Maggies 1.6 are wonderful speakers out of the box, and even much better after a couple of months of heavy use, but they can be easily transformed with a few, easy and inexpensive mods, until converting them into true impressive and even scaring sonic devices, perfectly able to compete with more, much more expensive speakers (and even beat them).
I have incorporated the following mods, with the help of many people in the AA and the MUG
boards, so thanks everybody. I've been using my Maggies with a few unlisted tweaks, which also
additionally improved the sound delivered (eg: tilting forward a little, spiking them on heavy
granite blocks and using sand to make them more rigid). To see more about those tweaks you can
easily search the MUG archives, and also take a look at my system for reference.
Also, here is some pics of the system.
Here I'll concentrate in the following:
CONTENT
O. GENERAL SET UP
O.1. THE CARDAS METHOD
O.2. TWEETERS ON THE OUTSIDE
O.3. IMPROVING RIGIDITY
O.4. TO SUB OR NOT TO SUB
I. SOME BYPASSES
I.1. BYPASSING THE CONNECTION PLATE & FUSE
I.2. STEPS SAVED
I.3. BYPASSING JUST THE FUSE
I.4. BYPASSING THE PANELS PUSH TABS
II. TAKING THE SOCKS OFF
III. CROSSOVER UPGRADE
III.1. REWIRING XOVER NETWORK
III.2. CAPS REPLACEMENT
III.3. INDUCTOR REPLACEMENT
III.4. TOTAL COST
III.5. FURTHER UPGRADE PATHS
IV. BIAMPING
If you happen to try any of these mods, please post your results on the MUG board. Also, I'll be happy to provide you with more info or help as long as I can.
O. GENERAL SET UP
O.1. THE CARDAS METHOD. In my experience, the Cardas method is the best for my Maggies,
especially when they form an equilateral triangle with my head (nearfield). For details, and
several possibilities, see
here. A lot of experimentation is
indispensable, though.
O.2. TWEETERS ON THE OUTSIDE. After some time with the tweeters on the outside, then on the
inside, I now think the tweeters on the outside sound much better, in the long run. See what I
wrote about
this. You can also
experiment with taming the rear tweeter beam with something;
compact plants
did the trick for me, although after biamping I rather put them on the corners.
O.3. IMPROVING RIGIDITY. The problem is the Maggie feet are not enough to make the panel even
moderately rigid. Among the several possibilities available I chose to add aluminium bars on the
rear side. After a first attempt with just one bar, I then added a second. For details see
here
O.4. TO SUB OR NOT TO SUB. No doubts here: a good sub adds what is needed in terms of bass,
presence, weight and more. I’m very happy with my Rel Strata III, as you can read
here.
I. SOME BYPASSES
Bypassing usually means making the signal path shorter, then obtaining more
transparency; that's why I made the following ones to my Maggies, but there is
no need to do them if all you want to do is rewiring the xovers or replacing
the caps and/or the inductor; also, to do these mods you don't need to take the
socks off.
I.1. BYPASSING THE CONNECTION PLATE & FUSE
I was fed up of the cheap connection plate of my 1.6, so I decided to bypass it
all, including the fuse; to this end, you can do this (it will take you about 1
h each Maggie):
How much transparency can be so obtained? You can measure it by counting the
steps you are saving.
I.2. STEPS SAVED
How many steps there are between the amp output bare wire and the speaker input
bare wire (the one from the speaker binding posts to the xover input)? Let's
see:
AMP/SPEAKER CABLE: solder/binding post/contact banana-binding
post/banana/solder/: 5; total (+ & -) 5 x 2 = 10.
SPEAKER CABLE: cable/solder/banana/contact banana-binding post: 4; total (in
biwiring mode): 4 x 4 = 16.
SPEAKER (Maggie 1.6, biwired): (i) binding post/solder: 2; total 2 x 4 = 8;
(ii) (fuse wire): wire to fuse box/solder/fuse box/contact fuse/fuse/contact
fuse/fuse box/solder: 8;
total each speaker: 8 + 8 = 16.
Total amp+cable+speaker: 10 + 16 + 16 = 42 steps;
there are TWO speakers, so the FINAL TOTAL is 42 x 2 = 84 STEPS!!!
So in the very moment I finally CLAMPED the output bare wires of my monoblocks
to the input bare wires of my Maggies, so bypassing binding posts, speaker
cables, fuses, etc., etc., I was saving 84 steps to the signal path.
Results? Transparency, transparency, and still more transparency; but you
don't have to believe me, you can try yourself, and you'll probably be amazed,
as I was myself.
I.3. BYPASSING JUST THE FUSE
In my opinion the best way to bypass just the fuse is this:
I.4. BYPASSING THE PANELS PUSH TABS
This is a very important tweak to improve transparency and musicality, and can be done together
with any other xover tweak, either internal or external; when bianping I think this is a must,
and very, very easy. See my results here.
II. TAKING THE SOCKS OFF
In order to have fast and convenient access to the stock xovers (and also to
enjoy a more transparent sound, with no veils) I took the socks off. It took me
about 90 minutes each Maggie, and the main points to be carefully considered
are these:
According to Magnepan, the diaphragm and adhesive of the new models are UV
resistant,
and this is very good news, especially for me, for after hearing my 1.6 without
the
socks I've decided to have them permanently naked (they look uglier, but
definitely
sound better).
III. CROSSOVER UPGRADE
Everything is a compromise, and I'm taking my own choices here, being my
ABSOLUTE priority not to add unnecessary steps to the signal path (including
speaker cables), as for instance binding posts, connectors, solder, several
runs of wire which can be saved, etc., etc., all involved in building an
external xover box.
Also, I have to say that IMO many people won't cut the fabric nor build an
external xover because the first involves a strong aggression against their
beloved Maggies, while the second is expensive and time consuming; yet you can
have an excellent xover upgrade without having to cut the fabric nor paying a
lot of money, with everything located in the original space available in your
1.6.
To do this, you don't need any previous technical training or special skills,
as I didn't have such things myself.
III.1. REWIRING XOVER NETWORK
The stock xover network wires are not good, to say the least. There are 6' of
16ga cheap tinned copper, cheap PVC insulated, with lots of unnecessary solder
tabs. I made a first experiment replacing them by:
This resulted in clear improvements, but I was not quite satisfied, so I
decided to add some silver (I think Maggies like silver) like this:
Results: more transparency and low level detail; more resolution and
separation; a noticeable noise floor reduction (I suspect the van den Hul
speaker stranded hybrid wires
were doing more harm than good); better bass; timbres improved, especially
brass, but also strings and percussion.
(At present I’m using almost no wire, as I’m connecting directly each end of the inductors and
capacitors to the output wire of my mono amps and to the push tabs of the Maggie panels; for the
negative end of the panels i’m using solid core, enameled 12ga copper for woofer and 15ga for
tweeter.)
(NOTE ON CLAMPING WIRES. For those of you who may be interested, I always prefer clamping 2 wires
together than soldering them. To do that, I use small metallic cylinders (generally brass),
plastic insulated, with two small screws on each side, which are perpendicular to the cylinder
axis. There come in virtually every size, and are commonly used by electricians, at least in
Spain. So you put the wires to be connected (two or more of them) into a cylinder of the suitable
diameter (the lower the better), then simply tighten the screws as much as you
want, with the only caution not to break the wires. Notice that the connection
is good because you have the wires strongly pushed to each other, so you don't
depend on the quality of the brass. I'm using them almost everywhere, including
mains connections, to very good results. They are great, and of course all
connections can be easily reversed. See more on these screw/crimp connectors
here,
and a photo
here)
III.2. CAPS REPLACEMENT
After some doubts, I finally chose Ansar Supersound polypropylene axial
capacitors for the replacement. Ansar caps are highly regarded among
audiophiles, especially in Europe, where they are well-known, and are used by
some top-notch speaker companies (Proac is a good instance).
My Ansar caps are just one 22uF and one 25uF for each Maggie, and just 5x4 cm
size, which allowed me to install them on the same place of my former stock
caps, with no need of an external xover, so avoiding additional wiring and
connections, as well as the smearing time and microphony problems involved in
using several caps instead of one for each value; besides, there is room left
for replacing the inductor for a better one. Also, they are 400v, for high
voltage caps tend to sound better.
After a few days of almost continuous playing, the main sonic results of
replacing the stock caps by Ansar ones were these: much more low level detail,
a much fuller (although not particularly bigger) soundstage, and more natural
timbres for almost all instruments (including human voices); all kinds of music
now sound more transparent, with more immediacy and cohesiveness.
This MAJOR upgrade recalls me the replacement of my former preamp NOS 7308
Siemens and Telefunken tubes by my present Amperex, but just for a fraction of
the money I paid for them.
The price I paid for my Ansar caps was $12 each. The Ansar web site is
here. There you can see some info about distributors. By
that time Wilmslow Audio had the 25uF cap in stock, but not the 22uF, so i
ordered them from Cricklewood Electronics. I don't know the US Ansar
distributor, but you can ask Ansar by email.
You can contact Wilmslow by email and
Cricklewood by phone (+44 208 452 0161) or fax (+44 208 208 1441). Also, you
can see good Cricklewood ads in the UK magazine Hi-Fi World. (For Cricklewood’s website see
here; in case the site is not working, their
email address is this sales@cricklewoodelectronics.com. If you
happen to order
from either of them, make sure they will send you exactly what you order, with
no replacements.)
Summing up: this is the most cost effective mod i've ever made.
(For details about my experiences with different caps, see below.)
III.3. INDUCTOR REPLACEMENT
The criteria for my choice were these:
Results: very nice indeed, although nothing comparable to the ones obtained
through the caps replacement; in particular, the bass is now cleaner, faster
and louder, with more visceral impact, which is clearly noticeable with all
sorts of music where bass is important; better bass is particularly noticeable
in rather boomy recordings, which are now much more enjoyable
To get not only better bass, but MORE bass is specially nice to me, as I always
found the tonal balance of my 1.6 rather biased to midrange and treble; now I
enjoy big symphonic orchestras, big operas and big choral works much more, but
also my acoustic jazz favourites.
If you happen to share my above three criteria, or think that the tonal balance
of the 1.6 should be slightly corrected towards more bass, or simply want to
experiment for just $25, then go for it; it is highly recommended.
(NOTE ON STEEL LAMINATE INDUCTORS. Not having expertise on inductors, I looked
for some advice in the industry. This is what Stephen Tidwell, the owner of
Layne Audio, wrote to me recently about steel
laminate inductors: "Regular iron bar or rod cores [also called ferrite] are
made up of a low density "powdered" iron material that is cast into a given
shape, be it a square bar, round rod, or more complex shape like a bobbin.
Steel core inductors use a plain mild steel rod or bar. Steel laminate
inductors use a bar made up of many thin layers of grain oriented steel alloy
sheeting, much like the construction used for certain types of transformers. As
I understand it, the advantage comes from the density and grain structure of
the steel alloy layers. The core is easily and evenly permeated by the magnetic
field generated in the windings, which leads to very low distortion at lower
frequencies compared to even air core inductors. Iron /ferrite cores have
comparatively poor magnetic qualities, hence the added distortion.")
(NOTE ON FOIL INDUCTORS. Foil inductors are HUGE (the 3.5mH, 12ga
is about FIVE pounds of copper!!), and their main goal is to prevent against
the "skin effect": a distortion and loss of power taking place when HIGH
FREQUENCIES pass through thick conductors. Yet the 1.6 xover point is 600hz,
which is an impressively LOW point for a two way speaker, so the inductor main
mission here is precisely to KILL high frequencies, not to make them
happier. Some speaker builders, even though they do admit that foil inductors
may work very well, they still prefer not to use them above 2.0mH. Also, foil
inductors exhibit some distortion too, and there are serious people in the
industry thinking that a well implemented steel laminate inductor may exhibit
even less distortion than foil inductors, especially above 2.0mH inductance.
Finally, foil inductors are very expensive.)
(For details about my experiences with different inductors, see below.)
III.4. TOTAL COST
The total cost of my xover upgrade for the two Maggies is $85 ($12 wires + $48
caps + $25 inductors).
(These prices are considerably increased with Auricaps/Jensen caps and North Creek inductors; see
below.)
III.5. FURTHER UPGRADE PATHS
Caps. I may try Auricaps in the future; they make the 22uF exact value, 200v,
1.67x1.75, at $38; you can get more info here
(I tried the Auricaps, as well as the Jensens –about same price as Auricaps, so you can see a
full comparison, including a good Jensen source, here
and more info on the Jensen line here.)
Inductor. A further replacement might be the air core12ga, 85x44mm, 3.5mH, 0.30
ohms DCR, made by North Creek Audio; their inductors are prestigious and well
built, but you would have to pay about $40 each; you can get more info
here.
(I tried the North Creek inductors as well; for details about my sonic results you can read here.)
IV. BIAMPING
Instead of boring the readers with the full, detailed story of my biamping adventures and
results, here you have all the steps as they appeared on the AA boards
Jan 9: first intention to biamp: noted here
Jan 25: passive biamping (still with high level xover), first impressions: noted here
The line level xover circuit used (designed by Davey explicitly for my amplifier's input impedances : THANKS A LOT
DAVEY!!!!!!):
Feb 4: first impressions at inserting the passive line xover: it works!!: noted here
Feb 8: update: noted hre
Feb 11: darkness problem solved noted here
Feb 15: components upgrade (Rel
caps & Vishay resistors)
March 20: upgrading the tweeter cap: Jensen did it again
April 16: upgrading the tweeter resistor: tantalum vs Vishay
In this way you replace this situation: [wire/solder/fuse box/fuse
contact/fuse/fuse contact/fuse box/solder/wire/solder/binding post] by this
one: [wire/solder/binding post],
so saving EIGHT steps to the signal path, and not only the fuse itself, which
would be the case if you just replace the fuse by some quality wire. The result
is a noticeable improvement in transparency, but if you bypass the whole plate
the improvement is clearly superior.
(I ordered the wires from homegrown audio)
Some more details:
After some unsuccessful attempts to have such an inductor custom made, I found
that madisound.com has been using and selling what they call "Sledgehammer
steel laminate inductor", which in addition to meet my needed specs (3.5mH,
15ga, 0.19 ohms DCR, 95x45x32 mm), is very inexpensive (about $12 for my
value); you can see the info here.
These inductors are very similar to the 1.6 stock ones, being the size and
gauge the only apparent differences, and as it seems they are being used for
xover networks in much more expensive speakers.
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