- Here you can browse thru photos of our finished speakers. Click on the thumbnail for a full sized pic. My pair and the original prototype and it's evolution Following up the Sapele parade came Al from Florida who got his 12's done in that wood too. His turned out great and I was sad to see them leave. He was also a great customer and had this to say about me even! It has been an absolute pleasure doing business with a caring professional craftsman such as yourself. Every aspect of this transaction between us has been fantastic, and I could not have asked for a better person or company with whom to do business. If you ever need to use me for a reference for you or your products, please do not hesitate to let me know. Believe me when I tell you, being 58 years old as I am, I cannot remember a better or more professional person with whom to do business, as you have been throughout the entire process. About his speakers he said... Suffice it to say, where I thought my 12's were quite good before, these now sound so much better that I am astonished. What really is amazing to me is now I am hearing so much more in recordings than I ever heard before. As an example, I happen to be an avid fan of Pink Floyd for 40+ years, but now, listening to my new mods, I am hearing so many more nuances in the various recordings (with which I am acutely familiar), to the point of being stunned with utter delight. I never thought I could find speakers which could compete with my top of the line Sennheiser headphones for musical clarity and reproduction, but indeed now it has happened with my newly "Gunned" speakers. I think I have achieved musical nirvana, and this is after two hours of listening! Owing to the popularity of the look of the 12's I had done in Sapele, Dion from Florida asked me to make his 1.6's in it as well. I got his comments on the phone so I'll have to ask him to write them, but he was thrilled and he was especially lucky as he got a grain pattern I'll probably never see the like of again, but which turned out beautiful. He told me the something I already knew: "They're so beautiful, I just sit there and stare at them..." Sapele really does shine like a cats eye stone in the light. Gorgeous stuff, and I found out it comes from what were German colonies in Africa, and the Germans used the wood for all their airship propellors. These are the first pair of MG-12's we did and they went to Mark in Colorado. They were also the first pair made in a tropical wood called Sapele which has proven to be very popular ever since. Mark had some very considered opinions and he said: As a stat fan transparency is one of my absolute addictions. Now many will argue all day that there is no way a planar magnetic can be as "fast" as a stat, due to higher mass, solar flares or what ever. All I have is my ears, and they tell me that your mods produce a speaker as clear as anything I have ever heard. It is all there, which is startling. No artificial glare, as with some stats, but the amount of sheer detail that comes through in an utterly natural way is staggering. I am confident that these equal or exceed my Sound Labs, MLs and Quads in being an open window. Imaging is my other holy grail. When listening to reproduced music, visual clues are missing and precise imaging adds a huge amount to the illusion of having the performers in the room with you. This was one of my minor complaints with the Sound Lab A1s. Their image was rather diffuse, I think due to the 90 degree pattern of dispersion (the new 45 degree panels may be better). The Martin Logan CLSs were my former imaging champs. The images could occasionally seem a bit too etched, but they gave me many moments of astonished joy as voices and instruments floated freely in their own space. My modded 12s, I believe, are superior to anything I have ever heard in this regard. The precision of a two way minimonitor without the miniturization. Images are crystal clear, yet completely natural and unforced. These pics are a pair of modded .5's, a somewhat rare model that I called "los Pequeños Toros de la Muerte" or "The Little Bulls of Death" due to their squat stature. They went to Nick in CA who said: That wonderful Maggie sound that we love so much is all still there, but there is now more of it, more of everything. In fact, the bass is striking in that it is so prevalent, and what wasn’t there before is there now in spades. These speakers now rock. Your mods have made the midrange even more lush and real. The famous sweet vocals are even more glorious. The detail and resolution is astounding. I hear inner detail in these speakers I never heard before in them and that I don’t hear from my 3.6Rs. This is our first pair of modded MMG's and we were thrilled with the results. They went to Mike G in Washington who had this to say: "I don't want to gush. Nobody believes gushers. Critical readers are more likely to put stock in a sober and objective report, but our system sounds better than it ever has, better than anyone elses' home system I have ever heard (I feel very lucky), and better than any system I've heard in a high end audio store (which is sad because great gear sounds like crap in a poor setup). I am so pleased, I could shit Krugerrands." This pair of modded 1.6rq's also went to Gary in SC who was so thrilled he couldn't wait to try to upgrade. We're still awaiting his review but among his first impressions were: "The speakers are setup and sounding absolutely astounding!! I can't believe how closely they are voiced to the SMGa's now, only with MORE! While I can hear some differences between the models they are sonically close but the 1.6 sounds bigger. Both however are great, and the 1.6's look awesome." Gary was forced to sell these due to financial difficulties, and their new owner Neil has this to say upon their arrival Between me, you and the wall, your 1.6's plus my sub system can take on the world, wilson, magico, dont make no difference. I have in my possession now without a doubt the best sounding speakers out there. Robert Harley from absolute sound said the JL Audio fathom 113's had a better bottom end than wilsons. I have 2 of these, but your 1.6's are equal and in the top, better. I will admit, your mod is about as perfect as maggies can get, visual and sound. What you have done is made a world class speaker affordable to the general public. This pair of early SMGa's went to Gary in SC. Among his comments were: In short they sound incredible..much better than my 1.6's and much better than I anticipated. They are awesome!! Really!! My friends were blown away...we played james taylor copperline sacd version and all I can say is wow!! I have a big smile on my face and am very happy with my purchase." Follow Up - I do not miss my 1.6 after living with these for the past couple weeks. They are that awesome. Audio friends have brought over gallo nucleus reference and to both our ears the maggies were much more resolving and much more enjoyeable to listen to. Another friend of mine brought over his harbeth super hl-5 and we a/b with the smg's and once again the smg's smoked a much more expensive ($4,300) speaker. incredible!! The following went to Bill in CA. He was the first person to approach me to make a pair for him, and he was also the persistent nag who kept harping until I made a pair with full wooden frames. So he is the man we owe all this to. His impressions, and his speakers, after the original mod, and then after having frames made. He said... "I keep being amazed by these things. The off axis listening is a quantum improvement. These speakers now sound like musical instruments, with weight and richness. What's amazing is it takes less power to make all this extra detail and musicality. I am still slack jawed and I can't wait to crow about them. Many thanks."