Magnepan .7 Alternatives

The bigger the panels, the more they can reproduce well. I still have a pair of Acoustat Model X speakers and are still the best sounding for voice and most instruments. They will never move the air like a cone speaker, but a couple of smaller subs go a long way.

@mschott I think this narrative about Maggies not integrating well with subs is a myth. Maybe it was started by folks who did not know how or take the time to properly integrate subs with speakers. But I can tell you from personal experience with my own Magnepan 1.7i panels as well as LRS that I have heard, that, 1. It isn’t hard to integrate subs (I had a pair of REL T/9i subs using high level connections) with my 1.7i and 2. IMO Maggie 1.7i and smaller need subs. They are a requirement. Adding subs to smaller Maggies revolutionizes the sound as Maggies do not play low enough and definitely have no sub bass, no air movement and no bass slam.

Maggies DO integrate well with subs and using subs are a requirement for smaller Maggies.

@flasd wrote:  "Either too much treble..."

"Too much treble" can be a symptom of "not enough bass".

@flasd:  "Room dimensions: 11.5’ W x 12’ L... Listening Distance from Speakers 8.5’ - 9’..."

This implies your Maggies are pretty close to the wall behind them.  In such cases, it is the out-of-phase backwave which is getting the benefit of strong boundary reinforcement from the nearby wall, resulting in greater cancellation of the in-phase front wave and therefore weaker bass.  I know it's counter-intuitive to think that pulling speakers away from the wall will result in more bass, but that is what happens with dipoles.  On the other hand the closer your listening position is to the wall, the more bass you will hear, in general.

You might try this if you have the freedom to do so:  Since your room is almost square, set up your system on a diagonal, with your chair in or near a corner, with the midpoint between your speakers about  2/5 of the way out from the opposite corner along that diagonal.  I haven't tried this but it might be a way to pretty much maximize the low end and thereby fix the tonal balance.

Duke

dipole speaker dealer since 1999

that room is both way too small [maggies need much more space due to the requirement of being away from the back wall at least 3 feet] and also that room is almost a perfect cube, unfavorable acoustics as there are standing waves at the same frequencies both horizontally and vertically, causing severe lumpiness in the bass and lower midrange. bass damping is mostly futile [you’d need to take up even more of what space remains in that room with bulky bass traps] in a room of that size and dimension. IMHO your real-world choices are nearfield with compact monitors, or headphones. maggies OR Vandersteen speakers will not sound [as designed] in THAT room. that was my experience, having to save up [for years] to move someplace roomier was the result.

@kingbarbuda: "I think this narrative about Maggies not integrating with subs is a myth." One guy perpetuating this "myth" is Wendell Diller of Magnepan. In his recent introduction of a prototype dipole sub the company will soon be offering, Wendell made the statement that using a monopole sub (a woofer in a sealed or ported enclosure) with a dipole loudspeaker "doesn’t work" (his exact words).

The failure to get a monopole sub to integrate with a dipole loudspeaker is not new, nor unique to Magnepan; QUAD ESL users were attempting it back in the 1950’s. The Finnish company Gradient designed and built an OB/Dipole sub specifically for the QUAD 63, and later one for the original QUAD (aka "57"). The problem with the Gradient sub was not in its design, but in it's execution.

The Rythmik Audio/GR Research OB/Dipole Subwoofer has been available for over 10 years, as has a similar OB/Dipole sub from the loudspeaker genius Siegfried Linkwitz. Eminent Technology recently introduced their new dipole sub, so the consumer now has the choice of a number of excellent subs to use with his or her dipole loudspeakers.