Magnepan 30.7 Loudspeaker
 

Robert started a thread on "Prototype Maggies", but now that the model has been confirmed and named the 30.7s I'd like to start a new thread dedicated to this very promising new dipole.

Here are some early thoughts on the 30.7s by Jacob Heilbrunn and Jonathan Valin from The Absolute Sound: link.

Some highlights from the first blog post (several are forthcoming):

• The 30.7 represents an attempt by Magnepan to build upon and surpass the legendary Tympani IVa, an elaborate six-panel design.
  
• Four-panel (two panels per side), line-source, ribbon/quasi-ribbon loudspeaker system of considerable width (a little under four feet across per side!), height (about six-and-a-half feet), and just a couple of inches in depth.
  
• Cost: $29,000 per pair
  
• Release: January 2018
  
• Full review by TAS forthcoming.
  
• Jonathan Valin: the 30.7s are "the best ’Pan I’ve ever heard (and, once again, I’ve heard them all) and the best buy in an ultra-high-end loudspeaker I’ve ever come across."

I certainly love the sound of my 20.7s and these 30.7s look like the logical next step, but at 4 feet wide per channel I just don't have the room to place these behemoths in my listening room.

Having said that, never say never and I'll be looking to audition these Maggies in 2018.

Looking forward to reading comments from all Maggie lovers and Tympani fans.

Ooh. Carlos...looking forward to your 'real' review. :)

Hi Carlos,

The 30.7’s look to take the 20.7’s a step further. But I agree that to really shine, these panels will need a lot of breathing room.

Best,
Ken

+1! :d

Second Blog Post on the 30.7s from The Absolute Sound
 

The Absolute Sound:
Magnepan 30.7 Loudspeaker, Part Two by Julie Mullins

Ken, not only will they need breathing room but if they really wanted to take them a step further they would have done a much better job with panel bracing / feet IMO. Given the 30k price, again, no excuse IMO.

Agree - they should contract with Grant VanderMye to make his Mye Sound stands the official Magnepan speaker stand.

According to Wendell Diller, they chose to go back to their traditional feet because the newer oval base just didn't look good on these. I asked him about weighted feet that went behind and would be invisible from the front, and he said that they're extremely heavy as it is and it would make them impractically heavy.

Otherwise, well, I think they're already being called the best bargain in audio and competitive with speakers that are far more expensive. Sure, they could gain a bit by milling the baffles out of aluminum or Corian or something equally elaborate, but they'd no longer be $30,000 speakers and from what I hear and read they're already competitive with anything out there at any price. Ditto for other things they could do like use neodynium magnets for greater efficiency, etc.

I haven't asked but I'm guessing that they'd say you should buy the stands from Grant, who sells direct and can offer stands for a lot less than Magnepan could with the retail markup. Or you can brace them yourself, I know some people who have done this with good results and I'll probably end up doing it myself with my Tympanis.

Not to jump off topic/but tweak related. Carlos - did you find any appreciable difference using the hifi tuning fuses and the cardas jumpers? Assume the jumpers are the bananas w several inches of wire for both mids and tweets - replacing the stock bar.

Hi, timm.

Either my ears are not good enough to pick up on the differences or there was no material difference in performance that I can attribute to the fuses and/or the jumpers.

Having said that, these are cheap tweaks and the "psychological" benefit of knowing that I'm addressing all possible weak areas is worth it. I think the best tweak for my 20.7s was the Mye Sound stands for improved panel bracing and stability.

Hey thanks Carlos. I've got a 100 dollar amazon card burning a hole in my pocket and was trying to figure out if I wanted to try the minor tweaks or get a backup drive for my music. I may opt for the backup drive. Boring...but safe.

Magnepan 30.7s: TAS Overall Product of the Year for 2017
 

I just received The Absolute Sound's Product of the Year issue for 2017 and the Magnepan 30.7 was selected as the Overall Product of the Year for 2017 alongside the $685k Wilson WAMM Master Chronosonic loudspeaker.

The issue also included a full review of the speakers by Jonathan Valin under the headline "All-Time Best Buy". The review is largely the same as the blog posts highlighted earlier in this thread. Under the "Specs and Pricing" that highlights JV's reference system it appears as if the 30.7s have replaced the 20.7s as one of JV's reference speakers (how does he have so much room for some many massive speaker systems?). I also noticed that the review is laid out in three columns which mimic the physical distribution of the tweeter, midrange and bass panels for each channel of the 30.7s - pretty cool.

Congrats to Magnepan!

Anyway to post the article here?

I'll provide link once the full review is posted on the TAS website, but in the meantime see the blog posts which essentially make up the review.

Has anyone seen any specs on these yet other than price and panel sizes?

The TAS review says:
Frequency Response: approximately 20 Hz to 40 kHz
Impedance: 4 ohms

Magnepan 30.7 Loudspeaker
 

Has anyone here heard these speakers? I'd like to attend the AXPONA show in (suburban) Chicago in April to check them out (but need to check if they will be shown there).

Carlos ...

You may have heard - they are doing a road show... Were originally scheduled in Oregon - but that got cancelled because of some conflict or other.....

Stereophile subscribers are supposed to get notice if they are with 100 miles.... but, the Planar Asylum seems to keep tabs on it pretty closely....

I need to hear 'da man's' opinion.... :)

TAS review just released online.

I have trouble getting past page 1 of this. How did I know that these Maggie's were going to fix all of the problems that the 20.7 had. And how he likes the 1 series better.

Gimme a break. If u go read his review of the 20.7 ...20.1 ... etc. I think he takes the old one and changes the models. I'm just not a fan of mr valin I guess.

I believe the 30.7 is all that and a bag of chips. But in a review to say ...and these other models were great until a couple of weeks ago- and here are their misgivings.... I guess he doesn't think google is out there to read historical reviews.

I remember reading about the 20.1 'grain' in the 20.7 review ... how now the panels and ribbon were indistinguishable. I don't recall hearing these problems in the 20.1 review. And I love the .1 and the .7 series. Now this. It's not that I really care about a review - I just have trouble when I can predict what he's going to say on the first page. I digress.

Umm, do you have to have a room that’s about as big as a basketball court for these things? I love the price performance ratio, but without a darn big room ....

Will Magnepan be demonstrating the 30.7 at the Expona show in Chicago in April?

You know... you would think wouldn't you?? But haven't heard or seen anything.

I am not sure why magnepan thinks allowing users to hear their product is a bad thing. In particular their high end stuff like the 20/30s. It's almost like 'behind the curtain' marketing. Sure they are big - but really in a showroom may take up less space because they are only 1-2" thick.

No, they don't believe in demoing flagship speakers at trade shows. I asked Wendell about this recently.

Well the statement 'they don't believe in ' is what has me in a quandary. I get that having them at shows is challenging ... but not having them at dealerships?? So you have them at very few dealers - my closest is Evanston Illinois that carries the 20.7... from Michigan. About a 5 hour drive. But here is the best part ... they WONT sell to you if you are across state lines. This happened to me. I know some here have purchased from them - maybe because there were no dealers by them. I had 1 50 miles away that did not have them. So not only is it difficult to find the product - or a dealer... it is also difficult to purchase!! Lol.

Not a great marketing strategy in my humble opinion...

Magnepan Questionable Strategy
 

I'm not sure how many know this but Wendell will NOT give dealers demo pricing for the 20.7s and probably with the 30.7s either. For some reason he thinks anyone interested in either of these models would will be willing to travel to the factory to demo there. I wonder how any perspective customer would compare any Maggie against competition at the factory? And what about electronic (amps, pre-amps, DACs) comparisons, what options do they have at the factory?

All he does is hurt sales of his 2 flagship models since no dealer would pay full price for demo units.

The fact that he won't show up at major audio shows is also questionable thinking? I guess Wendell is satisfied with the limited sales he generates with his current strategy.

You can't even hear the 20.7's or 30.7's at the factory; I asked. You might be able to hear the 20.7's at Audio Research, assuming they still have them and they have availability. This is also directly from Wendell.

My dealer down in south florida has a pair of 20.7 speakers with the better stands, and they are huge! I need to go down and those speakers again.

David

Who is your dealer in S. Florida?

The last time I was there was about 2 years ago: Audio Center in Deerfield Beach

I believe that there is a dealer in the LA area that has the 20.7s as well.

Magnepan 30.7 demo event at Hifi Centre March 10th
 

This will take place in Vancouver, BC

Details here

If anyone can go, please do report back :thumbsup:

The 30.7s will be demonstrated in Denver on April 25-26 at dealer ListenUp:

https://www.listenup.com/save-the-da...s-april-25-26/

Is there a schedule for the demonstrations? Like date, time and location around the country?

Are they shipping these units already?

That would be nice. Everything seems mysterious and hidden for these speakers.

As of Jan 1, 2018

It makes you wonder if they only have one or two units available and Magnepan is making the rounds to display it and see if there are takers for it. Sounds so much like last century.

I'm going to hear them at definitive audio music matters in Seattle tomorrow. Anything you want me to ask or check out?