Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Moving from planar speakers

I'm a long time planar speaker listener. What speakers should I be looking at for a comparable sound? I'm sure you all know the advantages of planar speakers, the large mass of air moved, the response speed... and the disadvantages, not as deep a bass response. So where's the best entrypoint to switch over to "regular" speakers?

Good question, I want a set of Maggys when I hit the the lotto.

I too was wanting Maggies (the 1.6s) but the wife wasn't to thrilled with the size of them.I ended up with the 80s instead,still a good size speaker.I am really pleased with the M80s.

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and the disadvantages, not as deep a bass response.

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Why not add a high quaity sub to the mix and keep the speakers ya have.The EP500 or 600 would do the trick.

My Maggies are really old now and although they sound fine within their midrange, they have no ribbon nor quasi ribbon tweeter and not very deep base. Adding a sub won't really do the job as it would be hard to match the speed of the Maggies with a box speaker.

With all do respect I don't beleive a quality sub would have any problems "keeping up" with your Maggies.Have you tried it yet ?

The place I auditioned Maggies had a sub going with the speakers. I'd give it a shot.

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Adding a sub won't really do the job as it would be hard to match the speed of the Maggies with a box speaker

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So, is it your goal to slow every thing down then? j/k

I think this may have been true when subwoofers were in their infancy when all but the most expensive subs sounded bloated and "slow". Subs have come a long way since then.

These days, there are so many very good "fast" and clean and relatively inexpensive subs around that it isn't all that difficult to match a sub with Maggies or Logans or Quads etc.

I have the 1.6QRs mated with a HSU VTF-3. With a little judicious speaker placement combined with a little room treatment here and there, I've got a pretty seamless blend between the two and virtually no localization of the sub as a consequence of mixing planars and box designs.

Have you been to your friendly neighborhood Maggie dealer lately? You might be surprised at what you hear in the way of bass from modern Maggies.

Maggies ... WOOT!! WOOT!!!
They rock!!!!!!

As for a cone speakers with the same huge presentation and sound like Maggies I would say Usher, Vandersteen and big Theils.

As a former and future Maggie owners any HSU or SVS can keep up to Maggies. Dr. HSU who does own Maggies uses VTF3 with his.