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mounting a magnepan mmg flat on a wall?

post #1 of 19
5/29/05 at 8:54pm
Thread Starter 
I'm considering getting a pair of mmgs for my dorm room, and I was thinking of mounting them FLAT against the wall. Since they're so slim and what not, I was going to have my wall full of posters and just have the MMGs blend in with them. Completely stealth audio bliss. Will this work?
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post #2 of 19
5/29/05 at 9:13pm
The MMGs are not at all, not even the tiniest amount, designed to be anywhere even CLOSE to a wall. I've never heard them, but from what others have told me, they need three feet minimum, and four or five feet is better. But they are definitely not going to sound good mounted against the wall. They need room to breath.

In fact, almost every speaker I know of sounds loads better with at least a couple of feet to the rear and side walls. Speakers really need to be out in the open. Especially dipoles (which the Maggies are) need to have lots of room since they direct as much sound backward as they do forward. However, I know of one exception:

Magnepan makes a speaker called the MMGW. It's designed to be mounted on the wall. It even has a bracket that swivels so that you can store it against the wall and swing it out when you want to listen. By all accounts they sound very good, and they're only $299 a pair. The only caveat: they only go down to about 100 Hz, so you'll need a sub to fill in the bottom end.

But whatever you do, please don't mount the MMGs on the wall.
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post #3 of 19
5/31/05 at 1:40am
I agree with tennisets. Quite right.
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post #4 of 19
5/31/05 at 1:55am
You want speakers that disapear in the room?
Check out Ohm Acoustics speakers.
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post #5 of 19
5/31/05 at 9:27am
Wow, I've never heard of those before, but I just googled them and look really interesting. The Micro Walshes also got a rave review on Six Moons (when you say "speakers that dissappear from the room, I assume you mean their omnipoles). Thanks for the heads up about such cool speakers (though I will never be able to use them, since the amp that I'm currently building puts out eight watts).

Also, it just occurred to me that Chim said nothing about the speakers dissappearing from the room sonically (which is what I think you meant). He wants the speakers to dissappear from the room visually, and not take up much space. Unfortunately, I highly doubt you can position the Ohm Walshes close to a wall, due to their omnipole nature (correct me if I'm wrong). As such, I don't think they'll really work for his situation and needs, no matter how good they sound.
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post #6 of 19
6/3/05 at 4:41am
Thread Starter 
when i say disappear from the room, i meant visually. The Mmg's would just look like two black rectangles on the wall along with all the other posters. Would the sound of the MMGs get totally distorted if i did that? Kinda like "press your hands against the outside of grados" type hollow tin sound? Its kind of impossible to have "perfect audio conditions" in the dorms, but If I could get good quality sound and not have speakers take up any floorspace, i'd be all over some magnepans
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post #7 of 19
6/3/05 at 4:44am
I agree it's a cool idea, but as tennisets already said, the answer is a resounding no if you want good sound.
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post #8 of 19
6/3/05 at 9:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by chim
when i say disappear from the room, i meant visually. The Mmg's would just look like two black rectangles on the wall along with all the other posters. Would the sound of the MMGs get totally distorted if i did that? Kinda like "press your hands against the outside of grados" type hollow tin sound? Its kind of impossible to have "perfect audio conditions" in the dorms, but If I could get good quality sound and not have speakers take up any floorspace, i'd be all over some magnepans
Did you not read my first post? I reccommended another pair of Magnepans that would be perfect for your situation if you just shove a suboofer in there somewhere. It's as good as you're gonna get for you're situation.

MAGNEPAN MMG-W
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post #9 of 19
6/3/05 at 11:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tennisets
Did you not read my first post? I reccommended another pair of Magnepans that would be perfect for your situation if you just shove a suboofer in there somewhere. It's as good as you're gonna get for you're situation.

MAGNEPAN MMG-W
Listen to the man... This is your best bet. $300 for the pair + something like this (SVS) and you're golden for dorm listening - decent sound WELL under $1000.

Cheers,
Jeremy
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post #10 of 19
6/3/05 at 12:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by chim
when i say disappear from the room, i meant visually. The Mmg's would just look like two black rectangles on the wall along with all the other posters. Would the sound of the MMGs get totally distorted if i did that? Kinda like "press your hands against the outside of grados" type hollow tin sound? Its kind of impossible to have "perfect audio conditions" in the dorms, but If I could get good quality sound and not have speakers take up any floorspace, i'd be all over some magnepans
The speakers are tiny and create sound that speakers twice/thrice their size could only BEGIN to attempt to rival.

I meant that they dissapear visually as well. They are so small - because of their design, they don't have to be positioned accurately to receive an accurate stereo image. The walsh drivers are 360-directional sound, so as long as they aren't in corners of the room, they'll sound great.

They run on 15 watts in 6ohms ... they run VERY WELL on that much power ... as long as you have that much, you'll have blissful audio that you will forget is even physically there in the room.
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post #11 of 19
6/3/05 at 1:18pm
Aman,

Do you know how much of a performance hit you hear when using the "short" Micro Walshes compared to the "talls" (assuming both are standing on the floor)?
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post #12 of 19
6/3/05 at 1:57pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tennisets
Did you not read my first post? I reccommended another pair of Magnepans that would be perfect for your situation if you just shove a suboofer in there somewhere. It's as good as you're gonna get for you're situation.

MAGNEPAN MMG-W
i have an old optimus sub from way back in the day. It was part of a radioshack set, I don't think I can afford an SVS sub for the dorms. Do you think that the sound would sound terribly distorted? It was designed as a home theater sub, last time I checked it was decent. I have an SVS 16-46 at home that absolutely destroys it though, but there's no way I can take a huge cylindrical downward firing sub to school
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post #13 of 19
6/3/05 at 2:23pm
The SVS sub i linked is their low end box mounted, rather than the tube model and is reasonably small and fairly cheap (429). I figured with a drop in price on the speakers i could recomend a decent sub to go with.

Since the Maggies only have response down to 100hz you will want to have a reasonable quality sub because it will be handling some of the mids, all of the midbass, as well as all of the low bass.

Not being familier with Radio Shack's offerings (although as I recall, Optimus often will rebrand other companies offerings), I cannot make comment on your sub. BUT... I'd say start with it, and if you are unhappy then give yourself some time to save and move up later. I'm always a proponant of saving and buying the equipment you REALLY want.

Cheers,
Jeremy
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post #14 of 19
6/3/05 at 4:12pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jjcapurro
The SVS sub i linked is their low end box mounted, rather than the tube model and is reasonably small and fairly cheap (429). I figured with a drop in price on the speakers i could recomend a decent sub to go with.

Since the Maggies only have response down to 100hz you will want to have a reasonable quality sub because it will be handling some of the mids, all of the midbass, as well as all of the low bass.

Not being familier with Radio Shack's offerings (although as I recall, Optimus often will rebrand other companies offerings), I cannot make comment on your sub. BUT... I'd say start with it, and if you are unhappy then give yourself some time to save and move up later. I'm always a proponant of saving and buying the equipment you REALLY want.

Cheers,
Jeremy

sounds like i'm going to go with a pair of MMG-Ws. Anybody have a good link to a dealer, or should I just order from them direct (by email, I think?)
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post #15 of 19
6/3/05 at 5:30pm
Here's Magnepan's Dealer List. If you can find a store local to you that has them, that's great, because you can go and listen to the speakers before you buy them. If there is no store local to you that carries Magnepan, then just order direct. Magnepan has a 60 day satisfaction guarantee on the MMG series. If you decide you don't like the speakers within 60 days of purchasing them, just send them back.
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