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I hope I don't get in trouble for this post. I bought a subscription to Hi-Fi+ just so I could read Chris Martens full review of the new 3.7i upgrade. These are just some of his comments and not the contents of his full article. Just some of the differences he listed between the 3.7 and 3.7i. I must admit I have the itch to upgrade....
Magnepan 3.7i planar magnetic/ribbon loudspeaker by Chris Martens As I listened carefully to the 3.7i, my assessment was that it not only preserved but actually expanded upon the 3.7’s overall coherency. If you heard the original 3.7 in isolation you would rightly think it to be a very fine loudspeaker, but if you then switched to the 3.7i you would soon realize that, from the heart of the midrange and on up into the upper midrange, the new speaker sounds noticeably smoother and more at ease with itself. Moreover, levels of internal ‘self-noise’ seem to be reduced in the 3.7i, so that backgrounds become quieter, making it easier for low-level details to be revealed. To hear these qualities in action, listen to the track ‘Big Brother’ from Jen Chapin’s reVisions [Chesky SACD], which is a brilliant jazz trio’s update on a selection of classic songs from Stevie Wonder. Listen, for example, to the feisty, provocative edge in Chapin’s voice as she sings a line accusing politicians of only visiting their constituents “…around election time.” The 3.7i’s really bring Chapin’s voice, with its many tonal colors, emotional moods, and engaging inflections, vividly to life. Note, too, the fascinating passage near the end of the song where saxophonist Chris Cheek takes a walk from the front left side of the stage to the rear as he continues to play. As Cheek turns and moves, the Magnepans capture small spatial details that help you know where Cheek is standing and which way he is facing as he moves. The 3.7i also differs from the original 3.7 by offering noticeably more expressive and expansive dynamics. The 3.7i, like most Magnepan speakers, is relatively power hungry and low in rated sensitivity, but give the speaker the power it needs and it will respond with impressive energy and grace—areas where the 3.7i clearly outperforms the original 3.7. When pushed hard by challenging musical material the earlier speaker could eventually start to exhibit faint traces of strain in the form of a subtle, hard-edged or even ragged-sounding quality. In contrast, when you lean hard on the 3.7i it simply plays more loudly, always maintaining a smooth-tempered sonic disposition. To appreciate what I mean, listen to John Adler’s Confronting Inertia [Origin Classical], where Adler explores both the pensive and more fiercely forceful voices of his trumpet. On the more delicate end of the dynamic spectrum the 3.7i captures the subtleties of Adler’s horn with admirable finesse, but as Adler probes the other end of the dynamic envelope the 3.7i answers with its own unflustered yet decidedly muscular response—delivering acoustic power tempered with an easy-going kind of grace. I won’t tell you the 3.7i can compete with horn-type speakers in terms of dynamic clout because that would be ridiculous, but I will tell you that it produces a much bigger, more forceful, and yet more relaxed presentation than the 3.7 did. Good though the 3.7 was and is, there is something audibly and inarguably more ‘right’ about the new 3.7i. Interestingly, from a musical perspective, the new design at once sounds more revealing of low-level textures and details, yet also smoother and less prone to edginess (a package of virtues that don’t often travel together in most speakers). Last edited by mgard; 09-12-2014 at 04:11 PM. |
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