rru2, Thanks. I actually have experience with those Polk's, since a friend of mine owns them. I think they sound very nice, especially given their price point, but at the same time don't feel that they're that much more of a step up from my Energy's. The sound signature is certainly different, but it's not the change I'm necessarily after.

I had spoken with some cynicism previously, about magneplanar type speakers, mostly due to their usually narrow sound field, but if the reviews of the MG12's are anything to go by, especially given their price, it might actually be worth going for it. I'm not totally convinced yet, but if I can get that maggie sound (which I do love immensely) without the problems of a totally narrow sound field, and if they're not underpowered by the 2150, I might have to bite.

@ Garth: A lot of what you say is true, and I know it. Room acoustics play such a huge role in what we hear. But there's still an underlying sound signature/characteristic for every brand and type of speaker which is usually identifiable in most common room situations.

If I told you that my room was of an odd shape, and extremely large, with huge ceilings and the acoustics of a church, I'd hesitate to even want opinions because of the delicacy of that situation. But I don't think that my living room is all that different from most other apartment dwelling situations. Yes, I have carpet on which my speakers will likely rest. And I can likely can and will change the position of the speakers if the improvement is that vast...

As it stands, my little listening area in the living room is as such: The speakers are 23" away from the wall (back) and the chairs we have are exactly 8' from the front speaker grills. There's a wall in back of the chairs which is 6' 7" wide that lets out into both the foyer on the left, and into the dining/kitchen area on the other side.

I actually just placed the left speaker closer to the right one, so that they're both reflecting off of that back wall. Maybe that isn't a good idea, not sure. Have to play around with sound. The one thing about having moved the speaker is that now it's directly in front of the book case, though it has an opening, so it's not solid.

I was thinking though, that if I bought the Magneplanar's I'd put them in front of my windows which has a much better view spatially, and would let them push air for a little more than 20' Of course I'd have to let my wife re-decorate

Are my speakers that bad ? No, they're not. But I think that I've grown out of what I once liked about them, especially after hearing other speakers which offered what I'm not able to get out of these. I need more fullness, space/soundstage and a lot more detail than the Energy C3's are able to deliver. For a budget speaker, they are certainly top notch though, and don't have any real complaints for what it's worth. If I did have one, it would be that they're not as fast as I'd like, or tend to be a tad congested when there's a lot going on instrumentally.

As for subs being a cheap substitute and all, I'll have to disagree with you there. Perhaps in some cases this may be true for massively expensive full range speakers, and then also dependent on what music is being played through them. But let's say that we're talking about organ music with the lowest of low frequencies that need some real power. I don't think that budget speakers usually fit the criteria for that kind of thing, usually.

Anyway, yeah.. I do also have the "itis", who doesn't ? I mean, does it ever really stop ? You hear something you like, and you want it. You hear something else, which is closer to the idea of what you wanted, even more than the first thing you bought, and so you sell, and buy again. That's just how it is I suppose.

Anyway, I just want to know if the 2150 will be able to push the MG12's anywhere remotely to where they need to be in order to be satisfied until I upgrade to a better amp in the future.

Doug

A fellow (whom is a sound/recording engineer) over at the Steve Hoffman forums assured me that even with the 2150's amp, I'd be pretty good to go with the Magneplanar MG12's, so that's very encouraging. His other opinion was also that the more power the better though, as with all Mag's. So, my next thought was this:

Hook up some M2200's to the 2150 Question now:

I was made and offer (waiting for price) by someone on that forum to buy a pair of his M200's which were supposedly sitting in his closet, because of a change in direction (I guess in what he was using) and he forgot about them ? His wife wants them out of there so... lol Though I'm not sure of how you can forget that you have a pair of mono blocks sitting round doing nothing ?

Questions are:

1. Is it worth it to just get the 2200's over a pair of M200's, or are they exactly the same in terms of power ratings/consumption ?

2. If I hook either the M200 or 2200 up to the 2150, will I be totally bypassing the 2150's amp, or will I be able to route it so that I have combined power from both sources ? I'm guessing it's the former scenario, since there'd be too great a variation in voltage and the sound signature would also run amok.

3. Does the balanced input on the 2200 make a huge difference for stereo applications ?

Edit: What do you guys think is a fair asking price for used M200 ? The guys says that there are only about 10 hours on them, though who knows if that's really the truth ? B Stock 2200's are $275 and so I can't see paying more than $200 ? What do you think ?

double post

Mistake

Offer sounds sweet. $300 for the pair of M200's. What do you guys think ?

$300 for a pair of M200's sounds like a good deal.

So then, do you think that there's no technical reason to spend more and just get the 2200's ?

The 200 and 2200 are just this side of identical. The only appreciable difference that I know of is the addition of balanced inputs on the 2200, which isn't going to do you any good anyway with a 2150.

Great, so it's settled then. $300 sounds nifty for a pair of Maggie powering amps. Thanks Gonk !

In answer to question 2 from Sweet Spot:

No, you cannot combine the output of the M200/M2200s with the 2150 unless you use an external electronic crossover and biamp the speakers.