Anyone ever run Magneplanar Speakers?

stuwee said:
Well, you have to keep the wife happy, sorry for trying to move you, remember, these old Maggies usually need work, are you up to that?

Is she up to having big panels far out in the room? If so, go boy!! You will be a happy camper!

~stu
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Actually she won't allow a monster stereo in the house.... but my shop is all mine!!! I really came so close to buying those this evening but it is not like I really need them now I have a pretty decent pair of big bad boys now and I'm thinking I would maybe rather find a 700B to do a WOPL and figure at this time the money would be better spent there... the planers are on the back burner for now but I see the day I will have some
 
I haven't heard the Magneplanars, but I have heard the Martin Logan CL SII panels in a Cassette Deck Shootout held at Innovative Audio in 2012. Beautiful definition, clarity, and stereo imaging, but a little bass-shy. These are $15K speakers.



Nando.
 
I seriously considered getting some Magnepans from HiFi Centre in Vancouver. But never ended up doing that because I don't have room for speakers this big. Those speakers we heard at the tapedeck shootout sounded very good indeed. I wonder if a sub would have helped?
 
Hookay, Nando's post show's how they look from the factory, my post shows what Dave did with lot's of blood/sweat & tears building custom cabinets for them.

I need to mention, he dropped the price to $1,500.00 so they would go to a good home, I missed that, shoulda,coulda, woulda!! F'n Hell!


Dang it Lee, we missed a wonderful opportunity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Now back to Maggies...
 
I just scored a pair of Acoustat 2+2 and pretty excited for my foray into electrostats, I have not hooked them up yet but I am expecting the interfaces to need a little help and upgrading to the C interface ( these are the 121-2a). I understand the panels themselves to be quite robust.

one of the towers was under the HVAC vent for 30 years apparently and it seems it was vacuumed weekly, as a result one grill cloth looks like burlap and the other is perfect... I've read that the OEM grill cloth is not as acoustically transparent as it should be and I would prefer a cream color to the black anyway. There is NO WAY I will get away with running them with out grill cloth, my wife was surprisingly cool with them in the living room. However I know for sure that the florescent light grid being visible would be a deal breaker. so some cloth will be needed.
 
OneTonScoutII said:
I just scored a pair of Acoustat 2+2 and pretty excited for my foray into electrostats, I have not hooked them up yet but I am expecting the interfaces to need a little help and upgrading to the C interface ( these are the 121-2a). I understand the panels themselves to be quite robust.

one of the towers was under the HVAC vent for 30 years apparently and it seems it was vacuumed weekly, as a result one grill cloth looks like burlap and the other is perfect... I've read that the OEM grill cloth is not as acoustically transparent as it should be and I would prefer a cream color to the black anyway. There is NO WAY I will get away with running them with out grill cloth, my wife was surprisingly cool with them in the living room. However I know for sure that the florescent light grid being visible would be a deal breaker. so some cloth will be needed.
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Very nice bet your gonna love em when you get them done up
 
OneTonScoutII said:
I just scored a pair of Acoustat 2+2 and pretty excited for my foray into electrostats, I have not hooked them up yet but I am expecting the interfaces to need a little help and upgrading to the C interface ( these are the 121-2a). I understand the panels themselves to be quite robust.

one of the towers was under the HVAC vent for 30 years apparently and it seems it was vacuumed weekly, as a result one grill cloth looks like burlap and the other is perfect... I've read that the OEM grill cloth is not as acoustically transparent as it should be and I would prefer a cream color to the black anyway. There is NO WAY I will get away with running them with out grill cloth, my wife was surprisingly cool with them in the living room. However I know for sure that the florescent light grid being visible would be a deal breaker. so some cloth will be needed.
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Pics?????
 
laatsch55 said:
NICE!! Power hungry??
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Well I would have to conclude that its not functioning correctly, the left speaker is playing at the faintest of volumes and the right speaker at a conversation level while the volume knob is at 90% or so when powered by my #2 PL400.
I haven't even opened them up, sliding the one grill cloth down is as far as I've gone.
 
Had a few pair of Magneplanars. Bought the MG-I when selling gear swapped em for a car...and a stack of payments.
Bought a pair of IIIa, a pair of 2.5/R, and two more pair of IIIas. All needing work. Rewired a set of IIc for a friend. Sold the rebuilt to like new MG-IIIa set and the rebuilt 2.5/R. Still have the first pair of IIIa and a pair that needs a lot of work but they were cheap enough.

Great speakers for that sound. Need some extra on the bottom and a friend complains that the image is too big and they need power but they have a unique sound to them that is very nice.

Where are you guys getting the pricing on the ML speakers discussed? ML has on their site the museum of their speakers and the CLS is a 2500 pair, the CLSIIz were 6k. Heard the CLX 25th-Anniversary with a pair of the Descent subs. Decent speakers but I preferred the Magico I heard in that room and I'm kinda a panel speaker guy liking the Magneplanars and many electrostatic speakers.

http://www.martinlogan.com/learn/product_museum.php
 
While poking around a bit ago I opened the right side interface, checked it all out and noted the cap values. Opened up the left side and the 3 wire bundles must have not been tightened down to their respective contacts because they were just sitting there when I pulled the interface away. I reconnected and retested, I had a bit more volume and it was playing on both speakers. However I was still turning it nearly all the way up and then blew both fuses at least nearly simultaneously in the speakers.
even at the lower volume its still striking in the sharpness and clarity while listening to a flawless Coltrane album so it seems that its just the volume that is not enough.

edit: manual reads 5A fuses and I pulled out 3A fuses
 
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Hello ScoutII, I saw this review, http://www.stereophile.com/content/acoustat-22-loudspeaker#GJlpRTJdrisuMBIH.97 , I'm sure you saw it as well. Nice grab on the 2 + 2's buddy :occasion5:, welcome to the 'stat club, no other speaker will make your jaw drop like an electrostat! Magical sessions await :happy2:.

I've posted many threads and links about the load electrostatic speakers present to an amplifier, it is not just about power...and they need lot's of that! The amp see's them like a giant capasitor and, sends power back to the amp. It's a very reactive load, then add the fact that at low frequencies it is a pretty high ohm load, and drops down to dangerous ohm levels, like 2 or 1 ohms in the higher frequencies. This is the opposite of most home box speakers.

Your 2 + 2's need to be well out into the room, they need air around them to get the best from these very imposing beasties!! And an amp that can handle the oscilating swings of ohm load and very high current they will demand. It seems like the WOPL's are up to the task from what I've read here. You will need a good fan system for high volume concert levels...Have fun bud, enjoy!! :hello1: :happy2: :blob8:
 
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