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SoundStage! Equipment Review - Magnepan MMG W and MMG C Loudspeakers (12/2003)

Home Audio Equipment Review
December 2003
Magnepan MMG W and MMG C Loudspeakers
by Wes Phillips
"The best loudspeakers that not all that much
Review Summary
Sound
"Robust and seamless" -- "much more like 'no speaker' than any $300-per-pair speaker has any right to sound"; "the orchestral sound from the front three speakers was…rich, warm, and dynamic"; "the surround channels added a subtle touch of ambience, which seems like a small thing, but it added a convincing element of solidity to the entire experience."
Features
Single-driver planar-magnetic speakers from "one of the classic American high-end-audio firms"; "so darn simple" -- "no crossover, no box, no individual drivers"; However, "you won't see the MMG W and MMG C at audio stores; they're only available direct from Magnepan."
Pssst! Wanna know a secret?
I have the answer to your multichannel­music prayers right here and nobody else knows about it -- yet. But you better act fast; as soon as word gets out, everybody's going to want a pair (or two) and you'll have to get in line. I'm betting it's going to be a looong one.
Here's the kicker: They're not just good -­they're unbelievably inexpensive.
And good-looking -- did I mention that they're good-looking?
Almost invisible, really.
Oh heck, let me just blurt it out: Magnepan's new wall-mounted MMG W loudspeaker costs only $299 USD per pair and has a matching wide-dispersion center-channel, the MMG C, that sells for a matching $299.
Don't shout like that -- this is a secret, remember?
The secret of style: have something to say and say it as clearly as you can
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SoundStage! Equipment Review - Magnepan MMG W and MMG C Loudspeakers (12/2003)
Use
"Regarding mounting the MMG Ws, "Magnepan has designed a clever mounting bracket that enables you to mount the speakers flat against the wall and then swivel them into a "using" position when you want to listen to them." "The MMG W's 100Hz bottom end just doesn't give it a lot of authority," so "these Maggies really want a subwoofer."
Value
"Getting to the magic that live music possesses remains tantalizingly out of reach for almost every loudspeaker, no matter how costly," but "the Maggies capture a piece of that magic, which is a trick speakers costing ten times more have a hard time doing."
If you're not familiar with Magnepan, a word of explanation is in order. The company is one of the classic American high-end-audio firms. The name is a compressed form of magnetic planar, the technology the company's speakers employ. Magnetic panel loudspeakers have no cabinet or "box," just a framework supporting a tightly stretched, electrically conductive Mylar membrane that is adjacent to arrays of small magnets. The membrane's motion creates the speaker's sound. Since there's no "box" to catch the backwave, a planar-magnetic loudspeaker radiates as much sound to the rear as it does to the front, so you have to place the speakers away from the wall behind them.
The largest Magnepans have different-diameter aluminum wire attached to the Mylar membrane, creating woofers and midrange panels (all models employ quasi-ribbon or true ribbon drivers as line-source tweeters). The new MMG W and MMG C use smaller-diameter tweeter-sized wire throughout their single driver panels.
The MMG W is a compact loudspeaker, measuring only 38" tall by 10 1/2" wide by 3/4" thick. My sample pairs were wrapped in an oatmeal colored fabric with a narrow band of walnut running down the speakers' 3/4" front edge.
The MMG W is designed to be mounted near a boundary (a wall) -- it won't really develop its full frequency response (100Hz-16kHz) without the boost that placement provides. That's not a bug; it's a feature. It allows you to place the MMG W unobtrusively in almost any room. Better yet, Magnepan has designed a clever mounting bracket that enables you to mount the speakers flat against the wall and then swivel them into a "using" position when you want to listen to them. That's about as close to invisible as high-quality loudspeakers get.
Magnepan deserves quite a bit of credit for the design of the MMG W and its mounting bracket. The speaker only weighs about 10 pounds, allowing the bracket to be quite small without sacrificing strength. Even better, the MMG W's hard-wired tail exits the speaker through its bottom bracket-mounting hole. The bottom bracket is drilled so that the wire can be fed through it. It's a neat solution to the cable problem
-- and if you really want to make things tidy, you can route the speaker cables through the wall.
So how does this whole "swivel 'em to use 'em" thing work? Simply mount the speakers on the front wall (the one you face when you're listening to music) and store 'em flat against it. (If you're flanking a flat panel TV with them, just place 'em on either side of it; if your TV is in a media cabinet, just screw the speakers to its walls.) When you're ready to listen, just swing 'em out at a 30-degree angle that points the MMG Ws toward your command chair.
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SoundStage! Equipment Review - Magnepan MMG W and MMG C Loudspeakers (12/2003)
If you're using the MMG Ws as surround speakers, mount 'em on the side walls behind your seats. Then swing 'em out when in use so they are perpendicular to the side walls. The front channels should be placed more or less at ear height, and for best performance the surrounds should be as well, although this is less critical. Ideally, the surrounds should be at least three feet from the rear wall.
The MMG C does have a "box" -- sort of. It uses a version of the same panel as the MMG W (and has the same 100Hz-16kHz frequency response), but it's curved, so that the speaker's horizontal dispersion is broader than it would be if it were flat. Because of the panel's curvature, the MMG C is mounted within a bowed framework that is 36" wide by 9 1/4" high by 5 1/2" deep at its front, tapering to 2 1/2" at its tips. Speaker-wire connections are made through small set-screw-tightened sockets, a non-standard but very secure arrangement. The MMG C weighs 18 pounds.
I know that’s a secret, for it’s whispered every where
Before we proceed, a few comments are called for.
First, you won't see the MMG W and MMG C at audio stores; they're only available direct from Magnepan. The company is hoping to reach new customers, ones who probably wouldn't ever set foot in a specialty audio store. If you've never heard of Magnepan, buying direct from the company might make you uncomfortable, but it shouldn't -- in customer-satisfaction surveys, Magnepan consistently rates at the top of the list. Most Magnepan customers would rather step up to a better model from the company than seek a speaker from anybody else.
But if the MMG W and MMG C aren't your cup of tea, the company offers a 60-day money-back guarantee.
The other thing you need to know is that these Maggies really want a subwoofer. That's the downside to their near-invisibility. A small panel can only do so much, and the MMG W's 100Hz bottom end just doesn't give it a lot of authority.
The MMG W doesn't have a low-pass filter, but that's no big deal. Many audiophiles (such as me, for example) would rather run the speakers full range to avoid the audible effects of filters; if you'd rather employ some form of filtration, most subs have a high-pass filter built in.
In surround settings, which is how I auditioned the Maggies, you can establish the speaker/subwoofer relationship within your processor. As I said, no big deal -- in fact, leaving out a low-pass circuit makes a lot of sense.
To sin in secret is not to sin at all
I set the MMG Ws and MMG C up in a multichannel system, using four MMG Ws and a single MMG C. I was impressed by the ease of the setup process. It took less than an hour -- and that included finding my electric screwdriver in the morass of post-move boxes we're currently living amidst.
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