New Magnepan "Concept Speaker" introduced at Audio Connection


Just saw a Youtube clip by the Audiophiliac Steve Guttenberg on this new design by Magnepan. He raved about these speakers on the realism that they created. Anyone else heard these???
mr_m

Showing 9 responses by josh358

I was there, and it was just like Steve said -- they’re the best speakers I’ve ever heard. Stunningly realistic.

I didn’t have a real idea of what they could do until they played the last track, after most of the guys had left. Someone asked them to play Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite and Jesus, they did everything, from the most delicate detail to orchestra hits that made you jump. They seemed to combine the detail and imaging of panels with the slam of dynamics.

I told Wendell Diller that he should have played that cut first, and he said he puts on classical music when he wants to get people to leave the room. :-)
janmnov, the panels were being driven by the Maggie 300, a 300 WPC amp that will be manufactured by the Minnesota Amplifier Company and that Wendell has been showing at some of his demos. The woofers had a large Bryston on them -- a commercial version would come with a dedicated woofer amp.
To what gnjtack said, I'd add that the planar panels are only 12" wide and use technology adapted from the 30.7. So you could think of it as a 30.7 with compact dynamic dipole woofers. Also that the DSP is used only on the woofers -- if Magnepan commercializes the concept, it will come with DSP and a high-powered woofer amp (the panels will be powered by your own amplifier).
That would be interesting. Though they have different purposes, in that the Magenpan woofer is designed to be small and easy to hide. When it comes to output and bottom-octave performance, I've no doubt that the GR Research/Rhythmik comes out ahead -- but you can't hide those big H frames behind the couch!
What BDP24 said -- four monopoles are as smooth as two dipoles, but the backwave of a dipole will cancel with the backwave of a monopole, so the crossover will always be somewhat problematic.

Another consideration here is that the 30.7FC is intended to address the needs of the "conflicted couple." The ability to hide the woofers was an important consideration in the design. 
I don't think anyone was questioning the quality of a four-woofer array. The research demonstrating that is well known, and as I said, a speaker designer I know (who played a role in the development of the new Maggie) compared four sealed woofers with two planar woofers and found their quality comparable.

I'd point out, though, that the new woofer is *not* a DWM, or a planar woofer at all. It's a dynamic dipole woofer that has response similar to the response of the 30.7's bass panels. Which is to say it isn't a sub, but neither is it a DWM, which is designed to reinforce the midbass and has limited output. It's designed to be small and easy to hide, though the woofers can be stacked in a large room.

(I wonder what happens when you use four dipole woofers in an array? It could potentially be smoother than either four monopoles or two dipoles!)
BDP24,

Interesting, I'd never thought of running sealed subs and dipoles over the same frequency range. I had considered it, but only using the sealed sub in the bottom octave to boost output and extension there (my IVA's go to about 25 Hz in my room). (As I recall, Wendell tried using a sub with the Mini 30.7's and found it unnecessary. But AFAIK, he wasn't playing pipe organ!)

I think that if you wanted an open baffle swarm you'd use the along-the-sidewall arrangement (two woofers on each sidewall). IIRC from the multiple sub paper, it's one of the most effective arrangements.