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Recommended music for Maggies and subs.

Posted by Audiophilander (A) on March 24, 2020 at 14:01:41

This isn't a new idea by any means, but finding good material that moves you and makes your system shine is always a priority. This isn't just a thread for audiophile level recordings or exotic Grey Poupon classical or jazz listening, but rather exceptions to the rule. We all know the usual suspects and types of music recommended to Maggie owners. What I'm looking for here are surprises and those fish out of water recommendations.that aren't usually recommended to the chamber music and female vocal loving crowd.

The reason I mention subs is that a good percentage of Maggie owners augment their sound systems to some degree in the lower octaves. While the biggest Maggies ...20 & 30 series... handle deep bass better, most owners will probably fall into the category of smaller size models. For those folks who own systems with subwoofer(s) this thread should be especially interesting as well recorded music with deep bass content played over Maggies supported by sub-augmentation can be surprisingly revealing.

With lowest octave bass support Maggies can not only produce amazing inner detail, but the dynamics and slam associated with many rock recordings, personal music preferences notwithstanding. Regardless, the best recordings are those worth seeking whether LP, CD, SACD, BD or downloadable source. With that, I'll star with a short list of well recorded CDs with laudable bass content that I'd feel comfortable recommending to Maggie owners...

Wishbone Ash - Live Dates II (progressive rock, original CD or recent box set) ...astounding bass content, separation, great vocals, f/b depth and top to bottom inner detail.

Doobie Brothers - The Captain and Me (classic rock. Mobile Fidelity CD) ...average bass, but excellent top to bottom detail and vocals.

Savoy Brown - Step Further (classic blues rock original CD) ...clear vocals with good to excellent top to bottom detail, moments of incredible depth and pinpoint placement on drums through inventive use of studio mic-ing especially on fourth song "I'm Tired/Where Am I"

Uriah Heep - Demons and Wizards (classic hard rock, remastered CD series) ...the entire reissued early album series of remasters is outstanding (a rarity these days), none are overly compressed, offering superb dynamics and balance, excellent vocal range, very good bass, clear detail top to bottom, nice depth and imaging. This series is revealing and the best these rock tunes have ever sounded.

A couple of jazz and classical classics for good measure:

Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five (classic modern jazz, various) ...the reason I say various is that this has been released and rereleased so many times on various formats that picking one that tops alll others in every way is almost impossible. In this instance the original vinyl probably sounds best, but for alternative formats an audiophile CD or SACD will serve best. This recording has good dynamics and balance, with good depth and range.

Holst - Planets -Zubin Mehta conducting LA Philharmonic (classical orchestra) ...recommend the original Decca master whether on LP, CD, SACD or digital download. Much better recording than the first stateside reissues with better depth, sound-staging and inner detail. The subtlety of deep bass comes through over a subwoofer on this recording.

This is just a thread starter. I'll make additional recommendations as this thread progresses, assuming it does progress. This post focused mostly on rock because that is usually least recommended for appreciating Maggies due to the bass slam issue. It has been my experience that Magneplanars can easily provide the fundamentals required for deep bass when matched with an appropriate sub. In fact, I'd argue that ...in combination with the right subwoofer... they can do it better than other speaker systems in their respective price range.

I'm sure others have music suggestions in mind to share. My primary likes are classic rock, jazz and classical, but there are no limitations here. If you like or prefer modern jazz, classical, country, hard rock, tech, soft rock, vocal artists, groups, whatever. A lot of folks are home now, so why not dust off some music you haven't listened to in awhile and add your own thoughts or lists. While my focus is mostly on music for bass augmented Maggies, this thread extends to all variety of planers.

BTW, if you have subwoofer supported speakers, it would probably be useful for the purpose of discussion to list your speaker model and whatever powered sub(s) underpins it. My Maggie system is 3.7i supported by a single, centered Hsu Research ULS-15 Mk I.

Cheers,
AuPh

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