Goodmans Magisters For Sale
My old friends, time for them to go! I just don't make use of them in a family room.
They have had some work done over the last few years, not to the highest standard but enough to show their potential and get them most of the way there. A little more attention and they should seriously appreciate in value and performance. Two coats of nasty varnish have been removed, revealing pretty decent veneer underneath. It's survived rather well but it really wants a coat of danish oil. I like them how they are so I haven't done it. There are a few marks, the bottoms are a bit scratched but altogether pretty tidy, considering they are circa 1969!
The crossovers are lightly refreshed, and have the addition of modern gold plated binging posts. The capacitors were changed to a Clarity Cap and a pair of Solen Fast-Caps in each unit. Wiring from crossover to drivers was replaced with some large OFC multi strand speaker cable I had. Everything else is original.
They sound lovely to be honest, not as fast as my Royds but tight and with huge scale. They are pretty uncoloured until you really turn the wick up, they could possibly benefit from a little internal bracing. Again, a potential upgrade for the new owner.
These are contemporaries of the Quad ESL57, they cost almost exactly the same back in the day. I personally prefer Quads, but I'd take the Maggies' over most Tannoys I've heard - that's the company these speakers keep.
The grilles are original, they have a few snags and tears but are pretty presentable.
Price is £200, for which I will come to any service station on the southern M25 and meet you there. You will need a van or a large car!
£175 if you collect from East Sussex.
They have had some work done over the last few years, not to the highest standard but enough to show their potential and get them most of the way there. A little more attention and they should seriously appreciate in value and performance. Two coats of nasty varnish have been removed, revealing pretty decent veneer underneath. It's survived rather well but it really wants a coat of danish oil. I like them how they are so I haven't done it. There are a few marks, the bottoms are a bit scratched but altogether pretty tidy, considering they are circa 1969!
The crossovers are lightly refreshed, and have the addition of modern gold plated binging posts. The capacitors were changed to a Clarity Cap and a pair of Solen Fast-Caps in each unit. Wiring from crossover to drivers was replaced with some large OFC multi strand speaker cable I had. Everything else is original.
They sound lovely to be honest, not as fast as my Royds but tight and with huge scale. They are pretty uncoloured until you really turn the wick up, they could possibly benefit from a little internal bracing. Again, a potential upgrade for the new owner.
These are contemporaries of the Quad ESL57, they cost almost exactly the same back in the day. I personally prefer Quads, but I'd take the Maggies' over most Tannoys I've heard - that's the company these speakers keep.
The grilles are original, they have a few snags and tears but are pretty presentable.
Price is £200, for which I will come to any service station on the southern M25 and meet you there. You will need a van or a large car!
£175 if you collect from East Sussex.
Comments
I forgot to say, the little stands are included if you want them (they do sound better off the floor).
All drivers are in excellent condition and they probably sound better than they did when new.
I found a picture of how they used to appear:
It's not so clear in the picture, but the varnish was a quite dark red/mahogany yacht varnish affair - nasty!!
H: 69
W: 51
Weight: Very
This will keep me awake.
These should be bought by Paul. He can finish off their renovation.
The Magisters sound wonderful at the moment, on the end of some Single Ended class A loveliness. Absolutely huge scale & dynamics, very low coloration and tight tight bass. Bass which goes down to 26hz... The midrange has a ESL/Lowther like speed and immediacy to it and the treble is sweet and natural. These really do sound the business.
How about stacked Magisters then?
Go on, you know they make absolutely no sense at all, which is why you [I]need [/I]them...
P.S. Apologies for the really washed out camera phone pics, it used to take good snaps. I'll look at the settings and see if I can't manage something better later.
The Goodwoods are basically the same speaker as the Magnum SL, which I have also played about with. Same mid-range, same tweeter and what looks like the same 12" bass driver, though the Goodwood has flattened edges & the Magnum SL is fully round.
If I remember your crossovers from the rebuild thread, the are the same basic design as well - no visual differences there.
Well guess what? The Magisters use the same tweeters, same midrange but a 15" version of the woofer. And, the crossover is visually the same again - no real difference in design (I'm sure some of the inductors could be different values, but the do look the same).
What I'm trying to say is, the work you have had done on the Goodwoods ought to be transferable to Magisters with little more than some crossover fettling. I'm no expert, but I'm just sayin'...
;-)
out because of size/car ratio and wives (both valid reasons). Be warned
- the Magisters are MANS speakers!
These are £175 collected from near Eastbourne, or £200 to meet on the
southern services of your choice (yes!) on the M25, or along the south
coast between Chichester & Dover. The little stands are included.
Your wife will learn to love them!
Col, I shall start fasting now...
Just to out it in the public domain, Ian Taviner has paid £100 up front for these, the other half to follow when we meet in June to hand the Maggies over.