3.7 vs. 3.7i
 

I am wondering if anyone has upgraded their 3.7 to 3.7i and what improvement they noticed. Wondering wether the $500 cost plus shipping is worthy?

Jbauza,

I thought for sure someone would have answered your post by now. Maybe we should ask another question. Has anyone heard the new 3.7i's? If I wasn't so paranoid about getting mine smashed up in shipping I would try the upgraded.

~Mike

If yours are the aluminum frame I would be extra concerned about shipping. I had a buddy get his smashed up while being shipped to him. We were able to look a little closer at the torn open speakers and the aluminum frame is basically just a thin wrap of aluminum around an mdf board. The wooden frame option is actually hardwood which the screws go into rather than mdf. While if shipped just in Magnepans cardboard box I would assume that any of their speakers would be destroyed though. Buying and 8ft pallet is really the only option.

I agree that one of my concerns is the shipping. I have seen quotes from $260, but I'm also concerned if the investment of about $800- $1,000 is worthy. 3 weeks ago I went to my dealer to upgrade to the ARC Ref 5S and he mentioned that he had 3 pairs of the 3.7 that he had not sold and I'm wondering why he had not upgraded them. Could it be that with proper break in is not needed?

In case you haven't seen this review, it's the only source I've found that makes some comparisons of the 3.7 to the 3.7i. Magnepan is still being very secretive about what the upgrade consists of, but I've heard that it is an audible improvement. Hope this helps!

audio bill,

that was a good article which I had read. I took another scan through it. I was waiting for his full review to come out. Maybe I need a subscription to hi fi+. I already subscribe to Absolute Sound and Stereophile. What Magnepan should do to get more buy in on this upgrade is have 10 special Kevlar or some other indestructible container/cases made that are all padded inside. Give free shipping to and from the plant for the first 20 or so upgrade requests. Once everybody hears how great the upgrade is, Magnepan will be flooded with orders. :D

~Mike

You can always have the shipper build a crate to protect the Magnepan OEM boxes. Yes, it will be another several hundred dollars but your speakers will be protected. :ok:

I Guess that probably the next step will be to talk to my dealer to do a side by side comparison since he still has some 3.7 and really determine if the upgrade is worth it?

I know that there has been quite a bit of speculation as to what Magnepan changed with their recent introduction of the revised Magneplanar 3.7i. The company has been quite secretive about exactly what the modification consists of, just claiming that it makes an audible improvement. I recently came across this press release regarding the 3.7i from the UK which I thought could clear up some of the confusion. You can see in the fourth paragraph that they mention a newly re-engineered time and phase aligned crossover. This type of change would be consistent with the requirement to ship the speakers back to the factory to have the upgrade installed and the cost of $500. Hope that you find this information helpful.

For those living overseas, it would be good to actually know the specifics and how much a improvement it actually makes before committing and going through the trouble of shipping them back.