Opinion from Maggie .7 owners (or anyone with knowledge of them)

I've been reading quite a bit about these and am thinking of ordering a set for a trial. Before I get in too deep from a time commitment standpoint and set up myself up for disappointment, here are the particulars of my room, system, and musical tastes.

Room - small home office, about 9 x 12, with a good amount of furniture in it; not cramped but close. Fully carpeted. 9-foot high ceiling..

System, as pieced together - (Vintage) Carver 2000 receiver, Oppo BDP-83 (mostly Redbook with some 2-channel SACD and DVD-A, Project Debut III w/Speed Box, Audioengine D2 wireless DAC streaming from Mac in the same room (mostly 320 AAC with some Hi-Rez and 256 AAC on either fringe).

Musical tastes - Mostly rock ranging from A (Aerosmith, America) to Y & Z (Young, Yes, Zappa), with a lot of Dylan, Dead, Springsteen, Beatles, prog thrown in. Some blues & jazz, very little classical.

Current speakers - 9 year old Polk RTI-6 sitting on top of the bookshelves, much like an old dorm room.

I'm happy with the Polks but with the kids grown, feel that it's safe to bring the speakers to floor level, so I'm viewing this as an upgrade based on intellectual curiosity more so than need.

Due to the room size, the speakers will be at best 2 feet from the wall, with windows and wooden blinds behind them, and about 4 feet apart from each other. Equipment rack will be in between them.

My sitting position (desk) will put me about a foot closer to the right speaker than the left, so some fancy angling will be necessary. As is, I'd be sitting about 6.5 feet away, so I won't be blasting at full volume.

Interested in what your thoughts are as to whether these speakers make sense or what you'd recommend instead. Doing nothing remains a viable option.

Thank you in advance for your replies and let me know if I've omitted any relevant info.

 

One additional item regarding listening position...when facing my screen or sitting at my desk the speakers will be either behind me or to my right. It's one of the reasons that having the sound above me has worked thus far.

 

I'm very familiar with Magnepan speakers so I would have to say you do not have a favorable setting for them IMO. They are wonderful speakers in many ways but they need to be more than 2 feet from the back wall. They also need some backwall attenuation. The windows make that difficult. The angling issue is less of a factor since you will have that with any speaker.

Nearfield listening would take the small room more out of the equation but presupposes your listening level would be lower too. Unfortunately Magnepans are not the best speakers for very low volume listening due to their insensitivity. You will lose some of their bass which is not in excess to begin with. You would still need a pretty hefty SS power amp probably in the 125 W vicinity.

 

Your room is most likely too small for these speakers. Have you considered a 'Mini-mag' setup with the two little speakers and one or more DWM's?

 

Unless you plan on moving or switching to a bigger room, the .7's would be wasted. The MMG's would be workable, just add a sub.

 

Another former Maggie owner who thinks your room is too small. But I've read favorable things about the new mini Mags mentioned above.

 

Thanks for the input thus far. As a follow up...

After reading up on these, I'm going to pass due to room configuration concerns, as neither the use of stands nor extending a wire across the room is practical.

Curious as to why the MMG's may be a viable option, given that they're nearly the same size as the 1.7's.


To go in a different direction, would something in the smaller Golden Ear line be a worthwhile alternative, considering the receiver I'm using?

 

If you don't even have room for stands, I would suggest you look at the Gallo micro and mini speaker lines . They have a very small footprint. They are paired with a woofer sub that you can place on the floor. They would work fairly well in the corner even.

 

The MMG's are plenty smaller IMHO.

The Golden Ear Triton 7's sounded amazing in my 9x12 room. For 41400 a pair I can't recommend them enough. See my review in TONEAudio.

 

I assume the first 4 was meant to be a $. Otherwise they're out of my price range.

 

I have musical tastes much like yours and fell in love with Maggies in the mid- 80s at a high-end showroom. I got a great deal on a pair of used MGIII-As, putting them in a room much like you describe. It was a bad fit, as these speakers really need distance from back and side walls to have room to breathe. Also, the closeness of the room prevented playing them at the volume they need to fully blossom. We eventually moved and I have a larger room in which they could finally sing. (Traded up to a then-new pair of 3.5s.) However, for your present arrangement, your bookshelf speakers may be best.

 

Oops, $1400 is correct

 

Your room is too small for MMGs. I have some and they need (at least) 4ft from back and sides. I have a small bed room where I have my MIDI keyboard setup. I use some Yamaha PA speakers. 15in 3 ways. They sound great in this small room. I got them for $150.00 each.

 

so this is REALLY a "BACK"-ground listening situation? If you're off-center and facing backwards, what more are you looking for out of the sound? I'm not poking fun, I'm curious. Some actual pictures would help us a lot! (hint hint). Failing that, some kind of more desktop-oriented system would probably bring you more listening pleasure. Maybe even your current speakers moved to your desk, if you have space. Otherwise, I think I'd recommend a subwoofer for fuller sound. It looks like your receiver has pre-out/main-in jacks, so a subwoofer with built-in high pass RCA output would be needed but could integrate correctly.

 

Klipsch Heresys might be just what you need. They can sound great in a small room with a small receiver/amp.