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Magnepan Full-range ribbon and planar speakers

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  #81  
Old 08-06-2018, 09:38 PM
timm timm is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nicoff View Post
3 actually... [emoji15]��
What a stupid question!!! Lol

So I just walked over to my descent. This is a weekend task if I attempt it. I always forget how bulky it is. It has 3 opposing woofers on it which make it difficult to grab.

Last edited by timm; 08-06-2018 at 09:44 PM.
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  #82  
Old 08-08-2018, 01:54 AM
BillK BillK is offline
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Originally Posted by ylee View Post
In your opinion/observation, was the room sufficiently large enough to let the 30.7 "breath" and really sing?
Yes, quite large enough, plus newly treated with a variety of Vicoustic diffusers.
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  #83  
Old 09-10-2018, 06:53 PM
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So I had the thrill of hearing these personally at Gifted Listener Audio in Centreville, VA a week and a half ago. Source was the top notch Linn Klimax DAC, directly feeding somewhat of a lower tier but still excellent Ayre VX-5 Twenty stereo amp.

To my ears, these speakers sounded exceptionally musical. Big Maggies have always made me feel like I'm somewhere in the orchestra/band/ensemble, and this sensation is especially true with the 30.7. The sense of immersion with Magnepan's top of the line speaker is unparalleled in my experience. The tonal transparency is first rate and competes with any speaker I've heard. I will grant that I haven't heard multi-hundreds of thousands of dollar speakers with multi-driver arrays like the Wilson Chronosonic. But anything I've heard from $85k and below do not exceed the 30.7's tonal transparency and harmonic beauty. The overall balance of the frequency spectrum sounded very even to me.

Wendell Diller - Magnepan's traveling magneplanar evangelist, had the music cranked to pretty high volume. The speakers were very dynamic and did not exhibit any sense of compression. From jazz to folk to rock to classical, these speakers served all genres of music well or extraordinarily well.

Did I hear any shortcomings? Mainly just a couple:

1) Lacking dynamic cone drivers, the speakers lacked the ultimate in dynamic slam. Bass was clear, delineated, and present in abundance. But not of the kick-in-the-chest variety.

2) Also not as great compared to my Vandersteens (Vandys are known for image specificity) was the imaging/soundstage. Again, the 30.7s put you somewhere in the middle of the musicians whereas my Vandersteen Quatro Wood CTs put me in row 8 where I can point out where the different performers are left to right, and front to back.

But given the sheer musical excellence and dynamic nature of the 30.7s, I can easily overlook these two areas. They were an absolute joy to hear. So much so that I'm thinking about buying a pair in a few years. I imagine with a more refined amp such as a higher model from Ayre, the 30.7 will sound even more thrilling and beautiful. With the right associated components and acoustics, these speakers could be all some people need.

This brings me to an interesting thought. All audio equipment - especially speakers, have a unique sound that represent their creators' values and philosophy. It's akin to we humans having more than one model to represent nature depending on what aspect of it we wish to describe. In the audiophile sense, dipole planar speakers like Maggies represent one method/model of the "absolute sound," while other designs such as ones possessing dynamic cone drivers represent another. Theoretically, various designers attempting to reach an ever truer representation of the recorded event should converge. Yet some may find this unfavorable as we each hold differing values as listeners of recorded music. And thus, the variety we get from various designers/manufacturers is what makes this hobby interesting for me.
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Primary System (Always in flux):
Analog Source: Rega RP10
Phono Preamp: Bryston BP2/PS3
Digital Software: Roon, Tidal Streaming
Digital Music Server: Melco N1A/2
Digital Sources: Totaldac d1-twelve SE MkII (factory upgraded from MKI) with "live power" 4 output power supply, Oppo UDP-205
Preamplifier: Rogue Audio RP-9 (factory upgraded from RP-7)
Amplifier: Vandersteen M5-HPA
Speakers: Vandersteen Quatro Wood CT w/IsoAcoustics Gaia 1 feet
Cabling: WW Platinum Starlight 7 digital wires, Totaldac Gigafilter USB filter, AQ Sky XLR, AQ Fire RCA
Speaker Cables: AudioQuest Oak spades ---> bi-wire spades
Power Cables: Esprit PC (for DAC), 2 WW Platinum Electra PC (Preamp/Phono Preamp), AQ NRG10 (Melco N1A/2), AQ Blizzard (Quatro Wood CT built-in subs)
Power Conditioning: 2 AQ Niagara 1000, 3 Oyaide R1 outlets
Sound Treatments: 23 ASC Tube Traps and 10 Panels

Last edited by ylee; 09-10-2018 at 11:47 PM.
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  #84  
Old 09-13-2018, 09:16 PM
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Yong is a musician who plays the piano. On my book, this gives his opinions a certain authority.
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  #85  
Old 09-14-2018, 04:32 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ylee View Post
So I had the thrill of hearing these personally at Gifted Listener Audio in Centreville, VA a week and a half ago. Source was the top notch Linn Klimax DAC, directly feeding somewhat of a lower tier but still excellent Ayre VX-5 Twenty stereo amp.

To my ears, these speakers sounded exceptionally musical. Big Maggies have always made me feel like I'm somewhere in the orchestra/band/ensemble, and this sensation is especially true with the 30.7. The sense of immersion with Magnepan's top of the line speaker is unparalleled in my experience. The tonal transparency is first rate and competes with any speaker I've heard. I will grant that I haven't heard multi-hundreds of thousands of dollar speakers with multi-driver arrays like the Wilson Chronosonic. But anything I've heard from $85k and below do not exceed the 30.7's tonal transparency and harmonic beauty. The overall balance of the frequency spectrum sounded very even to me.

Wendell Diller - Magnepan's traveling magneplanar evangelist, had the music cranked to pretty high volume. The speakers were very dynamic and did not exhibit any sense of compression. From jazz to folk to rock to classical, these speakers served all genres of music well or extraordinarily well.

Did I hear any shortcomings? Mainly just a couple:

1) Lacking dynamic cone drivers, the speakers lacked the ultimate in dynamic slam. Bass was clear, delineated, and present in abundance. But not of the kick-in-the-chest variety.

2) Also not as great compared to my Vandersteens (Vandys are known for image specificity) was the imaging/soundstage. Again, the 30.7s put you somewhere in the middle of the musicians whereas my Vandersteen Quatro Wood CTs put me in row 8 where I can point out where the different performers are left to right, and front to back.

But given the sheer musical excellence and dynamic nature of the 30.7s, I can easily overlook these two areas. They were an absolute joy to hear. So much so that I'm thinking about buying a pair in a few years. I imagine with a more refined amp such as a higher model from Ayre, the 30.7 will sound even more thrilling and beautiful. With the right associated components and acoustics, these speakers could be all some people need.

This brings me to an interesting thought. All audio equipment - especially speakers, have a unique sound that represent their creators' values and philosophy. It's akin to we humans having more than one model to represent nature depending on what aspect of it we wish to describe. In the audiophile sense, dipole planar speakers like Maggies represent one method/model of the "absolute sound," while other designs such as ones possessing dynamic cone drivers represent another. Theoretically, various designers attempting to reach an ever truer representation of the recorded event should converge. Yet some may find this unfavorable as we each hold differing values as listeners of recorded music. And thus, the variety we get from various designers/manufacturers is what makes this hobby interesting for me.

Good review Yong!
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  #86  
Old 09-15-2018, 10:46 PM
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Thanks Carlos and Bart. The speakers are still at Gifted Listener for at least another week, so I plan on going back for more listening this week.
__________________
Primary System (Always in flux):
Analog Source: Rega RP10
Phono Preamp: Bryston BP2/PS3
Digital Software: Roon, Tidal Streaming
Digital Music Server: Melco N1A/2
Digital Sources: Totaldac d1-twelve SE MkII (factory upgraded from MKI) with "live power" 4 output power supply, Oppo UDP-205
Preamplifier: Rogue Audio RP-9 (factory upgraded from RP-7)
Amplifier: Vandersteen M5-HPA
Speakers: Vandersteen Quatro Wood CT w/IsoAcoustics Gaia 1 feet
Cabling: WW Platinum Starlight 7 digital wires, Totaldac Gigafilter USB filter, AQ Sky XLR, AQ Fire RCA
Speaker Cables: AudioQuest Oak spades ---> bi-wire spades
Power Cables: Esprit PC (for DAC), 2 WW Platinum Electra PC (Preamp/Phono Preamp), AQ NRG10 (Melco N1A/2), AQ Blizzard (Quatro Wood CT built-in subs)
Power Conditioning: 2 AQ Niagara 1000, 3 Oyaide R1 outlets
Sound Treatments: 23 ASC Tube Traps and 10 Panels
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  #87  
Old 09-19-2018, 11:00 PM
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I heard the 30.7s again today. For about 2 hours mostly by myself to play whatever I wanted. I played a movement or a couple songs from a wide variety of classical and rock albums: Savall's sublime interpretation of Beethoven's Eroica, Harnoncourt/COE Beethoven's 8th, Kleiber's Verdi La Traviata, Pinnock's Bach Brandenburg Concertos, U2 Joshua Tree, Boston's eponymous album, Stevie Wonder's Talking Book, Allman Brothers' Eat a Peach, Led Zeppelin's IV "Zoso," the Rush album Moving Pictures, and Don Henley's Building The Perfect Beast.

Today's audition reinforced my positive opinion of this speaker. I always ask myself with components and especially speakers I hear - "Are these transducers revealing something new to me about music I've listened to all my life?" With the 30.7, the answer is a definitive "Yes!" There is a fullness of tone and a relative absence of stridency without any rounding off of transients. The mandolin in "Battle of Evermore" by Zeppelin sounded, well, like a life-size mandolin resonant with color. U2's Joshua Tree came out when I was a freshman in college. Hearing it thru the 30.7s took me back in time to when I just turned 19. Duane Allman and Dickey Betts individual guitar lines from Allman Brothers "Blue Sky" have never stood out with respect to each other as clearly as I heard them today.

I will say that Magnepan's in general have a distinct "house sound." All speakers and components do. There is a certain rose-colored tint to Magnepans to my ears, and the 30.7s certainly have a sonic family resemblance. They are not quite as neutral as my Vandersteen Quatro Wood CTs. But they sound beautiful to me.

So, what's an audiophile to do when experiencing such greatness? I said to my dealer "It's a matter of when, not if, I get these speakers." My thinking is I will buy them sometime next year.

Time to approach the wife with the idea...
__________________
Primary System (Always in flux):
Analog Source: Rega RP10
Phono Preamp: Bryston BP2/PS3
Digital Software: Roon, Tidal Streaming
Digital Music Server: Melco N1A/2
Digital Sources: Totaldac d1-twelve SE MkII (factory upgraded from MKI) with "live power" 4 output power supply, Oppo UDP-205
Preamplifier: Rogue Audio RP-9 (factory upgraded from RP-7)
Amplifier: Vandersteen M5-HPA
Speakers: Vandersteen Quatro Wood CT w/IsoAcoustics Gaia 1 feet
Cabling: WW Platinum Starlight 7 digital wires, Totaldac Gigafilter USB filter, AQ Sky XLR, AQ Fire RCA
Speaker Cables: AudioQuest Oak spades ---> bi-wire spades
Power Cables: Esprit PC (for DAC), 2 WW Platinum Electra PC (Preamp/Phono Preamp), AQ NRG10 (Melco N1A/2), AQ Blizzard (Quatro Wood CT built-in subs)
Power Conditioning: 2 AQ Niagara 1000, 3 Oyaide R1 outlets
Sound Treatments: 23 ASC Tube Traps and 10 Panels

Last edited by ylee; 09-19-2018 at 11:14 PM.
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  #88  
Old 03-03-2019, 09:55 AM
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Wendell Diller of Magnepan on the importance of a speaker's 'Power Response' and why there are no chairs in their 30.7 demo tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORo-fWwtMKE
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  #89  
Old 12-15-2019, 12:06 AM
6dj8 6dj8 is offline
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Why the very poor sales to the rich audiophile?

Who has bought a pair?

IMO a big FLOP compared to the expensive speaker competition!
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  #90  
Old 12-15-2019, 02:54 AM
nicoff nicoff is offline
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I love Magnepan speakers. They can do things that most speakers can’t at their price point. I used to own the 20.7 Maggie’s and still own a pair of 3.6. I was hoping to upgrade to the 30.7 but felt that it was nothing more than a 20.7 with more bass panels.
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