Magnepan 1.7

[deepak]

Parasound JC-2 uses an RK27 and costs $4000, that isn't acceptable IMO.

DIY FTW for preamps.

[digger945]

Here is what I'm talking about: Heatsinks to nowhere with nary a place for any heat to escape except a couple of slots on the top panel --

Looks to me like there is a slot between every fin.

DIY FTW for preamps.

Indeed. Perhaps as soon as we are finished with our preamp here, we can take a look at an amp to match it.

[spritzer]

A speaker amp has been discussed...

[deepak]

3.7 will be coming out Magnepan Announces the new Magneplanar 3.7

[Driftwood]

very interesting... I wonder what the changes are?

[Fitz]

Red? Seriously?

[randerson3024]

The 3.7 has just been released at ~$5600.

[Salt Peanuts]

Red? Seriously?

I think it's just a bad picture of a wood-trim option, or at least I hope so. It would really be unfortunate if it's really that red in real life.

[revolink24]

I think it's just a bad picture of a wood-trim option, or at least I hope so. It would really be unfortunate if it's really that red in real life.

I'm pretty certain that it's their cherry wood trim. If you read the whole article it says that it is available in aluminum trim as well as oak and cherry.

[Driftwood]

I had a chance today to audition the 3.7. Seemed to address all the faults I found with the 1.7 and the 3.6. The bass was tighter and fuller than the 1.7, and the ribbon and quasi-ribbon of the 3.7 blend much better than the planar midrange driver of the 3.6. They have a lot more forward and engaging presentation than the 1.7. My wife preferred the slightly laid-back and relaxed presentation of the 1.7, but after listening to the "cross" album by Justice on the 3.7, she agreed that its bass performance really made a big difference.

[revolink24]

Sounds amazing.

[deepak]

Magnepan is keeping the price reasonable along the lines of the 3.6 and not pricing them stratospherically.

[revolink24]

That seems to be what Magnepan has always been good at: price/performance.

[Driftwood]

oh, btw, about the red 3.7 shown in the linked article -- the dealer told me that in fact one of the finish options for the aluminum is "fire engine red." Maybe with a cream-colored grille cloth and the right room it could look decent? I'm not really sure. I was told that they originally made it as a one-off for some show but enough dealers requested it that they decided to make it a standard option. Still, I can't see it being a big seller.

[faust3d]

I find the 1.6s to image very well. I like Lyric (they were my first dealer) but they probably did not have them set up right. Their sound rooms are cramped in my experience. Maggies need lots of room to breathe. At least 3 feet off the back wall.

They actually had them in a dedicated room an they were setup very well. I find that pinpoint imaging is a problem with most Maggies. They are very good at creating a large realistic space, but this space is populated by slightly fuzzy images. In my experience the best imaging comes from SET/SEP amps driving single driver crossover-less speakers. The problem is you give up a lot of other stuff when you go to SE amps with SD speakers. Stax ESL-F81 speakers image very well and so do ESL-57, but they also have a bit of diffusion in that big soundstage they create, as I found out from many hour of listening. They best most realistic musical event recreation I have heard came from dynamic cone driver speaker powered by SE amp.

[deepak]

For planars the best imaging I've heard was from Sound Labs. I believe someone you knew owned those right Dmitri? What did you think?

I agree that imaging is not a strong suit on the Maggies.

[faust3d]

For planars the best imaging I've heard was from Sound Labs. I believe someone you knew owned those right Dmitri? What did you think?

I agree that imaging is not a strong suit on the Maggies.

Yeah, a friend of a friend from MA owns(ed) a pair, I believe they where one of the larger models. I have notes somewhere, but they are not handy. I did like them a lot. They manage to combine power and finesse very well. Imaging was also one of the best I heard from planar speakers on par with larger Apogees.

As I spend more time listening to various stuff I am discovering that it is very hard to get full scale, full range system with pinpoint imaging that also gets tonal qualities dead on, macro/micro dynamics and micro-detail. What I see is that big amps (tube or sand) with big full range speakers most of the time sound great with all kinds of material and are very good versatile solution if one does not obsess about total realism.

On the other hand well made small tube amps with single driver or crossover-less speakers have very life like presentation and can create total illusion of small scale performance like small chamber orchestra or, even better, single performer like solo guitar, sax, singer etc., but when you feed them something complex and at the same time highly dynamic they choke and sound bad.

That is why I coming to a conclusion that folks that have musical tastes all over the map must get a big system that does everything relatively well and forget about that strive for lifelike "performance in you room" stuff, or get two system. One for that occasional "you want to have a singer right there in the room" and one for recreating a rock concert. Just my totally unrelated and unasked for thread crap

Edited March 21, 2011 by faust3d

[deepak]

Yeah, a friend of a friend from MA owns(ed) a pair, I believe they where one of the larger models. I have notes somewhere, but they are not handy. I did like them a lot. They manage to combine power and finesse very well. Imaging was also one of the best I heard from planar speakers on par with larger Apogees.

As I spend more time listening to various stuff I am discovering that it is very hard to get full scale, full range system with pinpoint imaging that also gets tonal qualities dead on, macro/micro dynamics and micro-detail. What I see is that big amps (tube or sand) with big full range speakers most of the time sound great with all kinds of material and are very good versatile solution if one does not obsess about total realism.

On the other hand well made small tube amps with single driver or crossover-less speakers have very life like presentation and can create total illusion of small scale performance like small chamber orchestra or, even better, single performer like solo guitar, sax, singer etc., but when you feed them something complex and at the same time highly dynamic they choke and sound bad.

That is why I coming to a conclusion that folks that have musical tastes all over the map must get a big system that does everything relatively well and forget about that strive for lifelike "performance in you room" stuff, or get two system. One for that occasional "you want to have a singer right there in the room" and one for recreating a rock concert. Just my totally unrelated and unasked for thread crap

Well said! I've often thought about this as well as I auditioned various speaker rigs

None of them are perfect, but a good set of headphones like the Stax O2 does come very close (as far as headphone limitations go). Headphones will never be able to recreate the illusion of a full force uncompressed drum kit like huge horns in a big room, but those speakers will fail miserably in many other areas.

But with large speakers comes the requirement for a large listening room otherwise I've heard a few systems where the speakers overwhelm the room.

The quest for striving for near perfection is more exciting to me with a speaker rig as there are so many more variables, vs just source, amp, headphones.

[Driftwood]

I don't know if it is true having not tried it myself, but I read that if you tilt Maggies or Quads, etc. slightly forward, it helps to make the images a little sharper at the expense of some narrowing of the soundstage. Something to try, I guess.

[faust3d]

Never tilled them forward, but somehow think this would make them sound strange because of the floor reflections.

[HDen]

I don't know if it is true having not tried it myself, but I read that if you tilt Maggies or Quads, etc. slightly forward, it helps to make the images a little sharper at the expense of some narrowing of the soundstage. Something to try, I guess.

I only have MMGs but I agree with the tilting forward, right now I'm just using the little feet that come with them

[deepak]

I tilt my MMG forward. It helps with imaging, but the difference isn't huge. Reflections aren't an issue with thick carpet. The speakers aren't angled to the floor, only very slightly backwards from the vertical position.

[faust3d]

I tilt my MMG forward. It helps with imaging, but the difference isn't huge. Reflections aren't an issue with thick carpet. The speakers aren't angled to the floor, only very slightly backwards from the vertical position.

So you basically tilting them a bit backwards to get a more coherent dispersion. I did this with Apogees and Stax worked out great. When I read forward I figured to to the floor.

Edited March 23, 2011 by faust3d

[deepak]

So you basically tilting them a bit backwards to get a more coherent dispersion. I did this with Apogees and Stax worked out great. When I read forward I figured to to the floor.

With the flippers down the speakers are tilted even further back. With them flipped up the speakers are more vertical, but not fully vertical. I've made props so they are perfectly vertical, but the difference is minor from the stock adjusters. And they were unstable

IMO once you go beyond used 1.6 price range the used ESLs become better and better value. And what I'm planning to upgrade to next before the ultimate upgrade!

[faust3d]

With the flippers down the speakers are tilted even further back. With them flipped up the speakers are more vertical, but not fully vertical. I've made props so they are perfectly vertical, but the difference is minor from the stock adjusters. And they were unstable

IMO once you go beyond used 1.6 price range the used ESLs become better and better value. And what I'm planning to upgrade to next before the ultimate upgrade!

My problem with used and new ELSs is the ability to drive them well. You will need a big powerful amp for most of the good ESLs. Hard to find one that sounds very realistic and good, is cheap and can drive ESLs well. Hope you find the right combo.

Edited March 23, 2011 by faust3d