VINTAGE Magnepan SMG + NEW Ortofon SPU cartridge reviews 

I'm living with my Maggie 1.7i for over a year now, and I absolutely love them. While there are highly depending on good electronics, can be a pain to correctly place in the room and surely have flaws, I don't want to go back to boxes any time soon. I've heared many speakers that sound more impressive or like better speakers, but the thing I love about the maggies is, that they don't sound like speakers at all, music just fills the room.

Fellow maggie owner here. You won't believe it, but I found my .5/QR's among sidewalk trash on the UWS. Don't think I'll ever get rid of them, such a magical sound.

I bought a original pair of SMG's nine years ago they were for sale on KIJIJI for about 2 months and the price kept going down every few weeks. I contacted the seller and went to check them out , they looked brand new so I had a quick listen made him an offer and brought them home. Not knowing a lot about them except they need lots of power I set them up with a 100 watt per channel Realistic receiver , after 5 min. the receiver shut down 4 ohm load my first lesson . I purchased a Jolida JD1701 intergrated amp that had great reviews driving Magnepans and it powered them no problem but they sounded kind of lifeless . I took out the tweeter fuses and they looked fine even with a magnefying glass , then checked them with a meter and they were open. Put in new fuses and wow there they were sounding pretty good my second lesson . Ran them with the Jolida with good results for about a year and a half until a Sumo Polaris power amp came up for sale great amp so I bought it right away , used a NAD 3225 as a pre amp and they opened right up and sounded amazing third lesson they need current . Next and final lesson was placement ,I had read about the 3 feet from the wall and had them about 7 feet apart sitting position at about 9 feet sounding pretty good tweeters out , but after much experimentation with toe in and distance from the back wall I found the sweet spot and WOW this is how they should sound. These speakers are in perfect flawless condition just like new and sound like new as well no subwoofer needed and I like bass . I contacted Magnepan with my serial numbers to find out when they were made and if they had ever been sent back for rebuilding , they emailed me the next day to tell me they were made July 1983 and have never been back for service . About a year and a half ago I bought the LRS they are a much more refined speaker , very very detailed and transparent and the imaging is simply awe inspiring but they demand more current to get the best from them . I now use a Sumo Andromeda Two amp with no current limiting and 400 watts per channel and it is a total musical experiance . Still have the SMG and swap them with the LRS for about one week each month to keep them limber they sound remarkable . These are not plug and play speakers but they are worth every effort to get the best out of them. Thanks for the rant . Take care everyone.

My best wishes for 2022 for you and Mrs Audiophialiac

I have a pair of smg-c from 1993 and they are just stunning to hear if theyre powered with a solid state class a amp and a few feet from the wall. You need a sub but oh man the way the room gets just filled with sound is unreal. 20 feet away, 40 feet away from the speaker, the sound is the same. Its nuts !!! They do make bass 100% but i prefer a 12 to back it up.

Nice, Steve! I first heard a pair of these Magnapans sometime back in the mid to late 80's. Wow, what an eye (and ear) opener! Great video, and thanks again!

glad we lift you up when you hear from us. Thanks for the great description of the mag sound, I am hoping to hear a set someday, maybe this year.

I've been loving my Planar headphones and honestly I never even thought of planar speakers so I'm totally going to be looking into some of your past videos for that.

I recently bought a pair of MMG’s for a good price. Little did I know about Magnepans, I used to listen a LOT to box speakers. I guess I was lucky by pairing them with a good amp an placing them at a good distance of the walls. Man, I was blown away by the sweet sound!! I love my Maggie’s ❤️❤️

Thanks Steve, I really like your cartridge review.

I have a pair of those exact SMG +. A friend picked them up at a garage sale and traded them to me. I love the sound. I had to sideline them recently due to them developing a rattle. I've thought about having them reconditioned so I can get them back in action. The sound just warms my heart.

Hi Steve, Thanks for a fantastic channel! I bought the PBN Audio MR!777 speakers from your review. You weren’t kidding that they are big! I’m still breaking them in. Happy New Year!

Great video Steve, thank you and Happy New Year!

Thanks Steve this is one of my favourite vids from you because it acknowledges “taste”. I used to tell my non audio friends that if they like playing with tone controls to get the sound they like that they should. The hobby is filled with people who have deep pockets, are judgemental and holier than thou. I too like playing with cartridges and have what I consider a nice stable of different characters. When I was young I had a Denon 103 for about 10 days in 1982 before my young sons tried playing a record and broke off the cantilever. I had a romantic memory of it and always intended to have it rebuilt but never got around to it. As I saved I bought a succession of well regarded cartridges, some used…Decca Gold, Supex Sd 900, couple of FR’s that didn’t impress, Music Maker in the mistaken belief it would sound like a Grado…it is a good match for my Grado arm though, B&O mm1….the fun of trying something different. At the back of my mind there was always the Denon. Recently, I decided to pull the trigger and bought a Denon 103d…higher compliance, elliptical stylus…took great pains to reset the geometry of my arm correctly and pulled out Music from Big Pink for fun….you know those moments when you take a chance on something and it doesn’t disappoint? This was one of those….when the organ kicked in I couldn’t stop grinning. It isn’t remotely the greatest cartridge but it’s my taste. As an aside, if you haven’t heard it, Daniel Lanlois’ Under a Heavy Sun is very well produced and an homage to gospel music. Warm regards.

I cannot believe you are reviewing the SMG a's I am running them right now. I owned the MG 2 'a in the 80s and missed the sound. Just purchased the Audiolab 6000a And streaming with a Bluesound Node 2 i Sound is incredible . You do not have to spend alot of money to get Audiophile quality sound !

Nice reviews. Happy New Year Steve.

Great video Steve happy new year peace man.

Amazing older Maggie is still treasured by music lovers! Connecting with Chicago Illinois - Hope to see you at Axpona in April 2022.

I always love hearing about the products from my home town! Minneapolis represent!

The SMGa were my speakers for the whole decade of the 1990s. I loved them. Your observations are spot-on. By just plain dumb luck I had an amp that drove them well. Somewhere along the way I replaced the "feet" with some made for a bigger Maggie, to have them stand vertically, like the ones you picture. I went a bit further and fashioned extenders to raise the speaker about 6 inches off the floor. Having the midpoint of the panel at seated ear height gave me even better sound. I ended up moving to a dwelling where it was impossible to position them 3 feet from the wall, which caused me to put them on Craigslist. The first guy who looked at them was planning to screw them directly to the wall. I tried to convince him that they would not work that way. He bought them anyway. I can't imagine how they ended up sounding.

I had Smg's back in 81, and still have MG2's in my closet. They are not easy to live with in a small apartment. When I lived in a house and drove then with a Nakamichi Pa7, I loved them!

After watching this video yesterday I pulled out my copy of "The Name of This Band is Talking Heads," which had been sitting on my shelf for many years, but I had never listened to it. You were so excited by it that I was looking forward to it. I often don't care much for live recordings, as I am used to the songs in their studio versions and am rather stiffly reluctant to accept other versions. Anyway, I turned it up pretty loud and liked it very much. So thanks for that!

Happy New Year Steve! Hope to see you at Axpona again this year.

I bought a set of MG-1Cs new about 30 years ago. Lovingly refurbished the panels, including new grill cloth, and they looked great and sounded awesome on many amps. I run 1.7i Maggies now, and am pleased with the better top-end definition from the new set. The MG-1s are essentially the bigger version of the SMGs Steve was gifted. His comment about the center voicing being a bit unfocused sounded familiar, but I was able to fix that with careful placement and room treatment. In my setup, I found adding modest bass traps to the front wall corners completely transformed the imaging, including center placement and instrument layering definition. Not sure why. I'm sure it all depends on the room, and there was no doubt a fair amount of comb filtering happening, which has the effect of slightly changing the frequency response as you move your listening position. Maggies demand a lot of room help to deliver the magic. Congrats to Steve for this special gift of the MMGs. Happy listening.

Thanks for the review Steve. You had me worried when you "lost" your LRS🤔... I sent my MMGs to Magnepan for repair. They ended up letting me upgrade to LRS for the repair price. So happy with the upgrade. Transparent and beautiful 😍 I added MG1 stands, oak side rails and oak panels top and bottom for a classic framed look (-:see my thumbnail:-) With REL subs they are keepers!

I have these Magnepan and really enjoy them. Between the SMGa and my ESS AMT1 I never really feel the need to upgrade. :)

A (somewhat belated) Happy New Year to you from Oxford, UK!😀

Hi Steve, My Ortofon SPU #1E just arrived from Denmark after many weeks wait. Quite a challenge to set the 4g tracking weight, but now it’s on, I am loving the sound! You are so right about the ‘warmth’ which is immediately apparent. Listening to Vanguard Chicago /The Blues /Today ! (2020 reissue) sounds sensational and less ‘clinical’ than with the Ortofon Quintet Bronze. Great recommendation, thank you!

Wow that is so insane I love those speakers.

I am an audio importer, and Hifi enthusiast for over 50 years. Currently running MG20.7i - with twin REL Carbon Special subs, and am totally happy. Given that I can have my choice of many brands and models, I still keep coming back to the Maggie’s for their coherence, seamlessness, and sheer musicality. I think your summary of the older models sound was very true and honest. thanks Steve.

Nice vid! My first Maggies (I've had a bunch) were the MG 1c. Totally planar as well, so I understand the sound described. Makes me realize how much Maggies have improved over the years. One of the old complaints....valid IMO, was the small sweet spot. that's certainly no longer a problem. (Assuming decent set up). I've since had 1.6 (currently) 1.7 and IIIs. Loved them all. That said, the Maggie true ribbon is glorious!

Glad to see you’re revisiting Maggie’s. Still love my 1.6’s. Nothing like them!

Ah yes. The Name of This Band. I was at that concert in Central Park. One for the ages! Oh, oh, oh, What a day that was!

and…good to know that magnepan will rework them…i still have them as decoration 😍

Love seeing a review of a 30+ year old speaker! I’ve been on the Magnepan train ever since getting a pair of LRS’s a few years ago (due, is some part, to your review). Now I have the 1.7i’s and love them. I agree about the need to set them up very carefully. I have a dedicated room so I can place them 5 feet out from the back walls. My current setup has them very close to the side walls. I found that this creates a wide sound stage with a well defined center. I don’t have any problems with the side reflections, probably owing to the fact that Maggie’s don’t project much to the side along with having wall treatments. Regarding the power requirements for the 1.7is (and the LRS’s), all I can say is you gotta go big. I’m not a headbanger by any stretch, but sometimes I do like my music loud. I’ve had trouble finding an amp setup that will hang in there. I’ve used both a pair of Vidar’s (running in bridged mode) and now a Parasound A23+. Both amp setups deliver around 200 watts (or more) into 4 ohms and sound great most of the time, but both will shutdown if I’m playing loud for, say, a full album. Now I’m moving to a Parasound A21+ (back ordered) which delivers around 500 watts into 4 ohms. Hopefully that will do the trick. But the takeaway is that if you do listen to music loud, you need to have a serious reserve of power to drive Magnepan!

I was working sales Best Buy in the mid 1980s and lived close to Magnepan on the east side of White Bear Lake. One of my co-salesman's Dad was quality control manager at Magnepan in those days. We worked out a deal trading them a video camera and accessories they needed for their facility for two pair of SMGas. It took me quite a while to get them sounding up to par at my house with the final step being a couple of 4 by 4 panels of Sonex behind the speakers. Wowzer what an improvement! I lived with them for quite a while and a few of my friends thought it was the best they had ever heard Maggies which is a stretch I know as the SMGas were entry level. I think many installations of Maggies in those days did not go the full nine yards to get the results they are capable of. Fun memories!

Enjoyed this one. Thanks. Please consider doing a segment on mono systems and cartridges.

My Japanese Audio Guy loves that cartridge. Shizuoka, Japan. He sold me my Maggie’s in 1989. Still have them

Love my Maggie’s. I have the 1.7i in my main system and the LRS for 2 channel music listening in my home theatre. The 1.7i are a worthwhile upgrade over the LRS if you’ve got enough space. I remember reading the results of a customer satisfaction survey years ago in an audio magazine around the time these SMG were made and Magneplanar came out on top. That would probably still be the case if the survey were conducted today.

I had my first pair of Maggies in 1978, the MG II. Now , after more than 40 years, I returned to them, with the MG1.7i. Driven by an Emotiva XPA GEN3 DR2, at least for me, they are the best in the world. A ton of tight and deep, punchy bass, plus a majestic tone. No need of subwoofer, absolutely.... Try to trust...

I have a pair of SMG’s in my home theater system! Love the sound!!

So cool to see your review of the SMGa. I picked up a pair for $100AUD a couple of years ago and was on the fence to fix them up or not, they have the glue delamination issue. I had a Yamaha YST-160 sub to run along with it too.

Happy New Year Steve!

I remember the SMG at my local dealer back in the early 80s. My salesperson raved about their bigger brother, the MG IIB. He loved them biamped with an NAD 3020 driving the “tweeters” and the NAD 2140 power amp driving the other main drivers.

I owned the SMGa in the 80s/90s and used a Mission Cyrus II + PSX to drive them. A wonderful combination.

Hey Steve great channel. Thanks for all the effort….Just got an new Grado Gold 2 T4P, for my old SL-J2, (love that old thing), after watching your video on Grado. Only a few test tunes in, but…what a 1st impression. So cool to quick swap a new cart. Have you, (or anyone ), heard a replacement Soundsmith on a B&O? Another quick change artist….

Love my MGs 1.4. Made new socks for them. At the moment I do enjoy my LS50 Metas, but I am looking forward to have my Maggies back in my system soon. I am sure, the Maggies and the KEF both are very nice in different ways. The kind of amplification which is needed for the Maggies might be their only weakness imho (I do love tube amps).

I bought a pair of these when they first came out; they are still in use by my daughter, who has been using them for years (w/no modifications other than staining the side rails). Note that there was also an SMGb that came between the SMGa and MMG models.

Steve, just like to say thanks for your reviews and channel. Appreciate your realistic opinions and talking about the good and the drawbacks of audio products. I'm getting tired of some content providers espousing this is "THE BEST SPEAKER, AMPLIFIER, DAC, HEADPHONE, SOURCE" etc., when the price is just at stupid levels. You still realize that audio is ultimately subjective and one can get fantastic sound at realistic price points. Thanks again for your time and efforts. Although expensive interconnect and speakers cables:/?🤔

I like this review having gotten the LRS a while back. Also on cartridges the Rega kind of sux I like their 3 pt mounting for their cartridges but it makes changing cartridges a hassle such as adding spacers. So having that Technics and being able to swap out really appeals and glad you are having fun with that. Maybe you can take a look at that Sumiko Blue Point #3 High output MC at 499 seems worthy.

i've had my LRS for a couple of months now and they keep impressing me. funny too, when i switch on a track that has vocals (from silence or instrumental music) my dogs look in the direction of the speakers trying to figure out who is making that sound. that never happened with my old ones that i can recall, so there's something to be said for "realism of voices"

3 feet is half my living space... and I do have 2 Lil-Wing Open Baffles speakers run on 2 10 watt tube amps..... Those are my center speakers actually. ... my stereo speakers are the RPM-600 Klips powered by A/B Sansui 5000a ....... balancing them so I have an Orchestra Arch is what I seem to like hearing.

Bought my first Maggies in 1982 still have and use those as well as new 3.7i .7 and 30.7, once heard you never go back. Other speakers sound well just the box, Hundreds of watts help currently use Constellation mono blocks

I had SMGs and MG3As and miss them both dearly. They are amazing. Re-stringing the diaphragms isn't a ton of fun though.

Wow, brings memories of a pair of 2167s I had. For some time, a lack of power forced me to listen to them near-field. Sometimes, what these speakers did regarding ambience retrieval and naturalness was just jaw-dropping. I was using an Ortofon Blue for a while, wow, memories.

Great video, Steve. I've unfortunately got no room for the Maggies, but I'd like to comment on the cartridges. Coincidently, I'm running both the SPU#1(mine is an S) and the Zu DL-103 MkII Grade2. The Zu is mounted in a 10g Fidelity Research headshell. Both cartridges are fit on a 12" Ortofon AS-309 tonearm built by Alfred Bokrand installed on a Garrard 301 'table set in an Acustand Solid Plinth2. I love both cartridges, but presently prefer the SPU. My musical preferences run mostly to Classic Rock and both of these cartridges kick butt.

Have had my Magnepan 3.7’s for a year now, and couldn’t be happier. Driving them with B&K Reference 200.2 power amp and Rogue Perseus pre. Don’t see myself going back to a box speaker anytime soon.

Hi Steve, I also love SPU (I have the SPU Meister Silver MKII), and compared it with several others, and I prefer its musicality, its personality, not flat sound!! I completely agree with you! Thanks!

Ha, Had a pair of Maggie llC speakers in the mid 80s (The Spica Days) Loved them. Hooked them up to a pair of refurbished EICO mono tube amps once and the sound was magical as long as you had dog ears. The amps crapped out at quite a low volume.

As an owner of a MMG they DO make bass with proper CURRENT. Magnipan sells a a BASS panel for 700 ea. If you toe them in... Love the cartridge change idea.

Interesting that the system transducers have both generally gone in the direction of more accurate, but often thinner sound. I think that's the point Steve is making here. Somewhat equivalent to the transition from tubes to solid state electronics.

I’m very intrigued by the moving coil cartridge. I can’t recall hearing one, but am sure I have. Been looking at both Grado and Ortofon models, as well, as, a Grado mono cartridge. Yeah I like changing cartridges too.

My Father had an spu cartrige in the 70"s . That cartridge transformed the bass in his system. There is a Les Mc Cann lp ' Invitation to openness " that I remember that the bass nevver sounded the same o any other system. That cartridge kicks ass.

Hi Steve. Yes, often the most transparent is not the most realistic, and I mean Natural. Just right. These are natural. When you say "they make a wall of sound", I know what you mean and I'd say that "they make a wave of sound, and I feel submerged by it", and that's what I like the most about these babies. In a small room, well amplified. Also, they can be improved with a better croosover. Really ! Thanks for the video. Francisco.

SPU Steve! Yes!

Hey fellow Canadians... LRS are in stock at the Canadian Maggie dealer - Audio Excellence. I snagged a pair. Love them.

Congrats Canuck!

I really want a pair!

Not letting my MG IIIA’s go, I love them with everything, rock EDM, metal, jazz .. wall of amazing sound! Nothing compares to that ribbon tweeter

I just ran across this video the week my new LRS' arrived to replace my 33-year-old delaminating SMGa's. I have approval from the Decorating Authority for the .7's but thought I would start with these and a new dedicated 2-channel amp. For now I have a 25-year-old Denon AV amp that sounds pretty good to me but will not do justice to the LRS. After 20 hours of increasingly aggressive break in, I did a short comparison of the two compensated for Db levels. Dire Straits "Ride Across the River" was my demo track 30 years ago, and I know it well. Initial impression - The LRS have higher resolution, a more forward top end, but sound smaller. The jury is still out on soundstage. I'm fairly happy with the dimensions of my speaker placement and have a nice balance between center image and width of overall stage. I'll do more comparisons this weekend before putting my old friends on the market for someone to restore and enjoy. I don't need a project, and I'm ready for the next level. I've got some Schiit in the mail, along with some Emotiva and Rogue Audio. I'll see what works best for me and post the results. Comparisons are so much fun!

Steve I really enjoy your videos because they are always filled with interesting info that stirs my imagination. I had a question about the Grado cart. It is a little heavy at 9 grams and I noticed you had it mounted to an LP Gear headshell. I use the 12g LP headshell too on a Technics SL 1200 MK II and my question is does the Grado/LP Gear combo require you to use the screw-on weight in order to balance the tone arm? I am going to try the Grado cart and I need to buy a headshell for it. Thanks!!

Vintage equipment reviews? Heck, yes!

i have owned my 1.7i for almost a year now. But I need a bigger house to really appreciate them :)

I ordered a set of LRS months ago and gave up on the wait and instead went with Emotiva T2+. Not dipole but sounds very nice with jazz and acoustic jazz and classical music powered by my Outlaw RR2160 MkII receiver. I may still get a pair of LRS when their backlog is minimal.

After decades of not really having an audiophile system (children, divorce, life...), with Maggy IIIa's being my last real speakers, I bought a pair of 1.7i's. As they had a better system at the time than I, I first took the Maggies to his place. After replacing his vintage AR 9's with them, 10 seconds after powering them up he tells me know he knows what is wrong with every other speaker made! The coherence of the sound field. The lack of being able recognize which drive notes are coming from. The way the sound just comes off the panels coherently. And I disagree with the claim of lack of center focus. I find that to be when they are not completely set up properly. OK that's the 1.7i's and yes the SMGa may not be as tight. But I can point to the singers tonsils. What it takes literally hours of tweaking an inch here or a couple of degrees rotation there. e.g. as you get close, if the vocals seems to be coming from close to the floor you can literally move the vocals up to the right height by rotating the correct (offending) speaker a couple of degrees. Because the parts of the planer/wires that produce different frequencies are sectioned, the relative distance of each to the ear ahs to be the same. This also resolves that center smear you refer to. Slight distances back and forth lock in the sound stage. I also have learned that the distance between them tunes the low end and midrange depth. As unfortunately the best placements in the room block the bedroom and garage doors I can not keep them in place and have to pull them out for serious listening sessions. And the wife won't let me mark the new carpets with black magic markers! (That she allows them is enough!) So I easily lose at least the first album side with tweaks. As to low end? I find it is more a matter of being as resolving as they are bad sources sound bad. Sources with exceptionally well recorded low ends have it! I have found differences in low end on different tacks on the same album. The bass line or drum might be particularly highlighted on one song and more attention paid to mic'ing and mixing it? Same with claims about dynamics (as long as I am on a rant!). Does anyone with knowledge of the music industry really think mixing engineers run the levels on average with 6-9db of head room so when extra dynamics is needed the headroom is still there? WRONG! Most mixes are run close to max. And when some new instrument is coming in, maybe a guitar lick or horn blast, the rest of the music is reduced slightly to give a few db of preference to that instrument. You don't suddenly have some extra 6-9db waiting to be used! So when I hear people talk about how this speaker or that has more dynamics what they are saying is it is not very linear in power response. That it creates a differentiation that did not exist in the source material. Try watching a SPL meter while listening and watch how peaks and averages are so consistently maintained. You will find most music is kept within a 6-9db range between average and peaks. So much for some magical CD advantage of +90db S/N. And even worse during the loudness wars!

I gave up on box speakers four years ago (aside from a pair of subs) after I heard my Quad ESL 57's. A friend has a pair of the SMG's and I love them...though his room could be larger to get the best of them. He runs them with a Sonic Frontiers SF1 integrated (tube). I know you have said in the recent past that electrostats will not come back into your life, but Im picking up your enthusiasm here for the dipole effect. Placed right, the sound becomes "placed" in the room as opposed to "intruding" in the room. Musical instruments, after all, disperse sound in all directions, so too should the speaker delivering the performance in our room. And NO, I do not feel that my Quads dictate my musical choices. The Quads, with my Radford STA 25 can go loud, as panel speakers such as the Maggies are able to. I play a huge range of music (well, no rap or thrash metal), and with a few exceptions the Quads can deliver. Ok, not the 1812 Overture cannon blasts, or Bach organ works. For those recordings, my other system delivers the needed dynamics. (Altec Lansing Santiago, Altec Lansing 1569A tube mono blocks. Anyways, apologies for the ramble. Just wanted to emphasize to all those who have not heard dipole open baffle design, give it a good solid listen over a period of a week to work out positioning etc. You will not go back to boxes. Ever.

Steve, you get blown away so many times I'm surprised there's anything left of you. One day you're gaga over the newest Klipsch and the next it's an ancient Magnepan. How could two speakers be more different? It seems to me you're all over the place. Do you have a fixed standard of what you want to hear or is it whatever suits your mood at the moment? I really wonder not just about audiophiles and reviewers but about the manufacturers who for the most part I consider audiophiles who turned their hobby into a business. Is there a fixed goal for any of them? When being honest audiophiles including those who consider themselves experts say live sound cannot be duplicated (I don't agree but that's another story.) So what is it you want to hear and why do so many entirely different sounding sound systems get you so excited? I'm at a loss to understand the audiophile mind but from what I can tell most if not all of them are always looking for something better, evidently tiring of what they had wanted so badly and gotten rather quickly. Regardless of what you say this is not an inexpensive hobby even if you start out with a $500 system. It's not going to stay that way as soon as more money is available.

I love Maggies. Great value, too. One note, though. The followup to the SMG A was the SMG C. I should know because I owned a pair. AND simultaneously they also made the MMG, which was a step down from the SMG C. The MMG ("Mini Maggie") was sold factory direct for $500. You got a 60 day return and a full-price 1 year tradeup toward another model.

The SMG vs. the a Fried of roughly the same price was the very first comparison I ever did in an audio store back in the 1980s. I preferred the Maggies but bought the Fried because I knew my cats would tear up the panels. :)

I loved the 1.4 Magnepans I had. Wish I had kept them.

To unlock the full magic of classic SPU cartridges imho it needs a fitting MC transformer and if possible a great tube phono stage. I used the SPU on very high end stuff back in the days (incl. the legendary Gryphon Orestes phono stage) but this never had the same magic as the SPU with an fitting transformer and e.g. the E.a.r. 834p or the legendary Paragon preamp with its fantastic phono stage.

I was given a pair of old SMGa speakers that I gently repaired and then spent weeks searching for any amp I could afford and ended up finding a used NAD 302. I thought when I first used them they sounded amazing and still something was missing. This summer a very nice customer of mine gave me a pair of old realistic Optimus 5B speakers and a Denon DRA -395 that I was going to just sell. I was bored one day and noticed my Esinkin Bluetooth adapter has two sets of outputs. The Denon with the Realistics sounds ok and the Nad with the Maggies also its ok but together blended sounds very nice even my daughter who never usually touches my stereo will go to the effort of turning on two amps LOL...I would like to find a proper amp? more power? thiking Bryston someday just to see if that is what it would take to properly power the Maggies just to see if they sound better?

I like my MGIIIa speakers....a couple of years newer...but I biamp them with a pair of Bryston 3B... and I agree, they do not have a box sound...but do require trial and error to place.

Yeah, I couldn't hang with the Talking Heads much after Remain in Light. They were definitely at the peak of their artistic creativity then. That augmented band with Belew on guitar and Busta Cherry on bass, etc . . . Eno's guiding hand and the Fela Kuti influences? Man, that album still blows me away!

I still own Maggies .7 thanks to Steve's review on CNET some years ago. Wonderful speakers.

Steve, maybe I’m alone in this among your viewers, but I love listening to all the albums you refer to in your reviews. What was the Nick Cave album you listened to on SMGs?

I currently own a pair of Magnepan MG 1.4 speakers, I believe of the same 1980s vintage. In the recent past, while I owned the 1.4s, I also owned a pair of MMGs and also MG-10QRs (quasi-ribbon). I've sold the MMGs and MG-10QRs preferring the warmth of the older MG 1.4 model. Could it be, like a musical instrument, older Maggies sound better with age? You know, the Mylar and wood with age and use gains something magical. It's a nice thought.

more cart reviews please

How can you adjust overhang/tracking angle on a cartridge integrated into a headshell? Or do just hope for the best?

I Love my Magnapan MGllas! Wouldn't trade them for the world!

imho, it's easier to get a Magnepan set up where, with one's eyes closed, it's near impossible to locate the speakers - they seem to do the disappearing act easier than a point source, dynamic type speaker - not sayin' ya can't get there with box speakers, but I've found it to be easier with maggies - - - and for me, the scale of the soundstage, at least from the models I have, the older IIIa's & the 3.7i's, is to die for.

what is your main cartridge you are using! are you going to review the Goulding ethos?? I want to get hold of it waiting for your review sure you can borrow one from the hi-fi shop in New York.

prior to the voicecoil wires coming unglued from the panel was the far more likely aluminum voicecoil wires completely disintegrating under the corrosive glue used to hold them in place at the top and bottom of the panel. the wire would be nothing but aluminum powder when you uncovered it.

I'm not selling my 2 pairs of MG12s ( 4.2 ) . it's been almost 15 years since I got them new maybe longer.

Hello Steve, I follow your videos with great interest. Regarding the Orofon SPU, I wonder if the tonearm of the Technics is not too light for it? The SPU cartridges are very heavy and require a high Tracking force. Did that work well with the arm of the SL1200gr, or did you need some tricks? Greetings from Germany.

On a Magnepan or on an open baffle speaker, does the amount of sound from the front same as the back of the speaker?

Thanks, great video Steve. I just bought a Technicians 1500C. Was the Grado Platinum low or high output?

Fun stuff with the SPU. Also, very reasonably priced!

The SMG a's match your hardwood floors!

Hi Steve..I have had my SMG's for a very long time. They have been rebuilt to correct delamination issues and they sound great. These are the real old original model with oak rails on all 4 sides. Currently driving them with 2 bridged in mono NAD 2200's power amps driven by a CJ PV10 preamp. I see no reason to upgrade as they sound true to life. Am I missing something?