Yes, apparently this customer had tried his modded Maggies against all (rather expensive) comers, and the Maggies won every time handily.

MURDERERS ROW - Modded MMG, MG-12 and MG 1.6 in Canarywood, Sapele and Makore

BUT WHICH MODEL DO I CHOOSE?

The following observations have been verified numerous times and should provide the best guide I can give you for choosing your model. However, I have said and still believe if you have a model and like it, mod it, don't shop for something else.

People who get to hear the modded MMG and the 1.6 together always have an immediate favorite, and it breaks about 50-50 or perhaps slightly in favour of the MMG. The reason they say they prefer it is "it sounds more musical", and the people who prefer the 1.6 like all the "extra detail". This does verify the major difference between them. The SMGa is almost exactly like the MMG without the top end air but with perhaps a touch more bass

The MMG is a very musical transducer. It makes a wonderful, complete, musical picture and delivers it with all the tempo and musicality of the piece. This is not to say there is not detail or air, but the complete musical picture is what draws your attention. It is also very full range with airy highs and excellent bass.

The 1.6 on the other hand does not do this. It is like a microscope showing the detail and nuance of every instrument, as if a spotlight were highlighting all of them individually. (one can imagine how detail intense that can get) It's size also allows it to deliver these images with a bit more decibel force. So because it does not weave these elements into music, it seems it relies on the listener to do this in his head and it appears many people simply can't.

The MG-12 is a hybrid of sorts and actually plays it both ways and displays traits of both of the others, but does not take it to the same levels the other two do. So the question must be is it a jack of all and master of none, or is it the best possible compromise for those who'd like both? I think the latter, as I have heard quite a few 12's now and have liked the model very much. I don't find it lacking and it balances the extremes well, with perhaps a slight tilt towards the 1.6's realism.

So how do you choose? You have to go listen to stock MMG's and 1.6's. These tendencies exist in non modded models, but it is not nearly so obvious. Do less thinking while auditioning and let your emotion and subconscious choose. One should move you a little more, and this will be the one for you. I could honestly live happily with any of them, honestly and truly and without one day of regrets or wishing I had another, but given the choice I'd take the 1.6. However that's me, and you need to choose the one for you.

Dictates that can effect your choice are your room and gear. If your room is smaller than 14 feet on all sides, or 11 feet or smaller on 2 of them I would recommend the MMG or SMGa. However, don't let big room size put you off MMG's, because they can play loud when modded and could easily overload my 22x16 room if I let them. Ceilings are generally not an issue as maggies beam, but if yours present a problem my advice is treat them, don't let them determine what gear you buy. As for amps more power is always better, and it should always be good power. Less good power is better than lots of bad power, and generally SS is the better choice. (put the tubes in the pre and CD player) Good tube amps of at least 30-35 wpc should be able to handle MMG's but it really depends on the gear. I will soon compile a list of what amps people are driving what models with.

Finally, don't sweat this decision, as there is no wrong one. You win every time. What's more some customers who have had to sell their Magnestands due to unfortunate circumstances have found they retain all of their value, and in some cases sell for more. So should you wish to one day change models, selling the old ones will not present a problem. The problem it seems is the wait in line for your pair, which again I apologise for and do all I can about.