Home Planar Speaker Asylum

Welcome! Need support, you got it. Or share your ideas and experiences.

RE: Jumping back into the pool

Asking advice on a dedicated enthusiast's board or looking for positive reinforcement after a decision has been made can be fraught with hazard. Every suggestion has merit to a point, and yet, at the same time all suggestions may be worthless based on a lack of familiarity with your music listening environment and other factors beyond the advisor's knowledge.

For instance, budget has got to be more important to a requestor than to the advisor. Most of us can suggest ways to get better sound if the individual asking advice is the lucky winner of the daily lotto. That said, even the best expert opinion can't substitute for a good visual representation of your listening environment in lieu of actually listening to music there in person.

Also, without knowing real world limitations, from spousal considerations (WAF) to budgetary limitations it's difficult if not impossible to make full throated suggestions respecting how to get the most out of what you have or intend to get. By way of example, I could draw up a budget for a great large listening room Maggie based system from scratch for under $20,000, but that might be 10 times more than someone requesting input is prepared to invest, ...at least at this point.

Others might suggest buying used, but that too is fraught with some risk even for the die-hard DIY'er prepared to invest time and money outside of product warranties. Bottom line on this is bigger Maggies will sound better in bigger rooms, that's a fact. Lot's of good clean watts benefit all Maggies especially with wpc power increments proportional to speaker size.

My view is that a good subwoofer is indisposable for getting the most out of mid-range sized Maggies (i.e., 3.7i for instance) in a large listening room environment. Others may differ ...and often do... based on personal listening levels, musical tastes and other experiences with their own systems. Smaller Maggie designs may sound great initially, but end up being less satisfying overall in a large listening room, even with bass augmentation, ...or not.

I'd almost be inclined to suggest the possibility of blocking off part of a large listening room using a solid room-divider of some kind if the LRS system or other smaller Maggie designs are favored, but again, my assessment is based on experiences ...previously in smaller rooms with smaller speaker systems... and currently in a large listening environment which is shaped somewhat differently than your own (approx. 22' x 22' x 20').

It's kinda surprising that someone isn't strongly recommending the 30.7 Maggie system based on the size of your listening room, but the price tag on those babies is not for the faint of budget. OTOH, I'm unconvinced that a smaller Maggie based system will accommodate the size space you're filling with or without more wattage. It all depends on you're prepared to spend. All said, I wouldn't rule out the 1.7i as a worthwhile step-up possibility.

Which brings me back to the 3.7i, which I consider an ideal mid-priced Maggie system that offers great flexibility in larger rooms when integrated with a good sealed subwoofer (another modest expenditure). There are also stable high power Class D amps available now that are relatively inexpensive and sound great with Maggies. The tubed preamp you mentioned also sounds like a good approach, but there are many to choose from on a budget (ice cream to match your listening flavor). You could probably do all of this for well under $10K with no used gear.

Hey, these are just gut impressions based on my own system preferences. Other's mileage will undoubtably vary, but hopefully you can glean something useful from all the thoughtful, well informed opinions here.

Cheers,
AuPh


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