So how do you put in words what I was hearing? Imagine the clarity of what you might hear from the highest end Sennheiser headphones (open, crisp, highly detailed and perhaps a bit bass light) but instead of the “between my ears” phenomenon you now have the full orchestra laid out right there in front of you. With these improvements, the system is still a LONG way from being optimized, but the possibilities became quite obvious. First, I decided to download a variety of high res material ranging from 24/192 to 24/96 material in classic, rock and jazz. Now I was ready to return to listening tests. I fed the analog output of that card into the only spare pre-amp and amplifier I had lying around the house (a B&K Reference 30 and a Sunfire Cinema Grand (400 watts of power that actually mates well with Maggies). The Maggies immediately exposed the limitations of that sound card, so it was off to the store to upgrade to an Assus Sonar Essence STX digital stereo card. Up until then, I had been reasonably happy with a front-end that consisted of J River Media Center 17 on a Windows 7 64-bit computer using a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD sound card feeding the studio monitors. I also discovered that the accuracy of these speakers put to critical test the front end of my desktop computer system. I moved the panels forward, backward, toed them in, moved the tweeters to the outside then the inside, and finally played around with where to put the mid/bass panel. Having experienced with my larger Maggie system that careful placement is a critical part of the equation, I started experimenting. Excitedly, I rushed to set them up on my desktop and start playing music – the initial result, not so great. Just in time for Christmas, they arrived. So when the Mini Maggies became available, I couldn’t help but call Magnepan and ask whether I might try a set. To date, I have satisfied my musical appetite in the office with a perfectly capable and expensive set of powered studio monitors that contain their own internal 24/192 DAC. Unfortunately, I spend a lot more time at my office desk than in my living room. That system uses a Lexicon MC12-HD B EQ front end and a Lexicon RT-20 SACD player plus Levinson 432 (800watt) amplifiers. As a recent beneficiary of Magnepan’s new Special Time-Limited 30-Day, Home-Trial Offer for the Mini Maggie System (Maggie Dealer-Direct), I thought it might be of interest for Computer Audiophile members to read a review that comes from an admitted Maggie fan.įirst, to explain my admitted bias: I am a very satisfied owner of a Magnepan 20.1-based surround sound system that includes the new Tri-Center concept (a CCR and two motorized MMC2’s) plus four MC1’s to complete a 7.1 surround system.
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